| International
Car Free Day:
Monday, Sept. 22, 2008
Personal Car Free Audit
You
may be thinking- "how can I go Car Free or Car Lite? I need
my car to accomplish just about anything in a reasonable amount
of time."
In
some cases, especially for those who live in very rural areas,
this can indeed be the case. However, there are several straegies
you can undertake to see what other opportunities exist for you
to go Car Free, and how to make it easier.
Strategy 1:
Discover Your Home Walking Radius: Play the Circle Game
(From Katie
Alvord's Divorce
Your Car!)
The
easiest way to go Car Free or Car Lite is to start by substituting
short car trips with walking. Currently, 25% of trips in America
are under 1 mile in length, but 75% of those trips are accomplished
by car. (Source: Federal Highway Administration. National Personal
Transportation Survey, 1977, 1995.)
How
to start? Find your home on a map and draw a one-mile radius around
your location. A quick way to do this online is to use Google Maps .
Enter your home address. For example, if
your address were 900 Weaver Dairy Rd in Chapel Hill, the map
below would work for you.
Once you've
got an appropriate map, start noting all the places on the map
that you visit at least once every two weeks. Where possible,
include your job, grocery store, school, gym, house of worship,
park, library, restaurant or any other place you frequent.
Then,
choose one of the places on your map and commit to walking , bicycling,
or using transit to get to there instead of driving every time
you go. Every two weeks, or every month, depending on how fast
you want to reduce your auto use, choose a new destination on
your map to go to using an alternative mode. Repeat this activity
until you are regularly using alternative modes to reach all the
destinations on your map.
Strategy 2: Try an Alternative Commute
Perhaps
the most regular trip people make is their daily commute to work
or school. By using an alternative mode to commute, many people
can significantly reduce their total amount of auto travel.
To
see how you can use transit to get to your workplace, visit the
GoTriangle.Org Trip Planner.
For
local trips in Durham County, visit the DATA
routes and schedules webpage to see where the routes go in
Durham.
For
local trips, visit the Chapel
Hill Transit routes and schedules webpage to see where the
routes go in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. For travel to and from
Hillsborough within Orange County, visit the Orange
Public Transport webpage.
For
regional trips out of Durham or Orange County, visit the maps
and schedules webpage for Triangle Transit.
If
you cannot find a convenient bus itinerary that gets you from
home to work, consider
joining a vanpool or carpool.
Strategy 3: Locate Gear to Help You Go
Car Free
Sometimes, going Car Free
means doing a little more planning in regards to dealing with
the weather. If you need additional carrying capacity for your
bike, or some all-weather clothing or carrying capacity for getting
around, please check out some of these
items that may make going Car Free easier.
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