Commuter Challenge

2025 Commuter Challenge Information

Prizes

Organization Prizes

Check back in April for 2025 prize descriptions. 

Challenge Captain Prizes

Check back in April for 2025 prize descriptions. 

Individual Prizes

Check back in April for 2025 prize descriptions. 

Rules

To be eligible for team prizes: 

• Workplace teams must submit their total number of employees to getDowntown, not just those signing up to be eligible. Information will be reviewed and confirmed for accuracy. Co-workers participate together to see if they can get the highest percentage of employees to try an alternative commute. 
• If you get the most participation in your size category, participants from your organization will win a celebration at your worksite.
• In the case of a tie, the category winner will be determined to be the workplace team with the higher average distance logged per participant. 
• Eligible workplaces must have addresses in the city of Ann Arbor, city of Ypsilanti or Ypsilanti township. Employees of the Ann Arbor DDA, AAATA, and City of Ann Arbor are not eligible to win team prizes 
• Qualifying trips must be logged by June 6, 2025 to be counted toward this contest.

Organization size categories:

• 2-20 employees
• 21-49 employees
• 50-100 employees
• 101+ employees

FAQs & Tech Help

Why does this program exist? 

The goal of the Commuter Challenge is to help community members become more inclined to commute via walking, biking, carpooling, vanpooling, and taking the bus in May and after the competition.

What are the dates of the event? 

Commute trips taken May 1 - 31, 2025 count towards the challenge.  

Am I eligible to participate? 

This challenge is for people who work in the greater Ann Arbor area. See Rules section of this website for additional details. 

Can I participate by myself? 

Yes. We encourage co-workers  to join the challenge together and try get as many employees as possible trying an alternative way of commuting at least one day this May. If you are the only person from your workplace who signs up, you could still win individual prizes. Check this page in April for tools to help you recruit your co-workers.

How do I register? 

 Check back in April for the link to register your organization. If you have previously participated, we will email you a reminder in early April.

How do I create a team?

Check back in April for more information on creating a workplace team.

How do I earn rewards? 

You earn rewards by using the getDowntown website or app to report when you use green transportation for your commute to work. Green transportation includes walking, transit, biking, carpool or vanpool, teleworking, or scootering. The website and app will allow you to log other trips you may take, like going to the grocery store, but those trips won’t count towards the challenge. 

Where can I find all the activities happening during the challenge?

The Commuter Challenge Calendar drop-down below is a good resource for activities related to the Commuter Challenge.

Where can I find resources to help me with alternative commuting?

Many resources for bike, bus, rideshare and walking can be found on getdowntown.org/commuter-resources. Additional tools to help you recruit your co-workers can be found under Marketing Materials on this page.

Why do I have to log the starting and ending location of my trips?

Logging where your trips started and ends helps calculate the greenhouse gasses that could be saved from your trip. The getDowntown program measures and reports the collective miles travelled and the estimated impact on greenhouse gas emissions of those participating in the challenge.  

What are the prizes? 

See the Prizes section of this page for detailed information about prizes. getDowntown will provide prizes at levels that fall within the IRS safe harbor for de minimis limits.  

How are the winners chosen? 

See the Rules section of this page for detailed information about how prizes are distributed.  

What should I do if I’m experiencing a glitch with the website or app?

Please don’t be shy about pointing out a bug you are experiencing! We might not know about the issue so explaining what you are experiencing to us will help get it fixed. Contact the getDowntown Program at information@getdowntown.org

What should I do if I have questions that aren’t answered in the FAQ?

Contact the getDowntown Program at information@getdowntown.org. We want you have to a great experience so get in touch!

Marketing Toolkit

We are happy to share materials to help encourage participation in the Commuter Challenge. Materials for the 2024 challenge are linked below. Check back in April for new materials for 2025!  

• Join the challenge flyer (PDF)
• Virtual background (for Zoom or Teams)
• Tips for organizational social media accounts to engage in the Commuter Challenge

Resources for bike, bus, rideshare and walking can be found on getdowntown.org/commuter-resources. 

May is also National Bike Month. Find information and resources regarding biking here and a local Bike Month calendar here. 

 

Commuter Challenge Calendar

The Commuter Challenge isn't only about logging commutes. Stay tuned for a full calendar of Commuter Challenge 2025 activities!