There are many commuter campaigns that seek to reward commuters and boost their morale/enthusiasm. Most campaigns of this type require some sort of trip logging on a calendar, such as the statewide Wheel Options, Cascade’s Commute Challenge, or the McGinn-era WalkBikeRide.
Commute Seattle has launched a contest called Creative Commute, foregoing the somewhat stale trip-logging precedent for something a bit more qualitative and participatory. The Creative Commute contest asks Seattle commuters to share what they love about their commutes via their choice of digital media, whether videos, photos, poems/haikus, essays, storyboards, comics, etc. The entries will be judged for creativity and originality, and will be shared on Commute Seattle’s website and on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Video entries will be uploaded to YouTube.
The Grand Prize winner will take home their choice of an electric assist bicycle or an iPad Air. 2nd Place will win $250 to spend at REI, and 49 runners up with take home $50 to REI.
Eligibility: Entrants must work in the City of Seattle and entries must feature a commute mode other than driving alone
Deadline: Entries must be received by August 31
Accepted File Types: txt, doc/docx, pdf, jpg, gif, png, jpeg, mp4, mts, avi
Commute Seattle’s Media Release after the jump…
This is awesome. Downtown Bellevue on the Move folks, can we do this too?
This is a great idea! We have something similar in the works for August but it’s great to know that there is some interest for a contest!
I like that this doesn’t rely on claiming this contest convinced you to switch modes. It’s good to convince people to switch, but it’s also nice to reward those that have done so without the prospect of winning something.
Right? Statistics like “150 people switched modes for this gift card” aren’t exactly enticing to people who are on the fence about not-driving. Selfies with the cool people you’ve met? #nofilter #busfilter photos of the beautiful lake views you can gaze at every day without being a road hazard? A time-lapse of your knitting that grows every day as you are shuttled from home to work? That might actually have some emotional heft.
Several years ago, due to the high price of gas, my brother switched from a one hour each way car commute to a 90 minutes each way bus commute. The change enabled him to accomplish a life long goal of reading “Moby Dick.”
I think the Commute Seattle’s goal of reducing the drive-alone rate to 30%. What if that was Metro and/or SoundTransit’s goal? How would Metro and ST’s routes and schedules be different if that was the singular focus, even given the same budget? ANd umm, why isn’t that their goal?