For the first time, European Mobility Week hosted the international "Walk for your City" challenge, where residents from almost 500 European cities competed for the title of the most active walking city. With more than 3,100 participants, the Riga team came in a very respectable second place, behind only Vilnius, with more than 3,300 walkers.
In total, the Riga team collected more than 128 million steps in one week, which is equivalent to 734,000 kilometres – almost 27 times around Europe. With this result, the residents of Riga saved around 132,000 kg of CO2 emissions, symbolically saving more than 3.6 million trees that would have been needed to absorb these emissions if they had travelled the route by car.
The title of the most active walker city goes to Vilnius, where more than 3,300 walkers entered the team, accumulating more than 146 million steps.
Riga Jaunciems Primary School wins illusionist Pecolli's guest performance in the Riga Schools Step Challenge "Walking Together"
To promote active lifestyles among schoolchildren, Riga City Council organised the School Step Challenge "Walking Together". 64 schools took part, and the total number of participants reached almost 6,000 students, teachers and family members. The aim of the challenge was to walk at least 2.5 million steps together – symbolically circumnavigating Latvia. All schools that achieved this goal were entered into a prize draw to win the grand prize – a performance by illusionist Pecolli for the whole school. 19 schools managed to reach this target and the main prize was awarded to Riga Jaunciems Primary School.
The turnout of schools in this challenge was particularly high. More than 900 walkers took part in the Riga Imanta Secondary School team, accumulating a total of 33 million steps. More than 800 participants walked at the 84th Secondary School in Riga, collecting 30 million steps. The team from Riga 49th Secondary School included almost 600 students and teachers who walked more than 23 million steps. In total, Riga schools walked more than 157,000 kilometres – the equivalent of 90 trips around Latvia. The result was a saving of 28,377 kg of CO2 emissions and a symbolic saving of 788,000 trees.
The "Walk for your City" Challenge was organised by the European Commission in partnership with the Walk 15 app and with the support of EIT Urban Mobility. The "Walking Together" challenge was organised by Riga City Council in cooperation with the "Walk 15" app.
This year's European Mobility Week theme was “Mobility for Everyone”, which emphasized sustainable transportation options for everyone, regardless of income, gender, ability, or place of residence. Riga City Council has set the slogan "Sustainable Mobility: Accessible to Everyone!” for the city's activities, reflecting the city's commitment to greener and more inclusive mobility.