Romanian City Gives Free Bus Rides To Passengers Who Read Books Inside
To encourage more people to read on public transportation, I proposed to our mayor Emil Boc that the city not charge passengers who read books. It took me more than a year to make this proposal a reality. Long story short, between the 4th and 7th of June 2015 everyone who “travelled by book” in Cluj-Napoca rode free of charge.
I also do other campaigns with my friends to promote reading, for instance, Bookface. People who have a book on their Facebook profile picture receive discounts in all sorts of places, from book stores to hair salons and even in dental practices. Another action we carry out is on the 23th of April (World Book Day). On this day, people who have a book with them can visit for free the local Botanical Garden.
PS: our biggest challenge now is to persuade Mark Zuckerberg to Book-face his Face-book profile. So keep your fingers crossed.
I came up with the idea of not charging passengers who read books on public transport
Our mayor posted my proposal on his Facebook page and the feedback was amazing
Finally, after 1 year of constant effort, my idea became a reality
Between the 4th and 7th of June 2015, anyone who read a book on the bus rode for free
I believe that it’s better to promote reading by rewarding those who read, instead of criticising the ones who don’t
Originally published at Bored Panda.
What a wonderful idea.
Contrast the attitude of Mayor Emil Boc who encourages reading by granting free bus rides to passengers reading a book, to the Philistine leader of Lincolnshire County Council Martin Hill who is forcing through closure of 30 out of 45 libraries in the County of Lincolnshire with the remaining 15 libraries on reduced hours. Or contrast with Birmingham where the State of the Art Birmingham Library opened to much fanfare by Pakistani schoolgirl Malala a couple of years ago is now on reduced hours and they are begging the public to donate new books.
