European Cycling Challenge as the way of promoting cycling to schools

Young people, 14 – 16 years old, are competing with each other in the number of kilometres cycled during the whole month through participation in the European Cycling Challenge event (ECC). They also create groups of teenagers from different schools. These school groups are also competing between each other. The individual teenage winners and the winning schools are rewarded by the city. There is also an extra motivation for the ECC participants - all teenagers, taking part in the ECC, are contributing to the overall success of Gdansk, competing in ECC with other European cities. This may be another event, which uses counting and recording application for kilometers cycled in the city.
Cycling to and from school becomes a way of “collecting” kilometres in the challenge, but at the same time it promotes cycling as the way of commuting and it works out positive mobility habits. The objective is that these habits will sustain and change permanently the mobility behaviours. The main beneficiaries and stakeholders are the teenage pupils, but also teachers and school headmasters involved in running the ECC event on the schools’ level. The campaign is aiming at changing teenagers’ behaviour patterns in terms of school mobility. The objective is to promote cycling or walking to and from schools, through participating in ECC or similar event.
In gdansk city authorities and officers were the ECC event organizers. They planned, promoted and implemented the whole action.