Hamilton City Council is relaunching a programme this month, designed to encourage businesses and school across the city to adopt better travel modes. The Wednesday Challenge for schools and Weekday Challenge for business programmes encourage participants to bike, walk, run, scooter, catch the bus or carpool to work or school instead of travelling by car.

Hamilton City Council’s Urban Transport Manager, Martin Parkes, says the two sister programmes align directly with the council’s Access Hamilton transport strategy.

“Our vision to enable everyone to connect with our city in safe, accessible and smart ways. Our transport strategy is guided by principles including environmental responsibility, so the Wednesday Challenge fits well in that.”

In previous years the ‘challenge’ has run in schools and businesses as the Wednesday Challenge. This year businesses are being offered more flexibility and the chance to double down on their impact on the Challenge with the launch of the bespoke Weekday Challenge for business.

“After 4 years as the Wednesday Challenge we recognised that businesses were keen to do more,” says Founder and Co-Director, Heidi Hughes. “So, this year, we have evolved the business programme into the Weekday Challenge. It effectively allows them to choose healthier commuter modes as many days a week as they choose to.”

Participants earn points, rewards and prizes when they log their daily commutes and business and individuals can view live stats on their carbon emissions, healthy kilometres travelled, most common modes and ore on powered up Challenge dashboards.

“Businesses love competing against each other to see where they land on the leaderboards each month,” says Heidi. “We also get a lot of the feedback from businesses and their teams on the value of the challenge in improving participants health and well-being and in their ability to make a positive impact on the environment.”

Last year challenge participants across the country logged more than 954,000 journeys, saving more than 420,000 kilograms of CO, taking over 300,000 cars off New Zealand roads and seeing participants cover over 2.4 million kilometres through walking, running, biking, scootering, and public transport instead of driving.

Craigs Investment Partners has been involved in the Challenge since it started and has branches throughout the country taking part.

“The Challenge has helped our team become more mindful of their commute choices, encouraging healthier and more sustainable modes of transport,” says Client and Corporate Communications Manager, Abbie Siely. “At an individual level, participants have noted improved mental health, better fitness, weight loss and financial savings among the benefits of taking part.”

Abbie says being able to track their team’s outcomes is a huge feature of the Challenge. “Last year alone, the Challenge dashboard has calculated that our participation has resulted in 3,033 kg of CO reductions and the equivalent of 1,459 cars taken off the road – a clear demonstration of collective action making a real difference.”

The Challenge was founded by Hughes in 2022 to address road congestion and carbon emissions. Teach year new cities sign on and this year the Weekday Challenge will also launch in Whangarei.

“The Wednesday Challenge has been so successful since we launched it. Some cities are running both the Weekday Challenge for businesses and the Wednesday Challenge for schools, some have chosen which programme to run,” says Heidi. “It gives cities the flexibility to choose which best aligns with their strategic aims.”

Heidi says, at the heart of the challenge, is the collective power of individuals working together for greater good.

“Our individual actions are supercharged when applied collectively. The Weekday Challenge for businesses and the Wednesday Challenge for schools is a catalyst for this. People really get it,” says Heidi. “They understand that this is an initiative by the people, for the people. They see that, as individuals, we can make a difference, have some fun, reap the benefits and lead by example.”

The Weekday Challenge launches for business Monday February 23rd and the Wednesday Challenge for schools on Wednesday February 25th.

For more information visit www.weekdaychallenge.co.nz

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