July 15th 2014

Commuters lap the Earth three times in the City’s first Commuter Challenge

Commuters and organisations across Derby have taken part in Derby’s first Commuter Challenge last month.

Organised by Connected, the aim of the challenge was to get as many people as possible leaving the car at home, and instead choosing to walk, cycle, use public transport, motorbike/scooter or car share for their daily commute to work, and work related journeys, as well as avoiding travel by home working.

Over 35 businesses and 500 commuters took part in the challenge.  Together over 9,000 journeys were logged, 8 tonnes of CO₂ saved, over one million calories burned, £10,000 saved in petrol costs, and over 81,000 miles travelled (three times around the earth).

The overall workplace winners (based on participation) were:

• Micro Organisation (3-24) Safe and Secure Home Insurance
• Small organisation (25 – 90) University of Derby Students’ Union
• Medium Organisation (91 – 249) Capgemini
• Large Organisation (250+) Interfleet (pictured).

Winning organisations received four weeks outdoor advertising, and also received a £100 donation to a charity of their choice.  Charities benefiting included Annabel’s Angels, Derbyshire Air Ambulance Service, Macmillan Nurses in Derby and Railway Children.

Individual participants were awarded prizes including £50 store vouchers, iTunes vouchers, family cinema tickets and free bus travel for logging the most journeys.  Winners included Arshad Mahmood of Derby City Council and Vijay Raj of Capgemini who both logged 54 walking journeys, Aaron Walters (pictured) of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with 76 cycle journeys logged, most train journeys logged went to Andy Prior of East Midlands Trains with 41 journeys, Deborah Bleasdale, a local carer topped the most bus journeys logged with a staggering 99 journeys, most car share journeys went to Chris Mo of ASG group with 41 journeys, Ian Chennery of Derby City Council logged 24 motorbike journeys and Dominic Hilton of Derby College logged 25 avoided journeys by working at home, and most journeys logged overall went to Dale Finnegan of Capgemini and again to Aaron Walters of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for logging 122 journeys each. A final prize went to Dean Harlow of Etches Park (Expert Recyclers) for saving 0.7 tonnes of CO₂.

Councillor Martin Rawson, Cabinet Member for Planning, Environment and Public Protection said “We wanted to encourage Derby commuters to reduce their number of car journeys and have fun competing against their colleagues and other companies. We’ve had some great feedback from people who say it motivated them to get on their bikes or start walking to work and leave the car at home. I am pleased with the number of people who participated, and hope that they continue to travel in this way, reducing congestion and pollution in the city”.