September challenge Bike to Work supports European Mobility Week. Join in too

AutoMat association has started registration for the September challenge Bike to Work, on foot or by jogging. This year it takes place between 11.-24. September and its aim is to remind you after the summer that active transport is in all year round. In support of the European Mobility Week, announced by the European Commission since 2002, AutoMat is also planning other events – for example, the neighborhood festivities Zažít město jinak (Take back your streets). With bicycle rides and bicycle breakfasts, the organizers of the September Challenge Bike to Work from associations, cities, and municipalities across the Czech Republic will also participate.

The September challenge will take place for the seventh time this year. It follows the popular traditional May Bike to Work challenge, which was attended by a record number of 25,621 people this year. The aim is to motivate active transport throughout the year and draw attention to the benefits of non-motorized transport for individuals, cities, and the planet. The importance of sustainable travel in the fight against climate change is also confirmed by the UN resolution, which declared the bicycle „an instrument of environmental protection”. The UN recommends that all its member states „integrate the bicycle into public transport, both in urban and rural areas”.

Sustainably around and between towns, self-powered even in autumn

„We can be inspired by cities across Europe, but not only there. It is a joy to move and live in countries and cities that support sustainable transport. Supporting sustainable mobility brings more clean air without CO₂ emissions and dust particles from tires, less noise and also more space for people in the streets,” says challenge coordinator Dominika Lenthárová from the organizing association AutoMat. „The September challenge is an opportunity to step into it by bike, foot or trot and continue with active transport in the autumn and then maybe even in the winter. It is not about the number of kilometers, but about the regularity with which we use sustainable modes of transport. Every journey counts.”

For more sustainable cities and companies

Companies can also involve their employees in the September challenge. In this way, they will prepare interesting team building for them and show that the topic of sustainability and care for the health and psychological well-being of employees is an important topic for them. People accept the September challenge individually and the basic entry fee is CZK 150, but the employer can pay for it. If participants want to support more sustainable mobility, urban cycling and public space, they can choose a higher, beneficial entry fee.

„Conditions in companies, such as showers, places to safely park a bicycle or lockers, are an important factor on the basis of which people decide whether to cycle or run to work. In this way, every employer can make a small contribution to change towards healthier people, cities and the planet,” adds Lenthárová. At the same time, participants of the challenge can take part in mapping the routes and roads that they use for non-motorized transport in the given city. The anonymized data subsequently serves cities and municipalities to improve pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.

We are giving the city back to the people

Another event that the AutoMat association has been participating in the European Mobility Week since 2006 are the neighborhood festivities Zažít město jinak (Take Back Your Streets). These will take place in cooperation with hundreds of volunteer organizers on the third Saturday of September, September 16 (somewhere earlier or later) at approximately 170 locations throughout the Czech Republic. This year’s theme is „Dress up the Streets”. It calls not only for the coming-of-age celebrations of neighborhood festivities and the 20th anniversary of the beginnings of the AutoMat association, but mainly for interest in public space and its local transformation. Every year, visitors to the festivities have the opportunity to experience what it’s like when car traffic on the streets is replaced by culture, homemade refreshments, presentations by local businesses and institutions, or games for children. That is why AutoMat arranges, among other things, the allowences of occupation of public space and use of car parking spaces for individual locations.

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