Beat the Street, known as Bitwa na kilometry, is part of a pilot EU SWITCH project which aims to embrace activity and sustainable travel.
Thirty-two Beat Boxes have been placed around the Piecki-Migowo and Kokoszki districts of Gdansk, Poland, and tapping two with a smart card records a journey. As well as getting more active, there are great prizes for participants such as trips to the park in Brzezno or to the BlokFit climbing wall.
Three Gdansk primary schools were selected to take part in a journey round the world for 30 days from 14th September to 13th October. This has been embraced with huge enthusiasm and 2,400 participants, comprising children, staff, parents and teachers, made it round the world once (40,075 km) in just five days.
The project is a research and campaign conducted among participants in the survey are its integral part.
As one parent said: “the whole district just went crazy” and feedback has shown that almost 900 out of the 1,600 people who responded to a survey said that they were interested in receiving more information on walking and cycling when the competition ends.
Beat the Street in Gdansk is part of an innovative EU — funded project called SWITCH. SWITCH focuses on life changing moments when people transfer schools; move home; or receive medical advice to increase their physical activity. Switch campaigns target willing people and provide personalised travel plans to support an interest in walking and cycling more.
