The city of Pisa has launched a new app with the help of the European Union to encourage collective and carbon neutral transport.
In the Italian city of Pisa, those who use public transport or non-polluting ones are rewarded. GoodGo is an app that detects all means of transport used, records the emissions of each user and the calories consumed, encouraging sustainable mobility.
Cinzia Cerrai was one of the first to sign up and is now wondering in which local shop she will use the points she has earned by using eco-friendly transportation. "This morning I left my bike, took the train, walked a bit, and took the bus. I scored 48 points, so I made it to the ranking and I can collect a prize.", says Cinzia.
Chiara, another Pisan uses a bike every day. What she enjoys most about the app is the "Savemybike" function that tells her the safest places to park her bike. But the platform also offers a useful gift for those who sign up, a passive radiofrequency Identification-Based sensor that can be added to a bike and tracked if the vehicle is stolen.
"There is a specific place to insert the sensor into the bike. You pull up the saddle and insert it in. And then, in case the bike is stolen, I take the phone with the app and there's the possibility to report that it's stolen and then, through the city police, I can find it", explains Chiara Pazzagli.
The project has a total budget of 815,007 euros and is 44.9% funded by the European Union's cohesion policy (by 366,753 euros). Within the first week of the launch of the application, 300 people registered. The target is to reach 5,000, according to the platform, and rank Pisa up as a bicycle-friendly city.
Massimiliano Petri is the project leader of this app. He was one of its project initiators and was convinced something had to be done when he realised in Pisa, that "only 9% of citizens" used public transport. "The bicycle is used, but not a lot. We have therefore tried to introduce this system to reduce the density of private vehicles in cities.", reports Massimiliano. His initiative also convinced the municipality.
Those who use sustainable transport generate points that are equivalent to virtual money, accepted in partner shops in the Region. Cinzia has chosen her prize in Ciccolato Argento chocolate shop. And according to the show owner, everyone wins.
"It is very easy to use the app, both for us and for the customer and it’s the municipality that directly reimburses the vouchers that have been spent in our shop", Paola Di Bello, CEO of, Cioccolato, Argento.