On Monday an event was held in the Town Hall to mark the occasion and Tartu Mayor Urmas Klaas and Rannar Raba, Editor-in-Chief of the Tartu Postimees, thanked the leaders of the Tartu Smart Bike Share system and others who performed noteworthy acts in 2019.

The Tartu Smart Bike Share system opened on June 8 and has become very popular with the city's residents throughout the year. As of Monday, almost two million kilometres have been travelled and more than 700,000 trips taken with bicycles.

A total of 5000 votes were cast in selecting the Deed of the Year.

Klaas said this year's deed changed the cityscape as well as the movement habits of many residents.

He said: "I am pleased that residents of Tartu selected the Tartu Smart Bike Share system as the Deed of the Year. This confirms that by building the biggest Smart Bike Share system in the Baltics we have taken yet another important step towards developing the living environment of the people of Tartu, and that our people appreciate it."

Residents of Tartu also considered the following deeds to be important in 2019:

• The Metallica concert in Tartu
• Awarding of the title of European Capital of Culture 2024 to Tartu
• Tartu Song Festival
• Automated External Defibrillators in the city space
• The first National Atlas of Estonia
• Ralli Estonia
• Waterpark at Anne Canal
• The renovation of the Variku School and construction of an athletic facility
• The new bus route network
• Vallo Toomla's documentary Verba Dierum: A Year with Marju Lepajõe. 

The organizers of the acts received a certificate and a box of eggs laid by the family of chickens living in Tartu's Village of Light this Christmas season.

The competition was organized by Tartu City Government and the newspaper Tartu Postimees for the 22nd time.

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