INDIANAPOLIS — As part of International Car Free Day on Wednesday, Sept. 22, central Indiana residents are encouraged to go "car free" or "car lite" by working from home, carpooling, using public transit or walking that day.
"Car Free Day isn’t just for commuters," said event organizer Jennifer Gebhard, an assistant director of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority’s Commuter Connect. "It's for anyone who refrains from a greenhouse gas-fired transportation mode. We're hoping those who work from home will take the pledge and do errands or after-work activities in a car-free or car-lite kind of way."
To encourage participation, Car Free Day celebrations will feature music, free breakfast and lunch on Midtown Plaza in Carmel and on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. Bike Indianapolis and Bike Carmel have also declared Sept. 22 to be Bike to Work Day and will participate in the festivities at both locations.
Companies and organizations can participate too, Gebhard pointed out.
The Car Free Day Corporate Challenge rewards organizations with the largest number of employees who take the pledge and the organization with the highest percentage of its employees who take the pledge. Prizes will include a coffee party, which could be virtual for remote employees, a physical award, bragging rights and more.
Companies already signed up early to compete for the corporate challenge are High Alpha, UKG, OneCause, Launch Indy, DemandJump and OnBoard. In 2019, Rolls-Royce had the most employees participate, and Zylo had the highest percentage of its employees participate.
The event was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, but with so many Hoosiers working from home, "we all saw how fewer commutes literally cleared the air last year," Gebhard said. "So we're hoping that this year's Car Free Day will be our best yet."
Commuter Connect is a federally funded service designed to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion.
