Got a blue car? The city of Boulder wants you to consider commuting sans car on Mondays.
Red car? Take a break from driving on Wednesdays. White? Thursday is your designated day of the week to leave your vehicle at home.
On Labor Day weekend, the city plans to launch a campaign to encourage residents to “do their 14.3 percent” to cut down on the number of cars on the road — reducing air pollution, cutting carbon and road rage — by making a commitment to go car-free on the day of the week that’s correlated to your vehicle’s color. Those that stick to their car-less commitments can win prizes from the campaign’s sponsors.
Participation in the program — called Driven to Drive Less — will be voluntary, and so is the day that participants choose to take a break from being behind the wheel. (There’s no penalty for red-car-owning participants who commit to being car free on the white-car day.)
The connection to car colors — and the program’s whimsical website, — is part of an intentional drive by the campaign’s designer, Sukle Advertising, to give a light-hearted feel to the car-cutting movement.
When the city, which is paying for the bulk of the program with a $105,000 Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program grant, put out a request for proposals to run the Driven to Drive Less campaign, they got a lot of applications from traditional transportation consulting firms. Those proposals tended to be a little heavy on the wonky transportation jargon and a little light on the catchy inspiration that might actually stick with local drivers, said Chris Jones, a city transportation planner.
So, the city chose Denver-based Sukle Advertising, the firm responsible for Denver Water’s “Use Only What You Need” campaign.
The idea for Driven to Drive Less is rooted in the one-less-car programs that have existed for years in several large U.S. cities, such as Seattle and Chicago. But unlike Boulder’s concept, most of those programs ask people to give up their cars for a month or even a year.
If 2,800 people participate in Driven to Drive Less, that effect will be equal to taking 400 cars off the road, according to the city.
Get involved
Driven to Drive Less will officially launch Sept. 4 at the Boulder Hometown Creek Fair. But the campaign is looking for more sponsors and businesses that want to involve their employees. Anyone who is interested should visit or e-mail driventodriveless@ .
