The ECF’s B-Track-B is a very useful marketing tool for cities and organisations who want to encourage citizens to cycle. B-Track-B provides virtual check-in points within cities which allow cyclists to see how many trips they have made. As a cyclist, the more trips you make the higher the chances are that you can win a ‘prize’ from the lottery organized by the city or organisation who signs up for the scheme. This innovative tool is proving to be a very effective way of getting people to cycle by combining competition with exercise. 

If you are an interested city or organisation, here are some inventive ways you can use the B-Track-B tool in your city: 

Transport Mode Competition
A fun way to promote the idea that cycling is equally as important as other forms of transport is to organize a contest between different modes of transport such as bikes, cars and public transport. Every participant can register at B-track-B with their city name and their form of transport and that way the B-Track-B team can follow their progress through the city checkpoints. At the end, those with the most checkpoints registered win a prize from their city or organisation! 

Contest between professionals
More and more professions use cycling on a daily basis to carry out their work. Postmen, police and cycle couriers are a common sight now, even big companies like DHL are using the cargo bike on a regular basis as it simply faster. Why not take advantage of this trend towards cycling and organise a B-Track-B contest between professional groups? This would be certain to draw publicity to your campaign to become a cycling city.

MOVE Week/ Mobility Week ideas

Individual contest
This idea is the most likely to draw a big public crowd because anyone can join in. With MOVE Week 2014 and Mobility Week fast approaching (September 16th to 22nd and September 29th to October 5th) here are a couple of ways you could use B-Track-B to make a fun event out of cycling. Make an event out of it by getting people to start at a certain time on a chosen day before working for the rest of the checkpoints. To make it really feel like a contest, why not fix the location for both the start and the finish that way all participants can meet up at the end. B-Track-B can monitor the results in real-time and publish them on Twitter and Facebook.

Group contest
Another innovative event idea is to encourage people to compete as a group. If people register under their organisation or association within a city, winners can be determined by group effort. This is a great opportunity to give out a prize that benefits the whole group. For further inspiration, read about the B-Track-B schools competition in Fredericia, Denmark who did just that.

To sign up for your free trial or if you would like to find out more about the B-Track-B tool, please get in contact with Henk Hendriks (Project Manager for B-Track-B, h.hendriks@ecf.com)

About the Author

Acacia Smith is a Communications Assistant at the European Cyclists' Federation. Prior to joining ECF, she worked for the research company TNS-Opinion on the 2014 European elections and she has a background in European Affairs and Environmental Studies. She is especially interested in issues of urban sustainability in the context of climate change.