Bologna rewards ‘green’ travel with free beer

Travellers in the Italian city of Bologna are being incentivised to give up their cars with the offer of beer, ice cream or cinema tickets. An anti-pollution initiative rewards people who cycle, walk or take public transport. A hundred local businesses have signed up to the programme – called Bella Mossa (or ‘Good Job’) - to give away discount vouchers, the BBC reports. Funded by the European Union and Bologna’s local government, Bella Mossa runs for six months of the year. Users download an app, log thei
November 1, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Travellers in the Italian city of Bologna are being incentivised to give up their cars with the offer of beer, ice cream or cinema tickets.


An anti-pollution initiative rewards people who cycle, walk or take public transport. A hundred local businesses have signed up to the programme – called Bella Mossa (or ‘Good Job’) - to give away discount vouchers, the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external BBC reports false https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06pjwck false false%>.

Funded by the European Union and Bologna’s local government, Bella Mossa runs for six months of the year. Users download an app, log their sustainable journeys and exchange the points they receive for goods.

Points are based on distance travelled, with a GPS tracker ensuring people are using the mode of transport which they say they are. You can only log four ‘green’ journeys per day – which means you have to keep using the app over time to build up points.

Urban planner Marco Amadori set up Bella Mossa in 2017 to make sustainable transport attractive: “For the first time we have been able to involve all people,” he said. “Everybody will have the possibility to change a car trip into a bike trip or into a bus trip and be able to get some discount for his good behaviour.”

Last year the app recorded 3.7 million sustainable journeys in Bologna, with 16,000 reward vouchers claimed, says the BBC’s Amelia Hemphill.

Related Content

  • Transaxiom shows method to ensure charity funds get to their planned destination
    November 5, 2014
    Anecdotal evidence suggests that only 60% of donations made to developing nations actually reach the people they are supposed to help. But UK company Transaxiom presented at CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS a method that aims to eliminate this loss. “The moment you hand over the cash, you have no idea what’s happening to it,” says Ram Banerjee, (right) co-founder and director of Transaxiom.
    Read More
  • Trafi and BVG launch all-in-one mobility app in Berlin
    February 21, 2019
    Technology firm Trafi has partnered with public transport company Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) to launch a mobility app which it says integrates all modes of transport in Berlin, Germany. Trafi claims that the Jelbi app will allow users to access the city’s entire public transportation system including scooters, bikes, ride-hailing and car-sharing as well as taxis. The idea is that users can plan and book journeys without needing to sign up to additional companies or jump between different apps.
    Read More
  • Hawaii wins more than $400,000 in EPA Grants
    November 27, 2018
    The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $411,578 in Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grants to Hawaii to help curb pollution from diesel vehicle sources. The EPA’s West Coast Collaborative administers the DERA programme. This partnership, which combines the EPA’s Pacific Southwest and Pacific Northwest Regions, utilises public and private funds in a bid to reduce emissions. The Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) intends to use the grant to replace two diesel transit buses with batter
    Read More
  • London more than twice over air pollution limit, says ClientEarth
    October 14, 2019
    Greater London is more than twice over the legal limit for air pollution levels in the UK, according to a study. Charity ClientEarth says the UK is failing to meet the legal limits of nitrogen dioxide pollution, where the annual average concentration level is 40µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre of air). Findings show London’s annual mean concentration of 89 µg/m3 is followed by South Wales (62 µg/m3), West Midlands Urban Area (58 µg/m3), Glasgow Urban Area (58 µg/m3) and Tyneside (54 µg/m3). The study f
    Read More

Highlighted Content