The Ride & Buy app
About this good practice
The development of active mobility, and especially bike use, is a priority for the municipality of Hannut. However, beyond infrastructure, it is not always easy to stimulate the use of bikes.
In 2019, the municipality of Hannut won a call for funding from the Walloon Digital Agency for innovative sustainable projects with an app called “Ride & Buy”. The objective is both to stimulate the use of soft mobility (especially bikes) and the spendings in local shops
Operational since september 2021, the app encourages citizens to travel by bike or on foot by: raising awareness of safe routes; showing how much CO2 is saved; rewarding virtuous behaviour with points that can be cumulated; encouraging local businesses as those points can be exchanges as money and spent locally.
In practices, users gain 10 points (0,1€) per km ridden. At 1000 points (100km), they get a 10€ voucher to local shops.
In terms of project management, through public procurement, the municipality chose to work with Contraste Digital, a specialised web agency. The project has been co developed with students from local high school as students were a particular targeted public for the municipalities. AGILE management methodology was used. The geographic zone covers 90% of students.
Expert opinion
Resources needed
The total cost to initiate this project were 221.032€ (119.818€ covered by the regional subsidies), of which 101.016,87 € were staff costs. It is complicated to estimate the amount of FTE as many different employees were involved with their specific expertise and skills.
Evidence of success
From a quantitative point of view, in 2023: 39,227.82 kilometres were travelled, 5179 kilos of CO2 were saved and 272 €10 vouchers were distributed
As a factor of success, it has won several prizes and awards such as the best app of the year by Feweb (2022) and the Prix Ardent (2021)
Potential for learning or transfer
This best practice could easily be transferred to other semi-rural and rural territories that both wants to stimulate local businesses and improve soft mobility. It can also be applied to cities that struggle to connect with outskirt neighbourhoods.
It is easily transferable because it has been developed to be open and interoperable. Potential developers in other territories would then not need to reinvent the weel.
However, here are a few considerations. First, local agents need to be trained. Second, human resources needed in calls for fundings should not be understimated. Third, AGILE management is not compatible to public procurement. Fourth, consider differences in Iphone/Android exploitations