Sustainable success: 123,000 green kilometres thanks to smart mobility data

The entire month of June was dedicated to change, a shift towards a greener, more sustainable way of travelling. The ‘30 Days Less Car’ campaign, initiated by the Sustainable Mobility Network, encourages participants to consciously choose more sustainable modes of transportation, positively impacting both people and the planet.

This campaign promotes sustainable transportation options like walking, cycling, public transport, and carpooling to create a society where people can move freely with minimal environmental impact.

During the ‘30 Days Less Car’ campaign, participants were encouraged to opt for alternative modes of transportation, share their experiences, and highlight any obstacles they encountered. The insights gathered were then used in constructive discussions with policymakers to improve mobility. What added to the campaign’s effectiveness was the collection of accurate data that showcased the impact of reduced car usage.

During the ‘30 Days Less Car’ campaign, a mobility challenge was organised in collaboration with Scone. This challenge aimed to gather valuable data on participants’ mobility behaviour before, during, and after the challenge.

© Scone

Throughout the challenge, Scone provided insights into various aspects of the participants’ mobility behaviour, including:

• Distances covered for different forms of transport, with behavioural differences for short, medium, and long trips.
• Amount of saved CO₂.
• Amount of saved euros.
• Even the nuances of driving behaviour, both within urban areas and beyond.

Scone is a digital sustainability coach allowing participants to set personalised mobility goals via the Scone app. Whether it’s greening long commutes for work or completely switching to biking for short trips to the supermarket, participants have the freedom to choose goals that suit their mobility needs.

The Scone app goes beyond addressing individual challenges; it forges a vibrant community of like-minded individuals. Participants can share their questions, celebrate successes, and inspire each other to achieve their sustainable goals.

The 403 active participants in the ‘30 Days Less Car Challenge’ significantly reduced their dependence on cars. Together, they covered an impressive distance of 123,000 green kilometres! That’s roughly one-third of the distance between our planet and the moon. Each participant could save about 385 kg of CO₂ annually, equivalent to approximately 77 full garbage bags. In terms of fuel, this translates to a savings of 300 euros per participant per year.

Short trips are especially interesting as participants can make the most difference by walking, cycling, riding scooters, etc., for distances under 7 km. It’s encouraging to see a 39% reduction in short car trips during the challenge. This is crucial because short car trips generate significantly more emissions when the car is not fully warmed up. Modern vehicles can emit twice as much pollution in the first five minutes of running.

In addition to these impressive figures, the Sustainable Mobility Network now has more profound insights into the driving behaviour of different participants. When comparing participants within and outside the city, it’s evident that it’s easier for city dwellers to leave the car behind, given the shorter distances to stores and the availability of more public transport. We see an impressive decrease of 47% in the share of car trips among city dwellers, while suburban residents also showed a remarkable reduction of 24%.

Key results:

• 403 active participants covered 123,000 green kilometres in 4 weeks.
• This leads to an annual saving of 385 kg of CO₂ per participant.
• Moreover, this means a saving of 300 euros per participant per year.

These results indicate that people are indeed willing to reduce their car usage. With the right motivation and a healthy dose of competition during a challenge, people refrain from using cars, as evidenced by the mobility data. This success is good for the environment and provides valuable insights for making policy decisions.

Discover how to organise a mobility challenge with Scone and experience how the digital sustainability coach motivates users to leave their cars at home by allowing them to set goals and share experiences in a vibrant community of like-minded individuals.