During April, Washington University staff, faculty, and students participated in Active Transportation Month by commuting more on foot, bike, and/or the Metro. Studies have shown that active commuters add 15-45 minutes of physical activity to their day, depending on the mode of commuting. For many WashU commuters, benefits include escaping the stresses commonly associated with rush hour driving in single occupancy vehicles.
Throughout the month, WashU community members also attended events, including free bike tune-ups by Big Shark Bicycle Company, Breakfast for Bikers at Kaldi’s on Demun, and a bike outing to Tower Grove Park, featuring a mini bike course, lunch, and the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market.
In addition to attending campus events, 46 WashU members participated in the Active Transportation Challenge by forming teams and logging their car-free commutes. Collectively, they logged 717 trips, which translated to 6398.75 miles and 6270.78 pounds of CO2 saved from the atmosphere!
Challenge participants gathered for an awards ceremony lunch on May 4. Active Transportation team members Jen Carter, Caroline Ling, and Seth Blum presented trophies to winning teams and prizes to winning individuals.
Congratulations to the Metromaniacs team for winning first place with the highest number of car-free trips per person (33). The Car-Free Cornerstone team won second place (18.4 trips/person), and the BiblioRiders won third place (16.24 trips/person) in this category. The BiblioRiders also achieved the largest number of car-free miles and pounds of CO2 saved– a whopping 3880.4 miles and 3802.79 pounds, respectively.
Individual winners included Debbie Baldridge, Trisha Schelinski, and Stephanie Vaughn. They won special transit-oriented prizes including Urbanears headphones, a Garmin fitness tracker, and LED bike lights.
The next Active Transportation Month will take place in October 2016. We encourage you to step up your commitment to active transportation between now and then, even if it’s just one day a month.