The Community Shifting Gears Transportation Challenge officially launched its 2016 campaign yesterday at the Peterborough County-City Health Unit. The Challenge encourages people to walk, cycle, carpool, telecommute, or ride the bus during the month of May for chance to win weekly prizes, giveaways, and a grand prize of $750 for Resorts of Ontario.
It’s not just your commute to work that counts in this year’s challenge. All transportation trips count — including errands, walks to school, social trips, and appointments — making this year’s challenge within reach for everyone. Registration is now open at www.peterboroughmoves.com with three parallel challenges for workplaces, schools, and individuals living in the city of Peterborough.
This year, the month-long competition will be offering more weekly prizes and giveaways than ever before to inspire Peterborough locals to use active and efficient modes of travel. Participants who log least one sustainable trip a week using the online trip tracker will be entered into a weekly draw for one of 10 $30 gift certificates for a downtown lunch experience.
In today’s fast-paced society, our transportation decisions are often based on habit — and while our lives can feel hectic and many of us have become quite conditioned to choosing driving as our default mode, this challenge gives us pause to reflect on whether walking, biking, busing, or ride-sharing might get us from A to B in a healthier and more enjoyable way.
But choosing to use sustainable transportation is about more than just getting from A to B. It’s about making a conscious effort to improve your physical and mental health and it’s about lowering emissions so that everyone can enjoy a healthier environment.
It can also be about you and how you connect with your city and the surrounding geography. The Canadian Mental Health Association has identified sustainable transportation as a contributing factor in reducing stress and social isolation. Immersing yourself in the city by bike, bus, or on foot increases opportunities for social contact.
The Shifting Gears challenge offers people the opportunity to build a stronger sense of belonging and place during May, and creates an incentive for participants to explore the city from a different perspective.
Shifting Gears hopes to capture these stories this May through a series of citywide pop-up appearances. Program Ambassadors will be hitting the streets with free giveaways while collecting stories about your local travel experiences. Pop-ups will be scattered throughout the city, with location teasers leaked on Twitter. To stay in the loop follow Shifting Gears @ptbomoves.
Community members spotted using active transportation will be highlighted on the program’s social media channels. Shifting Gears hopes to create an interactive dialog highlighting Peterborough travellers and creating a space where locals can share their experiences on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #MyShiftingGears. Every traveller has a story to tell about a Peterborough that is very much their own, and Shifting Gears wants share those stories.
Free community cycling and skateboarding courses are also being offered in partnership with B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub and Thin City Skate Shop to help support safer travel adventures. Course will be limited to small groups and will require registration. To discover more about Shifting Gears courses, and to register, visit the Peterborough Move website at www.peterboroughmoves.com/course-workshops/.
For more information about Shifting Gears, please contact Hillary Flood, GreenUP Coordinator of Transportation and Urban Design Programs, at hillary.flood@greenup.on.ca or at 705-745-3238 ext. 205.
