Thursday, October 13, 2011
Carissa Bobenchik
When GVF rolled out its Bike to Work Challenge in 2008, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical about how successful the program would be. Judging by the traffic I sit in most days commuting to and from the office, I didn't think there were many people commuting by bicycle. Everyone commuting to work seemed to be in front of me on Route 422.
Boy, was I wrong.
Wrapping up its third season, the Bike to Work Challenge has been one of GVF's most successful and popular events.
* It has grown in its reach - in the beginning, the Challenge was open only to GVF's partners. It is now open to anyone who wants to participate.
* It has grown in its participation - in 2009, there were 110 participants. In 2011, a whopping 164 employees participated.
*Since the beginning of the Challenge, participants have biked a total of 125,154 miles. I don't even have that many miles on my car!
Through a generous grant from the Department of Environmental Protection, GVF was able to create a site dedicated to the Challenge this year: www.gvfbiketowork.com. This site makes it easier for participants to log in their miles, but also gives an overview of the Challenge and encourages people to sign up and ride!
Although the 2011 season has come to an end, be sure to log on to the site for updates on the 2012 Challenge.
A real congratulations and thank you to those who biked this season - you made our air a little less polluted, used less gasoline and kept your vehicles off our aging roadways. Great work!
Posted in: biking,Carissa Bobenchik
2 comments:
Any thoughts on running the BTW challenge year round? It would be interesting to see the results.
We have gotten this request before and have considered it. To offer it year round, we would have to rethink how we approach the bike to work challenge, and we haven't done that yet. It has been a consideration though! Remember that the Web site is, and will always be, available year round. If we do decide to offer the challenge year round, we will let you know!
Post a Comment