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“What is a ridiculous car trip?” that’s what a public service campaign out of Malmö, Sweden wants to know.
For years the city of Malmö has been improving bike infrastructure. They built extensive bike paths and even installed railings for cyclists to hold while waiting to cross the street. But still, its 700,000 citizens were reluctant to get out from behind the driver’s seat. That’s where the campaign comes in: they want citizens to turn off the cars and hop on their bikes. At least for trips under three miles.
They noticed that people were using their cars to make short-distance errands. These errands would be more environmentally sound, more economical, and more efficient to bike. This short-distance driving was deemed as “ridiculous.” As part of the campaign, volunteers were sent on timed bike rides through city routes. The results were hard to ignore: it is often far faster to bike than to drive in the city of Malmö. To build publicity for the campaign the volunteers were dressed in eye-catching orange suits with shiny silver helmets.
“What is a ridiculous car trip?” is also a contest. People in Malmö are asked to send in their ridiculous car trip stories; whoever has the most outrageous one wins a free bike.
Hopefully such innovative, clever and silly ideas will come to the United States. 72 percent of 3-mile trips are made in cars here…it’s just ridiculous.
But for those committed to biking, or perhaps just interested in saving a few bucks on gas, visit http://earthgarage.com/resources/20-biking-.html.
