Try Something New for Rideshare Week
Next week, October 1-5th is Rideshare Week. During Rideshare Week, solo commuters are encouraged to try a new, greener mode of transportation, including riding the bus or train, carpooling, vanpooling, riding a bike or walking to work. Held the first week of October annually, it is a nationally recognized event.
According to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), last year more than 16,000 trips and 650,000 commuter miles were logged for Rideshare Week in Orange County. They are looking for that same level or greater in 2012.
Rideshare week is a powerful green movement that makes a difference. A single person commuting by bus, train or vanpool instead of driving alone can save 200 gallons of gasoline a year. Imagine if more people started regularly commuting by a mode other than driving alone.
Southern California leads the nation in air pollution and traffic congestion. Currently eight in ten commuters drive alone to work and traffic congestion is growing by 3% each year. If changes aren’t made, average rush-hour speeds will drop by more than half in the next decade – from 35 mph to 15 mph. Sharing the ride is a low-cost solution that will help meet Southern California’s growing transportation needs and improve our air quality.
OCTA’s share the ride program is here to help. They can help you find a vanpool, plan a trip by bus or Metrolink, or join a carpool. They even have a calorie counter to help you calculate how many calories you burn walking to your destination instead of driving.
If going green and saving money isn’t enough reason to participate, you can also register at pledge2share to enter to win great prizes too. Or share your story on OCTA’s Facebook page and win more prizes – OCTA will pick one winner, plus the three “most liked” stories will win too.
So get ready to share the ride – next week for the Rideshare Week. Once you try it, you may find you like it, and make a lasting change for the better!
Ridesharing and taking the bus is a beautiful theory, and makes for exciting, trendy buzzwords such as “going green” but let’s face it, public transportation in Orange County, or, for that matter, anywhere on the west coast is not up to speed, especially when compared to a regional public transport administration such as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Tranportation Authority.
I’ve been taking the bus and my bike exclusively for the past year and I can tell you that the buses run late (if they stop when they are supposed to, that is) and routes change with very little notice. Most employers are unwilling to accommodate a “green minded” mentality, that’s if you can even find a job where they *don’t* ask whether you have “reliable” transportation. Frankly, I wouldn’t consider public transport reliable based on my own experiences.
OCTA likes to blow its own horn, but it has a tremendously long way to go before more consumers will ever consider replacing their personal vehicles with public transport.
I agree that public transportation in Orange County has a way to go. However, I wouldn’t rule out the entire west coast – have you ever been to San Francisco? BART is awesome! And timely, and reliable, and well, I love it! Unfortunately, true mass transit in Southern CA has been ruled out by voters and politicians at virtually every turn. I am still hopeful that someday, it will see the funding it deserves. But just because our mass transit is imperfect does not mean it should be ruled out as an option entirely. I have used OCTA reliably for transportation to events and non-work functions without any problems. And if you need reliable transportation to work there are also the options of vanpools, carpools, biking and walking – all well within your control with time frames. I am just not a big believer in – “well it’s imperfect so let’s just rule it out altogether.” Just my two cents.