Cycling May during pandemic
About this good practice
Background and Objectives:
The objective of the campaign is to promote active travel to and from schools but also healthy lifestyle. Due to the pandemic all schools in Gdansk were closed and remote learning was introduced since March 2020.Therefore, active school commuting had to be replaced by other form of attracting children to be physically active.
Therefore rules of the campaign have been modified and adapted to the situation so that that any trip held by bike, scooter, rollerblades, roller skates and last a minimum of 30 minutes counts.
The journeys are registered in a special app. The most active pupils, classes and schools are rewarded. This modified way allows for achieving the goals: changing the behaviour patterns promoting active mobility and encouraging children to be physically active.
This solution guarantees that the campaign will take place, regardless of the type of learning providing appropriate dose of physical activity. We aim at influencing the development of positive transport habits in this way.
City authorities and officers from Mobility Department from Gdansk and other implementing cities were the Cycling May event organizers. They planned, promoted and implemented the whole action.
The City authorities and local stakeholders support and involvement were crucial. It was also necessary to provide relevant funding for the action, especially in the context of rewarding the most active classes and ensuring effective promotion for the campaign.
Resources needed
The campaign costed around 18 PLN (4 EUR) per participant. It includes the costs of: printing, prizes, logistic. Staff costs are not included.
Implementation of the campaign requires two people working for part time and one for full time for at least 4 months.
Evidence of success
In the campaign, in pandemic year 2021 took part:
33 cities & municipalities
511 schools and kindergartens
78 317 active participants (36% participation rate)
Over 1,5 M of active cycling and scooter trips registered (walking excluded)
Potential for learning or transfer
Gdansk provides the workshops for the cities interested in implementing the campaign but also the graphic materials, scenario and it's know how. Also a short informational and promotional video presenting the principles of the campaign will be prepared with subtitles in English in order to facilitate it's transferability and to encourage other European cities to implement “Pandemic Cycling May” campaign too.
This example of good practice is very easy to transfer since 33 cities from Poland did already took part in last year’s edition of “Pandemic Cycling May” and the number of the municipalities interested in implementing the campaign is still rising. All of the cities that implemented at least once the campaign want to continue this practice for the next years
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
