Jonahhobbes

Its world car free day on the 22nd of Sept. Our local bike advocacy group wants some ideas for an event. As the commuter forum is by far the wittiest and coolest of the bike forums has anyone got any ideas for an event?

(there is no way I'm doing anything naked)

mondaycurse

Instead of trash cans, have junker cars with the windows down to throw trash in.

lil brown bat

What would be the purpose of this event? To promote bike commuting to the people who are in their cars? For commuters to have fun? Something totally different?

Jonahhobbes

Erm good question that one....

I guess to promote bike commuting and have fun. Apparently they did the old bike v car time trial a couple of years ago that went down well. One guy has suggested providing people getting off the trains with free bikes and helmets - can't see that working somehow.

cg1985

Well, if it's a bike advocacy group, it's likely a bike event.

Bike bingo is cool. First, you set up 5 check points around the city, and a 6th "final location" spot.

Each of the 5 locations are labled a letter, B, I, N, G, O. At each location someone is there with a back of poker chips with numbers on them. Have every rider start at a central location. When the "go" sound is given, the riders can go to these locations in any order. When they arrive they get in a line, and draw a chip. If the chip has a number on their card with the proper letter column, you mark it with a sticker, and move on to the next stop.

Once you've visited all 5 stops, you can return to the ones you need. If you arrive at the location, draw a number, and its not a number you need, you can get back in line after you've A) done a 30 second track stand, or B) tell a joke. And pull a number again, and keep doing this until you've gotten the number you need.

once you've gotten 4 in a row, you must go to the final location, get a stamp and then go to the place you need for the final number, if you pull a bad number, you must return, get another stamp, and try again.

This way, it's not a race, it's based on chance. Once you've got a bingo, you win some sort of prize. Make sure the people passing out the numbers sign the backs of the cards of the riders, so you can ensure they aren't cheating.

We did this and it was pretty fun.

Jonahhobbes

thanks for that CG but I will use that one for our official bikeday coming up later on in the year that sounds great!
What about promoting bike commuting?

zoltani

When i was living in hungary they would have critical mass only twice a year, one on car-free day and one on earth day. The first one i went to (car-free day) there were about 10,000 people that showed up. The second one i went to, which was earth day got about 30,000 participants.
My suggestion is to have a car-free "neighborhood" bike ride. It would be like a more organized critical mass. Get you bike advocacy group on board to establish a route and get the word out. Get all the permits and whatever from the city, and advertise it as a car-free day ride to bring the community together and promote cycling.


Critical mass, budapest:

Jonahhobbes

Wow that is a lot of cyclists!

nmanhipot

Start "borrowing" those gas station numbers from each of the local filling stations and then on car-free day, give them all back by adding a digit to the prices on the marquees around town to make people think the price of gas is now ten times as much overnight. JUST KIDDING!! Seriously? You can't count how many boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts get sold when the girl's volley/soccer/tennis/cheerleader teams are out selling them in their summer wear. Figure out a way to get them all on bikes.

Andy_K 

How about getting a group of people together to offer bike delivery of groceries from some local grocery store? You could include a flyer in the grocery bag explaining why you're doing it. Grocery shopping seems to be one of the things people think they can't do without a car.

Jonahhobbes

Yeah but I somehow don't think I'll have the same effect with my scars and gut.