Travelwest Challenge 2019 Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some common questions you might have about the challenge. If you don’t find the answer to your query below, please tap Help in the app and send us a message.How do I join the Travelwest Challenge?
You join by downloading the app and register within it. Your postcode will make the programme eligible for you. If you live outside of the West of England but work within that area, you can add the referral code: "TWCOA2019". In "Programmes", scroll down to "TravelWest Challenge 2019" and then tap Join and choose your organisation from the list.
How are participants ranked on the leaderboards? Is there a minimum distance?
How are participants ranked on the leaderboards? Is there a minimum distance?
There are two types of leaderboards within the challenge. There are the individual leaderboards displayed within the app. You will be able to see overall numbers such as distance, CO2 saved, and number of awarded activities per week and Overall. There is also an organisational leaderboard within the app and another version can be viewed on the website here. Organisations are ranked by sizes. The categories are micro, small, medium and large.
The overall measure within the organisational leaderboard is 'engagement'. Engagement rank is calculated by the number of active users who have joined a particular team vs. the total size of the organisation. A micro organisation who have 2 users who sign up an do an activity out of a possible 4 users, would have an engagement rank of 50%.
The minimum distance to earn a ticket varies: 1/4 mile for the main sustainable travel draw, 1/2 mile for bus journeys, and 1 mile for car share journeys. Details of all Activity Rewards can be found in the Programmes area of the app.
What do you do with the data collected during the challenge?
We obtain aggregate data by combining anonymous data that meet certain criteria into groups.
We may share aggregate or anonymous information in various formats with trusted non-BetterPoints entities, and may work with those entities to do research and provide products and services. No one person's data is singled out and shared beyond the information contained within the leaderboards.
Winners in this challenge agree to share their first name and last initial on social media and within the app. Other users can see first names and last initials as well as leaderboard placement of other users in their company but cannot see or access any further personal information about these individuals via the app or website. See our website for full terms and privacy details.
Can you use the website to self-report?
Many other schemes such as WorkPlace Challenge, LovetoRide and others let people self-report their own activities without any evidence, such as reporting number of steps or miles ridden on a given day. The benefits of this can be that it opens the programme up to as many people as possible, regardless of ownership of compatible hardware, data connection, GPS or software capabilities. For those running programmes open to the general public and funded by public money, this openness and inclusivity is heralded as the most important criteria for taking part.
However self-reported data can be invalid, sometimes over simplified and at times unfair. There's nothing to stop people inputting false data and winning prizes.
Using BetterPoints circumvents these issues and inaccurate oversimplified data. Our app allows the verification of activities through GPS, frequency, time and date, motion, speed and path.
By using these verifiers, the issues of self-reporting are minimised and the data produced by our evidence is reliable, highly detailed and fair.
I’m self-employed, can I take part?
Yes. Workplaces of all sizes can take part, from self-employed individuals to workplaces with hundreds or thousands of staff on site. Just join with 'No Organisation' if you are self-employed.
If the challenge has already started, can I / my workplace still join in?
Yes. Employees and new workplaces can register to take part at any time for the duration of the challenge. If you don’t see your workplace when you register please contact customer care (by sending them a message under the 'Help' section of the app) who can add your workplace to the challenge.
What type of activity counts?
All active (walk, run, cycle) and sustainable travel (bus, train, car share) activities of at least .25 mile, or .50 for bus journeys recorded within the West of England rewards zone will count towards the challenge.
I want to try walking, running or cycling to work but I don’t know the best route. Can you help?
Travelwest provides lots of information to help support you to do this. Please tap here to visit the TravelWest website for more information.
Why can I only earn so many BetterTickets per day for a prize draw?
BetterPoints programmes have targets funded and set by its partners, and they are configured to measure certain metrics that will form part of the evaluation of the programme.
There is an assumption that people will use the BetterPoints system in the spirit of the goals of the programme, however from time to time we discover people using the BetterPoints app against the spirit of the programme to gain an unfair advantage. An example of this is starting and stopping activities multiple times in a single journey to falsely inflate the number of journeys tracked. This gives the user an unfair advantage to earn more BetterTickets and/or BetterPoints than they would normally be entitled to. Thereby abnormally increasing their chances of winning, as well as potentially putting them ahead of others on a leaderboard challenge.
This activity is not in the spirit of the BetterPoints programmes which seek to encourage and motivate people to become more active and lead healthier happier lives.
We have algorithms built into the system to detect this type of activity and you will be notified if your activities appear to follow this pattern. Breaking up a single journey into multiple activities for the sole purpose of artificially meeting a target may result in you being disqualified from a prize draw, points being removed from your account and/or you being excluded from using the BetterPoints app.
How does the app work?
For more information about BetterPoints or how the app works, tap here.