Almost 7,000 people have already taken to the streets of Renfrewshire walking, wheeling orcycling between Beat Boxes located on lampposts around the area to incentivise active
travel!
The Beat the Street Renfrewshire game launched earlier in September with 2,269
participants signing up on its first day, who with other players, have since clocked up a
whopping total of more than 53,600 miles!
Beat the Street is a free, fun interactive game that encourages people of all ages to move
more by choosing to travel actively around their local area; it started on Wednesday 13
September, and will continue for six weeks until Wednesday 25 October.
As well as helping people create healthier lifestyle habits, it also improves air quality,
congestion and pollution, and connects people to their communities and green spaces.
Beeping and flashing sensors called ‘Beat Boxes’ have been placed on lampposts around
Renfrew, Bishopton, Inchinnan, Erskine and Langbank for the duration of the game to helpparticipants explore the local area and all it has to offer and to show players that travelling by car doesn’t always have to be the first option.
Primary school pupils have been provided with cards and a map while the wider community can pick up a card from one of the distribution points which are listed on the Beat the Street
Renfrewshire website, or if they are over the age of 13, they can download the free Beat the Street app.
Players then walk, wheel or cycle between the Beat Boxes which are spaced approximately half a mile apart – hovering their cards over the Beat Boxes to score points. The further players travel, the more points they score for their community or school team. The first Beat Box you hover your card over marks the start of your journey.
There are leaderboards for schools, community teams and charity teams and each is divided into total and average points to ensure that smaller teams are in with an equal chance of winning. Barsail Primary School is currently at the top of the total points leaderboard!
There are themed weeks with a different focus for players to make the most of their game experience. This week is Go Travel, where players can clock up double points on Beat Boxes around commuting hours from 7am to 9am and also 3pm to 6pm on weekdays. Those playing may also notice some intriguing new sounds coming from the Beat Boxes as they collect their points from Wednesday 27 September when Go Travel week begins. With so much opportunity to secure more points, organisers stress that it’s not too late to sign up and get playing!
Councillor Michelle Campbell, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Infrastructure, Land and Environment Policy Board, said:
“It’s fantastic to see so many people taking part in Beat the Street already as we try to
encourage people to become more active and live healthy lifestyles.
“Whether you are walking, wheeling or cycling between Beat Boxes, you will feel the
physical and mental health benefits of being out in the fresh air and staying active.
“Am amazing amount of miles have been clocked up already, but you can still join the game if you haven’t already so sign up online to get your free card and start tapping the Beat Boxes near you.”
Beat the Street Renfrewshire has been commissioned by Renfrewshire Council and is funded by the Scottish Government’s Air Quality Action Plan Fund and Paths for All’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme.
It is being delivered by Intelligent Health.
There’s still plenty of time to join in. More information, including where to pick up a free
card is available at, www.beatthestreet.me/renfrewshire and you can follow the game on
Facebook @BTSRenfrewshire, via X @RenfrewshireBTS, and on Instagram
@BeattheStreetHQ.