Commuter Challenge
The Commuter Challenge is an online commuting competition that takes place during the month of May. The goal of the challenge is to encourage people that may not otherwise use alternative modes of transportation to use it at least once during this competition. By doing so, they may be more inclined to continue after the competition is complete.
2019 was the 14th Annual Commuter Challenge in which 2,200 commuters competed during the month of May. These commuters, from 275 different organizations, logged almost 40,000 alternative commutes by walking, biking,taking the bus, carpooling, vanpooling, and telecommuting all while having fun and engaging with their co-workers and community.
Commuters logged over 408,000 alternative commutes and burned an amazing 2,200,000 calories during the month. This saved 638,500 pounds of C02 from entering our atmosphere.
Click here for more information about the Challenge results and winners.
Let's gear up for the 15th Annual Commuter Challenge starting May 1st, 2020!
Commuter Challenge Information
- Marketing Toolkit
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Printable materials to share with your coworkers
- Commuter Challenge Calendar
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May 13th - May 17th: Bike to Work Week Sponsored by Atomic Object
All Week: Weekly Challenges: #BikeToWorkA2
- Snap a photo of yourself or your team with your bike(s).
- Post your photo of your alternative commute to our social media or email it to us at commute@theride.org and be entered to win some amazing gift cards. Include: #BikeToWorkA2 and #COMMUTEANDWIN
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Winners selected and announced on Monday, May 20th
All Week: Random Drawing
- Log a bike commute this week and be entered to win some amazing prizes
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Winners selected and announced on Monday, May 20th
Monday, May 13th: Bike to Work Day Kick Off!!
- Hosted by the Ann Arbor DDA
- Join us on the corner of Fifth Ave. & William
- Hours 7am-9am and 4pm-6pm
- Donuts, cookies, swag & a chance to win a pair of Ortlieb high-visibility rear bicycle panniers
Friday, May 17th: Bike to Work Day!!
- Get a badge if you ride your bike to work on this day and log your commute
Bike Commuting Stations - click here for a list of all 12 stations (scroll down to bottom of page)
Raffle as part of Bike Commuting Stations enter for the chance to win:
- GoalZero Nomad 7 Plus Solar Panel Charger & Flip 20 Charger
- NiteRider front bike light & Planet Bike rear light from Tree Fort Bikes
- Moosejaw gift bag
- Domino's Pizza gift card
Take a pic visiting stations and be entered to win one of several fantastic gift cards from local businesses. Include: #biketoworka2 & #COMMUTEANDWIN
Winners selected and announced on Monday, May 20th
May 20th - 26th: Walk to Work and Carpool to Work Week
All Week: Weekly Challenges: #WalktoWorkA2 #CarpooltoWorkA2
- Snap a photo of yourself or your team on your walk or in your carpool to work
- Post your photo of your alternative commute to our social media or email it to us at commute@theride.org. Include: #WalkToWorkA2 or #CarpoolToWorkA2 and #COMMUTEANDWIN
- Prizes include these gift cards: $25 to Ann Arbor Running Company, $15 to Pretzel Bell, $10 to Lucky's Market & $20 to 7 Eleven!
- Winners selected and announced on Tuesday, May 28th
All Week: Random Drawing
- Log a walking commute this week and be entered to win one of the following gift cards: $50 to Bivouac, $50 Footprints & $25 to Pacific Rim!
- Log a Carpool or Vanpool commute and be entered to win a $100 gas card or $25 Pacific Rim gift card!
- Winners selected and announced on Tuesday, May 28th
Friday, May 24th: School Spirit Day
- Snap a photo of yourself or your team decked out in your school spirit stuff to be entered to win $25 Mden gift cards (up to 15 people) (see photo rules). Include: #COMMUTEANDWIN
- Winners selected and announced on Tuesday, May 28th
May 27th - May 31st: Creative Commute Week All Week:
Weekly Challenges:
- Snap a pic of your weird and wonderful commute and tell us about it to be entered to win fun gift cards(see photo rules). Include: #COMMUTEANDWIN
- Log an alternative commute this week and be entered to win fun gift cards
- Winners selected and announced on Tuesday, June 4th
All Week: #NoMoHaiku
- Create a Haiku about your non-motorized commute, photos encouraged. That includes running, biking, walking and even skateboarding and kayaking!
- Post your Haiku to social media using our hashtags or email it to us.
- Be eligible to win gift cards from lots of local businesses
- Include: #NoMoHaiku & #COMMUTEANDWIN
- Winners selected and announced on Tuesday, June 4th
Thursday, May 31st: Last Day of the Challenge
- Finishing logging those commutes and earning badges.
June 1st - June 4th: Wrapping up the Challenge
Monday, June 3rd
- LAST DAY TO LOG COMMUTES!
Tuesday, June 4th
- Organization winners announced!
- Referral grand prizes randomly drawn
- Captain grand prizes randomly drawn
- Overall individuals randomly drawn
- GenZe E-bike winner randomly drawn
Commuter Challenge photo and Haiku submission rules
To be eligible for prize drawings, you need to be registered for the Commuter Challenge and do the following:
- Submit photos on our social media. Be sure to make your photos public, tag @getdowntown, include #COMMUTEandWIN and #NoMoHaiku (for Haiku challenge)
- Facebook - @getdowntown
- Twitter - @getdowntown
- Instagram - @getdowntown
- If you submit your photos on social media, you'll need to email us at commute@theride.org. Please include your name and the organization you are with.
- You can also email us your photos to commute@theride.org and we'll post it to social media for you. Be sure to include your name and the organization you are with.
I have questions
No problem - email us at commute@theride.org
Remember, you get a FREE ice cream coupon from Washtenaw Dairy when you log your first commute! Coupons are sent via Mailchimp each Monday.
Please note - due to programming issues, we will not be able to offer the Strava integration for this Challenge. We are working with our developer to get this fixed for our next Challenge. We apologize for the inconvenience. We really liked having that option to make logging commutes easier.
- Bike to Work Day Stations
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Below is a list of the 2019 Bike to Work Commuter Stations. Be sure to visit as many as you can on Friday, May 17th from 7:00am-9:00am. Click here for a lovely map of all the station locations.
