The Seattle Department of Transportation is encouraging residents of certain neighbourhoods to use sustainable modes of transportation, such as water taxis, bicycles and electric scooters.
People who sign up to the scheme can receive credit to use on these public transit or self-serve transport modes.
The programme, called "Flip Your Trip West Seattle", offers up to US$25 (RM105) in credit to use on water taxis or scooter- and bike-share schemes, for example.
It is primarily aimed at residents of the West Seattle, South Park and Georgetown neighbourhoods, who are first in line to be impacted by the closure of the West Seattle Bridge to cars.
The bridge is expected to undergo renovations until mid-2022. However, an adjacent bridge is still open, but only for pedestrians, cyclists and public transportation to access other parts of the city.
The City of Seattle hopes that this programme will encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation to cross the Duwamish River, and that this will change their travel habits in the long run.
Seattle isn't the only city trying out such initiatives. More and more municipalities around the world are encouraging people to use green mobility instead of cars.
This is the case, for example, in Lahti, Finland, the European Green Capital, where an application proposes to calculate the CO2 emissions linked to residents' journeys in order to be able to reward them accordingly, in the form of various reductions in stores or free transport tickets. – AFP Relaxnews
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