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Twenty squats for a free bus ticket

In the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, citizens can get a free bus ticket if they do twenty squats in front of a special kiosk. Running through the end of December, the Health Ticket — or Biletul de Sănătate — is a relaunch of a campaign that Sports Festival ran last year, with people in Cluj doing over 1 million squats in 99 days.

The aim isn't just to get people moving for a bus ticket, but to inspire them to adopt a more active lifestyle. After doing twenty squats in front of the kiosk, they might do another set at home, or even decide to make physical exercise part of their daily routine.

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This isn't the first time people have been able to swap physical exercise for free rides. As part of a promo for the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014, people could squat for free train tickets at a station west of Moscow, and Indian Railways installed a squat kiosk in February 2020 as part of the country's 'Fit India' program.

The appeal is evident: organizers get people moving and participants are immediately rewarded for their exertion. Since promoting both physical exercise and public transport is a double win for public health, one to keep spreading to other towns and cities? And with OMNIBILITY in mind, how about including a different type of exercise for people who aren't physically capable of doing squats?