For the second year, North Bay and area commuters are being challenged to leave their vehicles at home for a week.
The free Commuter Challenge runs from Sunday, June 5 through Saturday, June 11.
“The challenge is all about reducing our personal carbon footprint by ‘being less driven’ for just one week”, says Rod Bilz, North Bay’s 2022 Challenge Coordinator. “By registering on the website, challengers can record their commutes and see the distances they travelled, amount of reduced emissions, and calories consumed”.
Modes of transportation include:
- Biking/Roller-blading
- Walking
- Using a scooter
- Taking transit
- Car-pooling
- Ride-sharing
- Telecommuting (working from home)
North Bay finished fourth in Ontario in last year’s challenge, although Bilz says fewer cities and workplaces took part because of the pandemic.
“Right now we’re sitting in fourth position again, just based on the number of employers and participants that have registered. (We’re) just a little bit behind Sudbury,” he says. “I think we can move up a little bit, we just need to get a few workplaces registered and get people talking about it.”
Bilz also says participants last year really liked the challenge and found it provided an opportunity to decompress while either cycling or walking to work.
Three local cycle shop retailers are sponsoring prizes for the top area participants.
Individuals or companies can visit commuterchallenge.ca to register.
