NYC employee hired for an office job in the city is told to bike to weekly meetings at the company's field office: ‘You need to buy a bike’

Author image for Cata Holmes
Cata Holmes • Writer
Aug 8, 2026 5:00 PM EDT

A new workplace expectation can feel a lot different when it requires buying your own equipment.

One NYC office employee was caught off guard after management announced that weekly visits to the company's field office would now include a mandatory bike ride, and employees without one were expected to purchase their own. Hired to work full-time in the city, the worker couldn't help but question whether this new requirement was reasonable or simply an unexpected expense.

I don't think there's anything wrong with biking to work every single day. Actually, I think it's a great alternative to cars and public transport, and also involves a bit of physical activity. Although biking in the middle of New York City cannot be as romantic as I'm describing it to be, I still think it's a great idea and something to consider. However, this story has something else to it that changes the game completely.

In this case, we have a man who was hired to work in an office located in the middle of the city, and since most people don't own cars, we can get there by using public transportation, and that's it. Now, his boss is demanding that they all visit a field office located outside NYC to interact with the fewer employees who assist there, at least once a week. Here's when the issue arises.

Of course, there's no public transportation available for that part of town, leaving the employees with their bikes as the only alternative. And our employee doesn't own one, so his boss told him that he would need to purchase one to arrive at the office. And that's my problem: he demanded that he buy a bicycle because there're no other solutions. We're talking about someone who was hired in another location to do something different than what he's been asked to do now…

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  • Concerned NYC office employee reviews new workplace requirements after being told to buy a bicycle for mandatory weekly meetings at a remote field office.
    via Unsplash+ (via Getty Images)

    Concerned NYC office employee reviews new workplace requirements after being told to buy a bicycle for mandatory weekly meetings at a remote field office.

    Image for illustration only.

  • Weird question but looking for a bit of insight. I work an office job in NYC. Driving obviously isn't as common here and offices don't even have parking for most part so folks myself included and most of my coworkers who live in the city don't own cars. Some own bikes, however I do not.
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  • My office and job is based in the city in an office building that is accessible by public transit. We have a small field office out of the city quite a bit that works for a few of our employees who live farther out. Recently, my supervisor wants
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  • us to integrate with them more and make the trip out to the field office weekly. The trip to the field office for the most part will be on company time, so while it makes for longer commute days I don't
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  • mind/ am not objecting to that. It was presented to us as "well be leaving the office at X time train at Y time and then we'll bike the rest of the way so you need to buy a bike".
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  • However, the field office is not fully accessible by public transit. You can take transit part of the way but the rest has to be done by bike (or Uber or something). It's been suggested that for those of us that
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  • don't own bikes we need to buy bikes so we can start doing this commute weekly. To be clear, there's on site visits or project needs to be out here it's purely for integration with the field office folks.
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  • I don't own a bike, don't necessarily want to buy a bike and don't necessarily want to start bike commuting. Im generally pretty fit but urban/city biking causes me quite a bit of stress and anxiety
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  • and I also do multiple things after work that having a bike would be inconvenient and my apartment is small enough as it is to try to also store a bike.
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  • My job description when I applied did not mention anything about needing to bike and this is all a new requirement. My job description also has me full time at
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  • our main office in the city. Like I said I'm not opposed to travel and the frequency of this proposed new arrangement but I can't tell if:
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  • A) requiring an employee to buy a bike for work purposes is legitimate.
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  • Cyclist rides through New York City streets, representing the employee's new required commute between the main office and the company's field location.
    via Unsplash+ (via Yaroslav Muzychenko)

    Cyclist rides through New York City streets, representing the employee's new required commute between the main office and the company's field location.

    Does not depict the people involved.

  • B) requiring employees to bike as part of their duties is legitimate
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  • Overall, I enjoy my job and everyone is pretty relaxed so I don't want to make too much of a big deal so I wanted to ask here first if folks think this is a reasonable thing or not. My
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  • thought is, they should have someone from the field office pick us up from the nearest transit option in a company car if they are requiring us to travel and do these meetings for work but maybe I'm off base? I also wonder about any legalities regarding accessibility,
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  • ADA, injuries etc it seems like a can of worms liability wise especially since the job description didn't mention anything about physically biking.
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  • For context, it would be a decent trek on the bike from my house into office or from my house to the train and then 20 min bike ride or so each way to/from the field office.
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  • Other piece of context- it's company policy that if we can't get to meetings or site visits via public transportation we can take Uber/ cab etc and get reimbursements.
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  • Since this is required travel for the company to this field site, I'm thinking it might count? But it's on a consistent basis so not sure.
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  • To be clear my work location is full time at our main office and they haven't changed that so this is different required travel from what I was hired on and agreed.
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  • EDIT: just a clarification, we are still expected to start and end the work day at our regular office in the city. The proposal is to leave mid morning together from the office but we are expected in office in the morning at our normal start time.
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  • Because of this it seems like a regular work trip and not a regular change of office requirement. All of the biking that would occur would happen during normal company / work hours.
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  • Aerial view of New York City skyline, highlighting the urban setting where an office worker questions a new policy requiring bike travel during work hours.
    via Unsplash+ (via Jermaine Ee)

    Aerial view of New York City skyline, highlighting the urban setting where an office worker questions a new policy requiring bike travel during work hours.

    Not related to the actual events described.

  • Redditors were surprised by this boss's demands and stood with the OP. They even suggested funny things for him to respond (that, of course, were with sarcasm), but overall, all agreed that the requirement was a lot to ask.

  • Lovebeingadad54321 Ask your boss "hey, I have been looking at a bike to keep here at the office for the offsite trips. What is the price limit on reimbursement?" If they are going to require you to have it, they need to pay for it.
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  • Hotel Disastrous288 That is a foolish suggestion. What if you have never ridden a bike? Company ponies up for Uber if they want to ship you out there.
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  • TheKage Since this is not part of your regular commute, your employer should cover the expenses either by mileage reimbursement, taxi/Uber reimbursement, monthly vehicle allowance, provide company vehicle, or some other similar form.
    via Away_Fix4336
  • calcato If I found out a manager in my business was expecting this of employees this I'd put a halt to it. I'd put a halt to it at least until I could analyze whose insurance covers what, whether the employees are personally taking on all the risk (unfairly), and if there is really any kind of cost benefit to keeping this travel method.
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  • AvgMom Bike riding is not a job qualification and they cannot make you. Go ask hr what your choices are. You do not need to disclose why you don't have or want to ride a bike. This seems like a humiliation ritual in the making.
    via Away_Fix4336
  • principium_est Maybe clarify if it's a passing comment vs "you will be fired without a bike". The latter is pretty weird thing for a company to say.
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  • Condition Normal123 Tell him to buy a tandem bike and you'll take the rear seat
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  • PowerfulEgg8509 Make the employer buy you a bike and provide storage for it at the office. But this is also absurd. You'll need rain gear and proper winter gear as well.
    via Away_Fix4336

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