The Conscious Shopper: transportation

Showing posts with label transportation. Show all posts

Challengicious Monday: Use Public Transportation

>> Saturday, July 17, 2010

Another late challenge in the Travel Sustainably series:

Use Public Transportation

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Go for a ride. Get your transit feet wet by figuring out an easy route and going for a ride on the bus, train, or trolley. Make it a night out on the town: find your way to a restaurant, club, or movie theatre, and make sure you've figured out how to get back home!

JOGGING STRIDE

Commute using public transportation. Visit your local transit provider's website to plan your trip, and leave your car at home. You'll not only save money on gas and cause fewer emissions, but you'll also relieve yourself of road rage. Let someone else do the driving for you!

MARATHON RUNNER

Get involved. If you don't have public transit in your area or the public transportation stinks, join a local group to improve public transit, or start your own.

Will you take the challenge?

Challengicious Monday: Bike

>> Monday, June 28, 2010

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. This week's travel-related challenge is:

Bike

BABY STEPS

Dig out your old bike and take it for a spin. Work up your biking skills by riding in your subdivision or a nearby park or greenway. If you don't already own a bike, check Craigslist for a good used bike and get a tune-up at a local bike shop.

JOGGING STRIDE

Ride a bike to run errands. Fit your bike with a basket or panniers and ride it to the library, farmers market, or corner grocery store. If you've never ridden a bike in a city before, check out these posts (part 1 and part 2) from An Adventure Called Bicycling for safety tips.

MARATHON RUNNER

Commute by bike. Commit to biking to and from work. If you're worried about getting sweaty, keep your work clothes in the basket or panniers you installed during the Jogging Stride step and change when you get to work. You can also combine riding and public transit if you live too far from your workplace.

I'm still at Baby Steps on this one, and because of the three little ones, I don't think I'll be riding my bike much any time soon (unless I get one of these babies). But I am going to try taking the bike out for a spin every now and then - maybe riding with the boys at the park.

Will you take the challenge?

____________________

You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

image by andy_c

Challengicious Monday: Walk

>> Monday, June 21, 2010

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. This week's travel-related challenge is:

Walk

BABY STEPS

Check Walk Score to find out the walkability of your neighborhood. Start small and scope out your surroundings.

JOGGING STRIDE

Walk whenever you're half a mile or less from your destination. Transit planners say that a quarter of a mile is the maximum distance most people are willing to walk, but I think we greenies could deal with a half a mile. The average person can walk that in 10 minutes.

MARATHON RUNNER

Walk whenever you're a mile or less from your destination. Figure out what destinations are a mile from your house and make it a point to walk instead of drive. If you don't live in a very walkable area, use the mile rule when you're out and about - park your car in a central location, and walk from point to point. Most people can walk a mile in about twenty minutes. Accounting for traffic in many cities, you may even be able to get there faster by walking! Plus, you'll get your daily exercise without having to pay for a gym membership.

Will you take the challenge?

____________________

Image by pedrosimoes7

Travel Sustainably

>> Sunday, June 20, 2010

We've Trimmed Our Waste Lines, Energized, and Watered Down, and now it's time to...

Travel Sustainably

We'll be changing our transportation habits with the following weekly challenges:

With the recent oil catastrophe in the Gulf, I'm sure many of us are looking for ways to make a difference. Reducing our addiction to oil and switching to more sustainable modes of transportation will create energy independence, American jobs, and improved health. It's also one of the more challenging areas to change, which is why I think so many of us feel despondent about the Gulf oil disaster.

Luckily, every little bit matters, not only because we're using a little less oil but also because of the message that we send to corporations and the government that we want better cars, more walkable cities, and improved public transportation.

So let's get to it and see if we can travel sustainably in 2010. Come back on Monday for the first transportation challenge.

____________________

Image by suchitra prints

Biking...with Kids

>> Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today dreaming about family bikes:

As Envirambo wrote about yesterday, it's Bike to Work Week. I haven't been on a bike in years, but still I dream about being able to bike around town instead of driving, hauling my three kids and our groceries in our bicycle "minivan." Does such a thing really exist? As a matter of fact, yes. Bike designers around the world have taken away that age old excuse "but I've got kids!"

With three kids under six, I've had my eye on the ingenius Madsen - the only bike I've seen that can fit more than two kids. In fact, the Madsen can carry four kids, or two adults, or two kids and lots of groceries.

Read more...

Quick Tip: Walk Score

>> Monday, October 5, 2009

In the market for a new house? Wouldn't you love to live in a walkable neighborhood?

Enter an address at Walk Score, and they will calculate the walkability of that neighborhood based on the proximity to stores, restaurants, schools, and parks on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 being Driving Only and 100 being a Walkers' Paradise).

Even if you're not planning a move, it's fun to try out your own address in Walk Score to test the walkability of your neighborhood. You might discover that you're closer to more stores and restaurants than you think. Maybe it will convince you to walk more!

Our current house gets a Walk Score of 72 out of 100: Very Walkable.

How does your house score?

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Spotlight on Raleigh: The R-Line

>> Friday, October 2, 2009

Those of you who hang on my every word and read all my posts both here and at The Green Phone Booth (Hi, Mom!) know that I've been obsessing about my car problem - my gas guzzling minivan. It would be a really stupid financial move for us to trade in our car right now, so I've been trying to find ways to drive less or to avoid driving at all. The R-Line is one solution that I've come up with.

The R-Line is Raleigh's downtown circulator bus service. It runs from Wilmington, up to Peace Street, over to Glenwood South, down to South St (in front of the Performing Arts Center), and back to Wilmington - basically a great big loop around the downtown area. (See map.)

We live just a few blocks from Wilmington, so its incredibly accessible to our house. And best of all, the R-Line is always 100% completely FREE!

I know most residents of Wake County, being the sprawling suburban paradise that it is, don't live within walking distance of the R-Line, but if you ever head downtown, consider parking your car and taking advantage of this great service rather than driving from point to point.

Here are some of the attractions you can get to using the R-Line:

:: Seaboard Station (including ACE Hardware, Logan Garden Center, and several restaurants)
:: Moore Square (including Marbles Kids Museum and numerous restaurants and art galleries)
:: Glenwood South (including numerous restaurants and shops)
:: Warehouse District (including The Pit and Goodwill)
:: Snoopy's on Hillsborough Street
:: North Carolina Museum of History
:: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences
:: Raleigh City Museum
:: State Capital Building
:: Performing Arts Center
:: Conference Center
:: Wake County Courthouse
:: a couple of post offices

From Glenwood South, it's an easy less-than-a-mile walk to Cameron Village, where you can find:

:: clothing and shoe stores
:: restaurants
:: grocery stores (Fresh Market and Harris Teeter)
:: salons and a barber shop
:: Rite Aid
:: jewelry and gift shops
:: Blockbuster
:: UPS Store
:: a drycleaner
:: a library
:: an eye care store
:: a cell phone store
:: a toy store
:: a sporting goods store
:: home decor shops (including Ten Thousand Villages)

It's also about a mile from R-Line stops on Glenwood Ave to both Pullen Park and Fred Fletcher Park.

My son's school is also 3/4 of a mile south of one of the R-Line stops, and I'm also looking into finding doctors and dentists closer to my house so we can walk there for well check-ups and regular cleanings. (Obviously if we're sick or drugged up, we wouldn't walk.) Now if only I could convince more of my friends to move downtown....

Have you tried the R-Line? What did you think?

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Spotlight on Raleigh: Smart Commute Challenge

>> Friday, May 1, 2009

If you're looking to reduce your carbon footprint, or just save money on transportation, here's a challenge from GoTriangle to get you started:

The SmartCommute Challenge is an annual non-profit public service campaign that works to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality in the Triangle.

From April 15 through May 30, any employee or college student who commutes to work or campus in Wake, Durham, or Orange County can participate. To enter the Challenge, make your online pledge that at least once before May 30 you will carpool, vanpool, bike or walk, ride the bus, or telework (work from home).

Everyone who takes the Challenge will be entered into a drawing to win one of several PRIZES, including $2,500 cash!

That's the easiest challenge ever! You only have to be a Smart Commuter one time before May 30th to be eligible for prizes. What could be easier than that?

Will your one smart commute make a difference? Well, the Smart Commute Challenge website asserts that "last year, during the Challenge, the more than 12,000 Triangle drivers who took the Challenge saved over 1.7 million pounds of CO2. That’s the annual carbon footprint of 43 Americans, or about 4 softball teams!"

So take a few minutes and sign up...You won't lose anything, and you might gain $2,500!

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