Seattle Incentivizes Residents To Ditch Their Cars
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island on 05.27.08
While John McCain and Hillary Clinton are looking to a summer gas tax holiday to ease the pain Americans are feeling at the pump, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, a leader in the push to get cities to adopt the Kyoto Protocol, has taken a different approach: incentivizing drivers to ditch their cars with a "give your car the summer off" campaign, while at the same time actively promoting alternatives such as cycling, walking and public transit. Here are just a few of the incentives being made available:
summer discounts at Woodland Park Zoo, the Museum of Flight, the Burke Museum, the Seattle Art Museum and the Pacific Science Center for patrons promising to drive their cars less.There also will be drawings for cash and gift certificates for residents pledging to reduce their car trips, stop commuting alone, sell or park their car for a month, and for those already biking, busing and walking.
Okay, so clearly people can take advantage of this program by pledging to ditch their cars without ever actually doing so. However that's missing the point: when gas costs $4 a gallon, many people are actively looking for ways to avoid driving.
Furthermore, it sends a very strong message when the mayor of a city encourages alternatives, and it doesn't hurt to have local businesses on board as well. Finally, Seattle has committed to meeting the Kyoto Protocol by reducing its emissions 7% below 1990 levels by 2012, a goal the city can achieve "If residents shaved 1,000 miles off their car driving annually."
In addition to announcing the incentive program, City officials also "touted programs. . . to increase the number of bike lanes, plans to occasionally close certain streets to vehicle traffic to make them more attractive to walkers and bikers, and proposals to expand the routes of streetcars into Seattle neighborhoods." In other words, drivers aren't being asked to simply stop driving in order to win a prize or get a discount to go to the zoo; rather, they are being made aware of the alternatives to driving, and the incentives are just a fun way to make those alternatives more visible.
Via: ::Seattlepi.com
See Also: ::In Seattle, A Ride on the S.L.U.T. is Good For the Earth, ::City of Seattle Gives Bottled Water the Boot, ::Keeping the Emerald City Green, ::Seattle Garbage Trucks to Spew Less Garbage Into Air, ::Seattle's Bike to Work Day is Taking Place on May 16, 2008, ::Seattle Could Recycle Food Waste, and ::Bicycle Master Plan for Seattle
How about a contest nationwide among "green" cities to reduce use of cars, increase car-free shopping districts, bike-riding, bike paths, walking and use of public transportation? Are there other cities with similar programs? Which ones? What a great idea! Should also let the candidates know that a fuel-tax holiday is NOT the solution! MC Fischer
Good on Seattle... I i wish I lived in a city with decent public transportation and a mayor that is actively trying to put in cycle lanes. When will most North American cities work our that if you provide it, people will use it. And rising fuel is helping! it freaks me out to think how much the cities of North American need to invest in upping their game with regards to public transportation infrastructure compared to Europe! All those decades of fuel taxes wasted on not building infrastructure and now there will be a HUGE demand and not enough money to implement it...
I really like the idea of "give your car the summer off". It is the least pleasant season to drive, it is the season when air pollution seems to be at the worst, and by encouraging people to think of their "lifestyle change" as being just for the season, it is less intimidating.
I would like to do the same, here in the northeast US. My frustration is, and I am not alone, I can't afford to do it. The long term decline in real income for American workers is making it harder to "do the right thing". Viable mass-transit options are too expensive, and cycling (which I LOVE to do for recreation) is impractical, due to distance and road conditions. Moving closer to work is utterly out of the question, given real-estate realities and questionable job security.
I suspect to some this sounds like "rationalization", but to me it is "economics". One possibility that comes to mind is to freeze prices on mass-transit. It seems to me that every time gas prices reach a new tipping-point in terms of my pain, I find a similar increase in rail/bus fares keeps the mass-transit option out of reach.
Any thoughts?
I really like the idea of "give your car the summer off". It is the least pleasant season to drive, it is the season when air pollution seems to be at the worst, and by encouraging people to think of their "lifestyle change" as being just for the season, it is less intimidating.
I would like to do the same, here in the northeast US. My frustration is, and I am not alone, I can't afford to do it. The long term decline in real income for American workers is making it harder to "do the right thing". Viable mass-transit options are too expensive, and cycling (which I LOVE to do for recreation) is impractical, due to distance and road conditions. Moving closer to work is utterly out of the question, given real-estate realities and questionable job security.
I suspect to some this sounds like "rationalization", but to me it is "economics". One possibility that comes to mind is to freeze prices on mass-transit. It seems to me that every time gas prices reach a new tipping-point in terms of my pain, I find a similar increase in rail/bus fares keeps the mass-transit option out of reach.
Any thoughts?
Jay, how expensive are your bus fares that they are making gas prices seem economical by comparison? I am from Atlanta, which is known for its automobile-centric planning and less-than-adequate transit system (the largest such system to receive no state funding); however, fares are reasonable enough to make it a "viable" option, even with a rate hike a year or two ago.
My city should do that (North Little Rock) and partner up with Little Rock. Arkansas is one of those states where people pretty much depend on their cars to go everywhere unless you live in the country but when you need to buy groceries, the nearest grocery store can be a good 15-20 miles......
In any case, I'd totally support my state in expanding mass transit. Most people I've talked to said they would ride our mass transit system (Central Arkansas Transit) more if it went more places and I'm one of those people. I plan on riding one of the buses pretty soon and seeing how I can implement it into my everyday life.
I live in Seattle. I wasn't aware of the incentive program, but the public transportation really is very convenient. Enough so, that my car sits parked most of the time if I am just running around town.
We went to Folklife last Saturday, and caught a bus downtown. It comes by every 10 minutes. At that rate, we don't even look at the schedules. We just walk up and get it. The buses start at 0500 or so, and go until after 0200 in the morning. Even after midnight, they go by often.
When we got downtown, we walked a block to the Westlake Mall, and hopped the monorail straight into the center of the Seattle Center. Sure, that was a pricier ticket at $4 for a round trip, but it was fun, and I spend more than that on coffee on occasion.
I am originally from a small town with a very poorly designed public transit system, so living in Seattle feels like a luxury. Everywhere I have ever wanted to go has a quick and easy bus route.
The best plan is higher taxes on gas, then use the funds to subsidize bikes, bike racks/parking, bike repair, and bike lanes.
I got one of the electric assist bicycles ... It gives me greater riding range and I don't need to arrive all sweaty. The result is that I don't need a car much at all, and have reduced my 'carbon-footprint' quite a lot.
Brian,
The "mass-transit" option for me would be:
4 mile walk/drive/bike to commuter rail station.
5 mile train ride to connect to a separate rail line.
10 mile train ride to destination station.
2 mile bus ride to office.
21 miles each way: 1.5 gallons of gas OR $13.50 round trip by train/bus.
I understand the vehicle costs more than just gas, but it is FULLY amortized (euphemism for way past prime), and I would still need to pay fixed costs to keep it for non-commute requirements.
My point remains that the consumer's wallet is the prime motivator. The government could spend more to make mass-transit more attractive.
Hmm. Perhaps then, Seattle's mayor can actually incentivize people out of their cars with more Monorail, hmm?
Right now, the monorail "system" consists of a single mile of track. It's mostly a tourist attraction built for the 1962 world's fair. There have been several proposals put before city hall over the years to expand the line, but they have all been scrapped.
Vancouver, Canada on the other hand, built a transportation system for its world's fair, and now has two separate lines extending over 49 kilometers, with a third line being built to extend to Vancouver International Airport.
If more monorail is impractical due to the technology used, I'm sure that it could easily be replaced with the same sort of thing that Skytrain uses. 1 mile isn't much to replace.
Hmm. Perhaps then, Seattle's mayor can actually incentivize people out of their cars with more Monorail, hmm?
Right now, the monorail "system" consists of a single mile of track. It's mostly a tourist attraction built for the 1962 world's fair. There have been several proposals put before city hall over the years to expand the line, but they have all been scrapped.
Vancouver, Canada on the other hand, built a transportation system for its world's fair, and now has two separate lines extending over 49 kilometers, with a third line being built to extend to Vancouver International Airport.
If more monorail is impractical due to the technology used, I'm sure that it could easily be replaced with the same sort of thing that Skytrain uses. 1 mile isn't much to replace.
Jay: Isn't there a monthly/annual pass you can buy? I spend less than $30/month on transportation now that I'm in the city. I really don't miss the $850/mo. I spent driving a car in California. Nor do I miss driving.
So, for $1300/mo. my wife and I can live downtown Portland, OR in a very nice 1 bedroom and spend nothing on cars - aside from the very occasional Zip Car when needed. No car payment, no credit cards or other loans = a lot more freedom to me.
Paul,
Thank you for the comment re: passes. I am currently trying to work through the bureaucracy of three independent transit agencies to determine what the true monthly cost would be. There is SOME indication that a fare exists that ties all three transit agencies together under one discounted monthly pass. If i can actually get one of these three agencies to sell me this seemingly mythical pass, I am going to give it a try.