Top 10 Tips

1. Make a goal to commute one more day a week by public transportation than you do now.
If you’re not sure you can do the public transportation thing, start small with one day a week until you figure out the system.

Benefits: Saves money and gas. Allows you to make public transportation manageable and work for you.

2. Reduce frequency of plane trips.
Try to reduce the number of plane trips you take and try not to use a plane for any trips under 1000km. Plane trips are way more environmentally destructive than automobile trips. While a full airplane and car emit roughly the same CO2 per person/km, the plane goes a much further distance, thus a greater impact. (The same does not hold true when comparing a SUV/truck with plane travel).

Benefits: Reduce your carbon footprint – thus reduce global warming.

3. Request that your community upgrade their diesel buses to fleets of LNG or biodiesel buses.

Benefits: Reduced CO2 emissions, reduction in imported oil dependency, in the case of biodiesel engines actually run cleaner and more efficient than petrochemical diesel.

4. Try the bus or train for longer trips.
Buses, trains, light rail and ferries generally have dedicated travel paths that are quicker than sitting alone in your car, which can cut down travel times.

Benefits: You don’t need to worry about finding and paying for parking, theft or damage to your car, etc.

5. Walk to school.
Most children live close enough to walk to school, but few do. Instead of driving your children the few blocks to school, walk with them or allow them to take the school bus.

6. Catch a taxi.
Really these are a form of public transport because you don’t own them, and when you don’t need the service they are made available for others to use. Look out for hybrid or pedi-cab taxis for an even greener option.

7. Telecommute
Don’t drive to the office, or fly to that conference, if you can arrange to complete your work/presentation electronically, or via video conferencing. Video conferencing can reduce 99% of the energy used for a trans-continental flight.

8. Buy fare saver tickets
Return, weekly/monthly, or off-peak tickets are often significantly cheaper than single ride tickets, which will encourage you to use public transport more often.

Benefits: The associated costs of owning and running a car have been shown to be much higher than the costs of regularly using public transport, taxis and car hire (should find these figures somewhere).

9. Plan your trip
Obtain timetable and route-maps for your journey to know what to expect in advance. Many municipal public transport systems now have free online databases than will take your staring point and destination and calculate the fastest times and best route for your trip. This can take the uncertainty out of public transport travel.

10. Be a Change Agent
If you don’t use public transport in your local area because the service doesn’t work for you, for whatever reason, then get it changed. Write letters to your city newspaper, comment on their online stories that address urban travel, join a public transport advocacy group, and meet with your local government representative. Things won’t change, until you inform people you want them to.

So You Wanna Do More:

1. Buy Carbon Offsets for your trips
British Airways is teaming up with Climate Care to offset passenger emissions for air travel.

2. Don’t own a car. *Hardcore*
Plan your life so you live near where you work, or on a public transportation route, and also where you can get too all needed services without the use of an automobile.

3. Get Loud. *Hardcore*
While public transportation is a good idea, some buses are not clean. If you live in an area with bad transportation, make your voice heard with the people that make decisions and pay the bills, that you want a clean fuel or hybrid bus. Not only is the exhaust from that old bus a nuisance, its also bad for your public health. Tell that dirty bus to hit the road.

By the Numbers
‪ For those of you out there taking public transportation, you’re not alone – an estimated 14 million Americans take public transportation daily.

‪ If one in ten Americans used public transportation daily, US reliance on foreign oil would reduce by 40% and if one in five Americans used public transportation daily, the carbon monoxide emissions saved would be greater than the combined emissions from all chemical manufacturing and metal processing industries.

‪ Riding a bus is 79 times safer than riding in your automobile (Ideal Bite says 90 times). National Safety Council says riding a bus is over 170 times safer than an automobile.

‪ Public Transportation saves 855 million gallons of gas each year or 45 million barrels of oil, which is roughly the energy needed to power ¼ of all American homes annually. According to Ideal Bite, for every bus used, 60 cars are taken off the road and for every train used, 200 cars are taken off the road.

‪ According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 1990 diesel school bus emits 16% more global warming pollution than a natural gas bus.

Getting Techie

1. What is Bus Rapid Transit and how is it different from regular bus service?
Bus Rapid Transit is a prioritisation of public transportation, namely bus service whereby the routes are streamlined and the service is highly efficient. There are different ways to streamline the trip, but the goal is to make bus service similar to that of rail transport. Examples of how to streamline these routes include developing designated bus lanes, or allowing buses on HOV routes, and limiting the stops on these bus routes. Traffic signals can be modified to recognize buses and give them preferential right-of-way. Fares can be collected prior to boarding the bus, which then allows passengers to enter from all doors. Without the right of way, BRT systems still encounter congestion issues even if some of the other timing issues are streamlined. In addition, BRT’s still suffer from the same stigmas as buses, in that some areas see bus systems as inferior to car transportation. Many large US cities currently use BRT systems.

From the Archives
Treehugger.com has been a leader in promoting the green lifestyle and has numerous resources on how others have done just that. For more information, you can begin by checking out the Transportation, Bicycle or Eco-travel sections on Treehugger.com. Below is a collection of transportation related articles posted on Treehugger.com.

Treehugger recently asked readers to chime in on whether and how they have reduced their dependence on cars. Some of the strategies are pretty creative while others are really informed critiques on plans devoted to improve travel which are doing anything but.

‪Have You Reduced Your Dependence on Cars?
Instant Survey: Your Commute
Treehugger Instant Survey: Airplane Travel

Taxis are a smaller form of public transportation, and even they are getting in on the
hybrid act.

Alternative fuel buses are popping up all over the world, including biodiesel buses in
Toronto, diesel hybrid buses in London, hydrogen buses at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Games in Berlin, and Volvo plans to begin producing hybrid trucks and buses.
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Train travel is better than flying, well, from an emissions standpoint it is and it’s a lot more peaceful. Japan has even begun converting its diesel-electric trains to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells. That’s the spirit.
‪
Public Transportation Maps: Google is now offering public transportation maps for cities, beginning with Portland, OR and with more cities to follow.

Ferries: San Francisco may soon have a new attraction – 600-passenger hybrid-electric Solar Sailors to ferry people back and forth to Alcatraz. These ships come complete with solar wings, which cut fuel needs in half. The other plan is to use these aquatankers ship water to drought-plagued areas of Australia. While Staten Island ferries are being retrofitted to reduce particulate and Nox emissions.

Further Reading
In addition to Treehugger.com, other organizations have put together resources that may be helpful as you continue to green your life.

For more information on public transportation options and ballot initiatives in your community, see this interactive map provided by Center for Transportation Excellence.

Homepage of the American Public Transit Association – an organization.

Google Curitiba, Brazil for a wealth of information on a city that is a leader in putting public transportation above private transportation. Their rapid bus transit system has allowed fast, efficient public transportation to dominate. (http://www.worldbank.org/transport/urbtrans/pub_tr/curitiba_summary.pdf for example)

George Monbiot article, “Flying is Dying” – flying is really destructive on the planet, namely it is highly destructive when it comes to the amount of emissions it produces, thus leading to global warming.

ChooseClimate.org allows you to calculate your CO2 emissions for any flight around the world.