The Municipality of Rome intends to expand the usage of bicycles for both leisure and systematic travel in urban areas, in order to promote sustainable mobility and improve air quality in the region part of its SUMP: here’s how.
Rome’s Action Plan (AP) has truly been a joint effort: Roma Servizi per la Mobilità (RSM) has engaged with local stakeholders in a number of different participatory processes to effectively understand how it could deliver the goals stated in its own Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP).
Based on these conversations, it developed an AP which focuses on one key priority of the SUMP: to promote sustainable mobility and improve air quality in the region by expanding the usage of bicycles through its “Roma corre in bici” app. Here are the details.
ACTION 1: Supporting the take up of cycling in Rome with ‘Roma corre in bici’ app
This activity consists in developing a tool to promote and incentivise cycling among the general public, in order to raise awareness on sustainable mobility and increase the share of people cycling for everyday purposes and not just for leisure.
This tool is a mobile app called ‘Roma corre in bici’ (Rome runs by bike), designed to certify and accumulate points according to one’s distance travelled by bike, which can then be exchanged for rewards.
To ensure effective implementation of the action, four tasks will be undertaken, namely:
- Engaging citizens and employees by designing the app’s reward mechanisms with their needs in mind;
- Engaging stores by providing visibility on future campaigns launched by RSM;
- Engaging companies through RSM’s network, enabling them to provide incentives to employees who use the app;
- Engaging the wider public by promoting the app through RSM’s official communication channels.
Current status
Since January 2022, the “Roma corre in bici” app is fully operational and as of June 2022, it counts 3390 total users. Communication campaigning is currently being re-launched, and a new survey on the use of bicycles has been conducted.
As results are being analysed, RSM is organizing further meetings with mobility managers and private companies to continue disseminating the app.
