Boltage has been in operation since 2004, and currently has over a dozen systems in operation in Colorado, Oregon, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas and Ontario, Canada.

Freiker (which stands for FREquent bIKER) was the name of our prototype system. The program was renamed Boltage to more accurately reflect the inclusion of all modes of kid powered commuting.

The Boltage program is focused on K-8 schools with a reasonable population of kids close enough to walk or ride their bikes. Usually, schools have at least 200 students living within 1.5 miles, although the program has been successful at charter/open enrollment schools where the majority of kids travel greater distances. It is also important that kids can commute safely, so built environment is a consideration.

This is a tough question to answer - it is really based on the local situation. In some areas with low traffic volume, sidewalks and bike paths are not that important - in other areas they are critical. There are a number of resources available to assess the safety of the built environment. Click here for a PDF showing some resources.

We have seen a number of kids who live fairly far from school commute by bike rather than ride the bus. We also have schools that run a parallel incentive program to encourage kids to ride the school bus.

Our primary focus is elementary schools because we believe it is easier to "reach" kids at an earlier age. Many kids that have gone through the program in elementary school have continued walking and biking to their middle school - which is evidence of the ability of the program to establish long lasting habits.

We have tested the program at both middle and high schools, with greater success at middle schools. The challenge is developing incentive programs that appeal to older kids. So while we will certainly support middle and high school programs, we would caution you that the development of effective incentives might take added effort and creativity.

The increase in walking and biking will vary with each school, but we have seen cases where the increase is on the order of 500% in the first year, with additional increases in future years. Schools with well run programs can see participation in the range of 50-70% of eligible students every day, with over 90% of eligible kids participating at some level. It should be noted that these results are based on prototype incentive programs. As we improve the effectiveness of our incentive programs, we expect these results to improve.

Yes, in fact, a number of programs have received significant support from local businesses. In some cases, these sponsorships have provided funds for the purchase of systems, but more often, support is in the form of donated goods and services to be used as incentives.

Boltage is currently working to secure larger scale commercial sponsorship. Our hope is that a large national sponsor can help us reduce the cost of hardware and annual maintenance, enabling us to bring the program to more schools. As part of this effort, Boltage may offer exclusive sponsorship arrangements, so local organizations should talk with us before making any commitments to local sponsors regarding any public exposure they might enjoy as part of their commitment.

The most important aspect of launching a Boltage program is establishing a solid local organization. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, with a number of types of participants, including PTA/PTO members, interested parent volunteers, teachers, school district transportation staff, local businesses (typically bike shops) and local advocates involved in health and environmental issues.

Probably the best first step is to meet with the school principal and then present the program at a PTA/PTO meeting. Once you have the school principal and PTA/PTO on board, you can begin the fundraising process.

Most school principals are very enthusiastic about the program because they can immediately see the benefits. However, some principals are under tremendous pressure related to test scores and budgets, and may be luke warm to the idea. If you encounter this situation, we can help you build a strong case to demonstrate the benefits in a way that makes the program very appealing to school administration, including:

• impact on traffic around the school
• impact on student safety at drop-off and pick-up times (for example, 50% of kids hit by cars near schools are hit by parents driving their kids to school)
• impact on parental involvement in the school (it turns out that when people get out of their cars and talk to each other and school staff, they get more engaged at the school - and parental involvement is highly correlated with school success)
• impact on student readiness to learn

We have developed a budgeting tool you can download that will help you identify and quantify most of the costs associated with operating a Boltage program.

Click here to download the Excel spreadsheet.

Yes. Boltage can provide a mechanism for a donor to contribute to our 501(c)(3) non profit, and we can apply the funds to your school’s program.

Don’t worry too much - the kids will figure it out. They can lock their bikes to trees, fences, light posts, etc. It’s always a lot easier to get the school district to provide more racks when you show them pictures of dozens of bikes parked all over the place!

Systems will ship within 2 weeks of receipt of payment. Shipping times are generally a week or less.

The startup system ships in three parts:

• The Zap hardware - all the electronics that go up on the pole (solar panel, control box, RFID and wifi antennas, and associated mounting hardware and cables).
• The mounting pole (if required). We recommend that schools supply the pole themselves - specs are available here.
• The startup kit - some additional materials such as documentation, tools, RFID tags and miscellaneous goodies you will need to get going.

Installation is the responsibility of the local organization. Boltage will provide support throughout the process. Detailed installation instructions will be provided, but in short, the installation process is as follows:

1. Complete a site survey and decide on the best location for the Zap.
2. Install the mounting pole. Usually this is done by a local chain link fence supplier, although the school maintenance staff may also be able to do it.
3. Mount the Zap hardware on the pole. This takes less than an hour using standard hand tools. You will need a good size stepladder - the hardware mounts about 12 feet above the ground.
4. Set up and test the wifi connection. This step usually requires some technical assistance from a school IT person. Boltage can work directly with the school IT department. In some cases, we ship the wifi gear early to get a head start on this part.
5. Test system operation. Run some RFID tags past the system, and we’ll watch to be sure they are recording properly in the web site database.

Boltage will provide a detailed guide to locating the Zap unit, but in general, there are three main considerations in placing the Zap:

• The unit needs direct southern exposure (no shade) for the solar panel to operate at full capacity.
• The unit needs to be close enough to a school wifi access point to establish good connection.
• The unit needs to be placed where it is relatively easy for kids to go past, but not where it will accidentally read the tags of kids who have not walked or biked. Usually a central location is best, but with the unit pointed in such a way that kids need to make a deliberate effort to go past the unit’s "field of vision" - which can be adjusted.

If wifi is not available, a cellular based system is available at additional cost. However, virtually all schools have internet access, and establishing a wifi network is relatively simple and inexpensive (the hardware is generally less than $100). In some cases, we have been able to use a wifi network broadcast from a nearby home - the Zap system uses very little bandwidth (capacity) and does not noticeably impact anyone else using the internet connection. If you would like to consider a cellular system, please contact us for more details.

The most complicated part of setting up Boltage is getting the wifi connection working. Because we need access to network security, we need to be able to work with a school IT person - and for a trained IT person, this stuff is easy.

Outside of the wifi part, if you can operate a personal computer, surf the internet and use a simple spreadsheet program, you have all the skills you need to operate a Boltage program. And we are always available to walk you through any technical stuff that is new to you.

The Zap is a solar powered, wifi internet enabled RFID reader (now that is a mouthful). Sounds complicated, but it’s not so bad if you look at it piece by piece:

• On the top is a solar panel. The solar panel converts sunlight into electricity, and keeps the Zap’s battery charged up.
• In the middle is a control box. The battery is in there, along with a bunch of electronics that makes the whole thing work - think of it like a specialized computer. Also on the outside of the control box is a green light and a speaker.
• At the bottom is the RFID antenna. The angle of the RFID antenna can be adjusted to create the desired "field of vision" for the system.
• On some systems, up top is a wifi antenna that lets the Zap talk to the school wifi network and get on the internet to transfer its data to our web site database.

So those are the basic parts - here is how it works:

First of all, the system pretty much takes care of itself - it watches its battery level, and monitors the network connection, stuff like that - and it tells our web site if anything bad happens. The system powers the RFID antenna, which creates a "field of vision" in front of the antenna.

When a RFID tag enters the field, the Zap reads the unique number encoded in the tag, and records it in its memory. It also flashes the light and makes a sound so that the owner of the tag knows that his tag was recorded. This feedback is important because the machine has to get a good "look" at the tag - it can’t see through stuff too well, so the kids need to be sure they don’t block the Zap’s vision. After a while they learn how to do the "Zap Wiggle," which gets the tag oriented so the machine can read it.

The Zap will only beep for a particular tag once every 15 minutes - which helps the kids to be sure that the beep they heard was for their tag (if 3 kids walk past together, as long as they hear 3 beeps, they will know they were all counted). If someone goes past the Zap more than once during the day, the system only records one trip for them. And if for some reason, someone has more than one tag registered to them, and both tags are read, the system still only records one trip. If someone can’t get their tag to ring, or forgets to go past the Zap, their parents can go on the web site and add a trip for them.

About every 15 minutes, the Zap will automatically contact our web site and transfer its data. If it can’t get through for some reason, it just tries again later. It can remember many days worth of trips if necessary. Of course, the trips won’t show up on the web site until the Zap connects.

Yes. The battery holds enough power to run the system for at least a few days if it is cloudy or the solar panel is covered with snow.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is very cool technology that is used in a number of industrial and retail applications. You have probably seen RFID in action many times, and may have not even known it was there. Those highway toll payment devices you see on people’s windshields use RFID. Libraries put RFID tags in books. Big companies like Wal-Mart require many of their suppliers to put RFID tags on their products to make tracking and inventory control more efficient. Farms track livestock using RFID. They have even put RFID into golf balls to track them when lost, and in the playing cards used in televised poker tournaments so the commentators know what cards were dealt!

The type of RFID we use is called "passive," meaning the tag itself does not have a battery in it - it basically does nothing until it enters the "field of vision" of the Zap. Inside the tag is a small antenna and a computer chip. The Zap antenna creates an energy field that wakes up the computer chip, which then transmits its number back to the Zap. This all happens in milliseconds.

Absolutely not. The level of energy involved is far below the threshold set for safe electromagnetic field exposure. RFID is commonly used in all sorts of devises that you encounter every day. You may have a RDIF tag in your pocket right now. Some experts predict that RFID may someday replace barcodes - which are just about everywhere. Some hospitals even put RFID tags on babies to keep them safe.

The Zap units are very reliable. However, we all know that stuff will break from time to time. The Zap unit has been designed so that parts can be swapped out easily. All Zap parts carry a full replacement warranty for one year. After the first year, we will replace parts at our cost. And any troubleshooting by Boltage is included as part of the annual maintenance fee.

Local organizations are responsible for repair costs if the Zap unit is vandalized or stolen. However, the system has been designed to mount very high up on the pole so as to make it very difficult to reach, and tamper proof bolts have been used that require a special wrench to loosen.

Technically, no. But the whole idea is to use incentives to start to change habits - so we think it is a good idea to use some prizes. There are really two kinds of prizes: things that kids want because of their value (often expensive things), and things that kids want because they represent an accomplishment, and create a sense of belonging to a group.

Both types of prizes work, however, we think the most powerful long-term motivation comes "from within" the kids - knowing that they are doing something worthwhile. So the prizes are really just public recognition of their efforts, and a way to signify that they belong to a group of kids who are "doing the right thing." These types of prizes can also be quite inexpensive - things like wristbands and other "trinkets."

Absolutely. In fact, we are very interested in how certain prizes and awards are received by the kids. There is some complicated sociology going on here - and the more we learn about what works, the better we can make the program. So we encourage experimentation, particularly with prizes and awards.

We believe that to be most effective with younger kids, rewards need to come as quickly as possible and need to be frequent. Young kids simply are not good at delayed gratification - their time horizons are very short. So we think it is better to use limited resources for more prizes, rather than better (more expensive) prizes.

We are experimenting with things like rubber wristbands, key chains, stickers, temporary tattoos, etc. - inexpensive things that we can connect to the Boltage story - "make them cool." We are actively pursing bulk purchasing arrangements for many of these things so that the purchasing power of all participating schools can help bring costs down.

We have also found that when kids are asked why they participate, they most often say something about the environment. So connecting awards to improving the environment is a good way to make them meaningful to the kids.

Many schools create awards for things like most days walked, most days biked, greatest distance traveled, etc. These can be annual awards, typically presented at a year end school assembly, or monthly, or whatever works for you from an administrative standpoint. Often the actual prizes are made by the kids or volunteers - things like an old shoe spray painted gold or a donated stuffed polar bear to represent CO2 savings.

We also support a program called Green Gear, which lets you randomly select a kid from among those who walked or biked every day in a given time period, like a week. Some schools will post the kid’s name on the Zap machine, and they win some type of award, like a medal.

In addition to individual prizes, there are other approaches to motivation that will work with kids. In many cases, simply measuring their progress toward a goal can drive up participation. We have utilized this technique in our poster incentive program where we track the accomplishments of the entire school as they work toward a big goal - like traveling across the country. There are many ways to use this type of motivation - we encourage you to use your creativity to develop new ideas, and we will do our best to support your efforts.

Another area we are beginning to explore is creating competitions between schools, classrooms, and/or teams of kids, where we "race" toward a goal, such as CO2 saved, miles traveled, or other goals. The software to support these kind of contests is under development, and we hope to be able to launch this offering in 2010.

Yes, in our early years, we used iPods as prizes for kids who biked over 90% of the time. And yes, it worked, and yes, it was expensive. Our iPod experiment was an early step in learning how to motivate kids. We no longer promote iPods as prizes, but schools are welcome to give it a try if you have the budget.

Like most things, it’s hard to budget too much for incentives. But in the real world, we suggest something in the range of $10-$15 per participant per year. You can make the program work with less funding if you get creative and are able to establish an active presence at the school. If you choose to use our wristband and poster programs, they will typically cost about $4 per kid. The remaining funds can be used for things like t-shirts, tattoos, etc. - we suggest a mix of very inexpensive things that virtually all the kids can earn (like tattoos) and some more expensive things that only a limited number of kids will be able to earn (like t-shirts). This strategy enables you to keep as many kids interested as possible, and still provide some distinctive, meaningful rewards for the kids who really make significant efforts.

Like many things at school, at the end of the day, we rely on kid’s honesty. We tell them that cheating on Boltage is just like cheating on a test, or in sports. Some schools will have the kids sign an honor code when they register. While there will always be some cheaters, we have not found it to be a problem.

Yes. In order to identify kids to distribute awards, and calculate distances traveled, we need to know some things about each participant. We capture this information in the registration process.

Typically, kids will be given a RFID tag at the school along with a flyer that tells their parents about the program and how to register. Parents go to our web site and follow a straightforward process where they create an account, and then input the number from the RFID tag.

We can provide a paper registration form (also in Spanish if desired) that parents can fill out. The information from the form is then input into the web site by a local program administrator. Of course, these families can not track their progress online, but the kids can still earn prizes and recognition along with all the other kids.

Parents (and kids with their parents permission) are able to see all the trips they have accumulated. In the future, we will show a "dashboard" that shows them things like total miles, CO2, pollution and gasoline saved, and calories burned.

RFID tags are relatively inexpensive. If they are lost or damaged, a new tag is issued by the local program administrator, and the parent simply adds the new tag number to their kid’s account on the web site.

The primary activities of the local organization are:

• fundraising
• program planning and organization (interacting with school staff, volunteers and other stakeholders)
• registration (handing out RFID tags and helping parents through the registration process)
• award administration (establishing incentive programs, planning events, and generating and distributing supporting reports and materials)
• award distribution (physically delivering awards to the kids on a regular basis and helping execute award events)
• system administration (hardware and network troubleshooting)

We have developed a planning tool that details some of these activities and enables you to input any hourly cost you may want to plan for if you anticipate using paid labor. Most schools handle all these activities with volunteer labor and school staff time without any out of pocket cost to the program.

The number of people needed to operate the program varies with the skill set of the individuals and the time they can dedicate. Most programs operate with one key person who is our single point of contact at the school. This person then uses whatever combination of volunteers and school staff appropriate for their situation. The group often changes with each new school year.

Most groups include the school principal, one or two teachers (often PE teachers), 3-4 parent volunteers, and sometimes a school district transportation person. Each persons time commitment will vary, with the lead person, parent volunteers and teachers putting in the most time, and the principal and school district people spending less time.

We only collect information necessary to run the program, plus a few optional things that help us evaluate our effectiveness. This is generally less information than can be found in most school directories. All information in input by parents - we do not access school records.

• kid name (first & last)
• RFID tag number
• year of birth (optional)
• gender (optional)
• school name
• teacher name (or in some cases another relevant "group" like classroom number)
• parent name (first & last)
• parent email
• distance to school
• home zip+4

No.

Our web site is password protected and uses state of the art security features. More detailed information about our security protocols are available upon request.

The RFID tag does not contain any personal information. It only contains a number that lets us associate it with a participant. So there is no personal information transmitted to or from the Zap machine, or over the school wireless network.

Click here for a PDF of our Privacy Policy.

You are free to use nicknames or an alias to identify kids. However, the people distributing prizes and awards need to know the nickname/alias in order to deliver the awards.

No. There is no way that anyone else can "track" or identify kids through their RFID tags. While it is conceivable that the RFID tag could be read by another reading device, all the device would read is a seemingly random number - there is no personal information stored or encoded on the tag.

No. The Boltage program is not designed to provide a positive confirmation that a kid has arrived at school. While it is possible for a parent to check the web site and see that their kid was Zapped, there are simply too many situations where this would be unreliable. Parents are solely responsible for ensuring the safety of their kids.

The Boltage program does not require that parent’s walk or bike with their kids, but we strongly encourage it. Participating with kids sends a message that walking or biking is a worthwhile activity. We have heard from many parents that the time they spend walking or biking to school with their kids is often the best part of their day.

No. There are a number of excellent program and resources available. Here are a few:

The League of American Bicyclists
The National Center for Safe Routes to School
Kids Health
BicycleSafe.com
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center

Boltage improves safety by getting kids out of cars. A few facts to consider:

• According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC): "50% of children hit by cars near schools are hit by cars driven by parents of students." Reference
• Research has shown that "Where, or when, more people walk or bicycle, the less likely any of them are to be injured by motorists. There is safety in numbers." Reference

There are a number of strategies, resources and funding sources that can be used improve safety. The Safe Routes to School movement is a great resource for understanding what you can do:

National Center for Safe Routes to School
Safe Routes to School National Partnership