This week until September 22 is European Mobility Week. It is seven days dedicated to getting European cities to love their public transport, l’amour their cycle lanes and liebe their feet. The main aim of EU Mobility Week is to raise public awareness of the pollution caused by our ever increasing urban motor traffic and encourage us European citizens to act against it. Not only will less cars mean less pollution but it also makes for quieter, safer cities and an improved quality of life for its urban dwellers. Throughout the week, cities across Europe will be taking part in various ways, getting their communities to think twice about how they travel.
This year’s theme is Alternative Mobility. So we decided to share with you some of our favourite alternative means of transport. Some are sensible, others are less so. If you want to give up the car ride to work but don’t fancy the bus or your bike, maybe one of these ideas will tickle your fancy…
(Image: Pedibus)
Pedibus
Cycling by yourself can be a bit daunting, especially when those big buses comes rattling past. Find a few friends who work near you and hop on the Pedibus – you’ll have some company and you’ll have all the road visibility you could want!
(Image: Virgin Media)
Space Hopper
Maybe you don’t like blending into the crowd, maybe you feel like cycling just isn’t energetic enough or perhaps you just really like bouncing. The Space Hopper is way more fun than walking. Why not hop the hop?
(Image: Pymesonline)
Pogo Stilts
Yes, pogo stilts. Need I say any more?
(Image: South Lake Tahoe)
Canoe
Ok so there probably aren’t many of us that can canoe to work. But this guy did and so did this one. It looks a lot more relaxing than braving the traffic jams!
(Image: Core77)
Unicar
Forget the singular unicycle – that’s so 2010. What you want is the 4H, the four person unicycle. Four unicycles connected together so you can cycle on one wheel but with all the confidence of knowing that if you’re going down, so are your three mates.
So why not try getting to work a little differently this week. You’ll probably get stared at, you may make some new friends and you’ll definitely produce less CO2. If you’re worried about being the only one – stop panicking, the guys at Google are all over the alternative commute. With 40% of their staff traveling to work in a means of transport that isn’t just sitting in a car all by themselves, they have over 70 specialised mini-buses (that save more than 5,400 metric tons of CO2 each year), a canoeist, a 1000-strong bike share scheme within the work place and Google even donate money to charity for every time someone arrives at work in a sustainable way. Nice work Google!
Want to read some more about sustainable travel ideas? Check out the wind powered car, the cooking oil powered van and the pedal powered pub.
Katherine Hui is currently the Social site editor at Green Thing, a web-based public service in London that inspires people to lead greener lives through creative content.
Before this, she worked as the Development Manager at Social Innovation Camp, an organization that encourages people to use web and mobile-based technology to mobilise social change. She oversaw 300 ideas submission and helped build 20 prototypes – five of which have gone on to get further funding or investment.
Katherine’s came over to the UK form Canada in 2007 for an MSc program at the London School of Economics. Before arriving in London, she managed a small environmental start-up in Vancouver called the Canadian Climate Change Alliance.
Katherine is football mad. She is a loyal supporter of Arsenal FC, plays for Islington Borough Ladies FC and coaches for Gunners in Islington in her spare time. Her second favourite hobby is kite surfing and she can sometimes be found chasing the wind.
