The Freiker (FREquent bIKER) program began in Boulder, Colorado in the spring of 2004. The founder, Rob Nagler, couldn’t convince his children to ride their bikes to Crest View, less than one mile away.
Freiker nudges children to regularly bike/walk by employing an inventive combination of advanced technology and incentives. With the aid of an RFID tag on their backpack or helmet, children record their efforts through the Freikometer, a solar-powered radio frequency ID reader, which scans their tag and counts the number of days they ride or walk. Children log on to the Freiker web site to see the number of rides they have accumulated and, at the end of the year, receive prizes and rewards. The program is operated through schools with the efforts of volunteers and support from Freiker. There are 12 systems operating in the US and Canada.