Pete’s and the City of Boulder have teamed up in an attempt to get people out of their car one day a week.  Driven to Drive Less is a program designed to decrease roadway congestion and vehicle emissions, improve quality of life and make getting around Boulder without a car easy and fun.

Boulder, Colo. (Sept. 2, 2010) The Driven to Drive Less campaign launches Sept. 4 according to the City of Boulder. Driven to Drive Less is designed to decrease roadway congestion and vehicle emissions, improve
quality of life and make getting around Boulder without a car easy and fun. This Saturday, Sept. 4, a street team will be armed with iPads signing up participants at the Boulder Hometown Creek Fair from 11 a.m. – 2
p.m. The Driven to Drive Less campaign will continue recruiting participants online atwww.driventodriveless.com
and with street teams at special events throughout Boulder and Denver.

“The idea is to make Driven to Drive Less a fun, social, game-like experience,” said Mike Sukle, Sukle Advertising’s creative director whose firm has been tasked to bring the Driven to Drive Less campaign to life. “Instead of focusing on sacrifice, we’re developing a community of like-minded companies, organizations and participants for a win-win movement that celebrates a car-light lifestyle.”

The goals of the campaign, guided by the Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program, are to get Boulder residents and in-commuters to decrease their use of automobiles. The Driven to Drive Less strategy is to get thousands of people to pledge to drive less by keeping their car parked at home at least one day per week. If just 2,800 participants fulfill this pledge it will equate to taking 400 cars off the road for an entire year. Success will be measured by tracking participants’ decrease in the number of vehicle trips, vehicle miles traveled and transportation related emissions.

Boulder is already known for its progressive, accessible public transportation and cyclist- and pedestrianfriendly roadways and paths. However, even with such great options, the 24.4 square mile town still struggles with congestion. Residents and daily in-commuter drivers on Boulder streets have an opportunity to create big change through small individual contributions. -moreDriven to Drive Less 2/2 “All we’re asking is for people to do their 14.3%,” said Cris Jones, City of Boulder transportation planner. “That’s 14.3% less pollution, traffic, road rage and fossil fuels that we’ll experience, per person, if we would celebrate carlessness just one day each week.” Boulder’s average in-commuter travels 17 miles per trip each way to work. A daily round trip of just 25 miles equates to the production of 5,435 pounds of CO2 per year. That’s well over the amount produced by a round-trip flight from Los Angeles to London.

Driven To Drive Less will cultivate a community on Facebook where participants can interact and share stories. It’s where they’ll also be lauded and rewarded with perks for accomplishments each week, like going car free one day per week for two months, and being the most changed member of the community.

The Driven to Drive Less Campaign is supported in part by a federal CMAQ grant, the City of Boulder and local sponsors, all of which are offering perks to participants, and include Noodles & Company, Backpacker Magazine, Full Cycle, The Sink, Pete’s Electric Bikes, Eco Products, The Onion, eGo Car Share, Community Cycles and Downtown Boulder. Anyone interested in participating can learn more and sign up at DriventoDriveLess.com.