Bologna, Italy, Is Giving Free Beer, Ice Cream, and Movie Tickets To Cyclists

The city of Bologna, Italy, is hoping to incentivize people to take more sustainable methods of transportation by offering free beer, ice cream, and movie tickets to those who ditch their cars.

Bologna, a city of 388,000 people in northern Italy, initiated a program called Bella Mossa, or “good job,” in 2017. It was developed by an urban planner named Marco Amadori to reward people who are walking, cycling, or using public transportation to get to their destination. Points are given for each journey on an app called Better Points, and those points can be swapped for goods at participating local businesses.

Bella Mossa is designed for locals, but sustainability-minded travelers can use it as well. Each person can log a maximum of four trips each day for 200 points each, with something like an ice cream costing 3,000 points. If making the world a little greener while earning free treats isn’t enough, the app also shows how much CO2 you’ve kept from entering the atmosphere. Cue the sustainability commuter competitions.

Around 100 businesses are participating, and they’re compensated by funds from Bologna’s city government and the European Union. Bella Mossa’s goal to reduce CO2 emissions appears to be working. According to the BBC, more than 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) have been logged in Bologna, and 16,000 reward vouchers have been claimed.

The program runs from April to September, so if Bologna is in your 2019 travel plans, prepare to get to stepping.

H/T: BBC