Celebrating International Programmer’s Day On Vilnius’ First-Ever Pedestrian Mobile Lane

Have you ever bumped into someone while walking down the street and staring at your phone? Of course you have - we all have, and depending on how you look at it, we either have programmers to blame or to thank for it. With today being International Programmer’s Day, the City of Vilnius has decided to pay homage to programmers, and have done so by setting up a dedicated ‘mobile lane’ along one of the Old Town’s main pedestrian arteries.

That’s right, if you fancy a stroll and scroll through Vilnius, just head over to Vokieciu Street and get in the mobile lane. It’s made specifically for the pedestrian who simply can’t afford to take their eyes off their phone. Whether you’re scrolling, swiping, liking, or waiting for the breeze to pick up before taking the perfect selfie; this lane’s for you.

It’s not all about the pedestrians, though. The mobile lane reflects all that programmers have done and continue to do for our lives and the ways in which we stay connected. From the apps we use daily on our phones, to the devices we use in hospitals, at work, for security and so much more – we owe a lot to our programmers.

International Programmer’s Day and the new pedestrian phone lane it has inspired are made that much more enjoyable with Vilnius’ public wifi, which happens to be the world’s fastest. Just as quick is Vilnius’ continued development as a European tech hub. It’s home to a number of established FinTech companies, ICT startups, and Game Developers, and is attracting more and more with its business-friendly attitude, accessibility and infrastructure that’s ready to accommodate even more growth.

Beyond giving programmers their well-deserved credit on their special day, the City of Vilnius is actively collaborating with them to become a smart city that’s perfectly adapted to the digital age. Ambitions are high and the future looks bright, and the phone lane is really just the tip of the tech iceberg in Lithuania’s capital. Until then, there’s no shame in taking advantage of the phone lane, and it might even make the sidewalks a bit safer, too.

Vilnius municipality teamed up with American software development company Devbridge Group for producing mobile lane of the city. The company was the innitiator of the project.