Seems like everywhere you look, transit riders are feeling the squeeze from reduced or discontinued service. The cuts run deep in the Atlanta region, with C-Tran going dark this past March and MARTA announcing yesterday that it's cutting about 10 percent of its bus and rail service effective in September. Also, GRTA's express bus service will begin running out of funds next year.
While Atlanta is far from alone, the double-whammy of reduced sales tax revenues down and government budget cuts is taking its toll on transit across Georgia and the US. This picture says it all.
Courtesy: Funny Times
Against the backdrop of a terrible environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, everybody's frustrated.
Gulf coast residents are seething at BP. BP shareholders are upset at the prospect of losing billions on their investment. The federal government has lost patience with the progress being made after almost 60 days of dashed hopes (will there be a government takeover of the disaster response when the President speaks tonight at 8:00pm?). And many commuters - including some here in Georgia - are contemplating where they want to fill up their gas tanks, an expression of the public ire directed at (and potential dollars diverted from) British Petroleum.
But something interesting is happening. For some, the anger they feel about the seemingly hopeless situation we're in is starting to morph into something else. Bubbling up from the depths are diverging emotions about the oil spill as it relates to driving:
Some feel guilty about their reliance on cars. From today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reader Sybil Thomas of Whitesburg writes:
"I can bemoan a response that cannot encompass the enormity of the environmwental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But as long as I am still filling up my gas tank with oil-based fuel, I, too, am responsible."
Others feel defensive about their freedom to drive, regardless of the environmental risks. Whichever direction your emotions are channeled, there is a desire for action. And MARTA's annual "Dump the Pump" event is one way to do something with your feelings about the situation. This Thursday, June 17, MARTA is encouraging all Atlantans to take transit to work. Another way to turn your feelings about oil into something actionable is to find a carpool partner and ride to work together once or twice a week. There are resources available from The Clean Air Campaign and RideSmart to make it easy.
Borne out of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is at least one positive circumstance. The oil spill is getting more conversations started about transportation options and about accountability. Where do you stand on these issues?
Neat graphic from the folks at Go Banking Rates. Their figure of 70 cents per mile is on the higher end of what AAA includes in their report, 2010 "Your Driving Costs." The Clean Air Campaign uses a more mid-range figure of 56 cents per mile for a mid-sized sedan clocking about 15K miles/year. At either level, the money we're spending on driving our cars is astonishing.
Click here for a larger version of this image.
The best savings strategy most people have yet to discover is choosing to drive less. Commuters who participate in incentive programs with The Clean Air Campaign and log their commuting activity with us can see exactly how much impact their efforts mean -- to their wallet AND the air we breathe.
The first time I rode my bike to work, I was terrified. Traffic was fast and frequent on Cascade Road and I hugged the curb as if my life depended on it, which I thought at the time it did. That was after a few weeks of biking to the MARTA station on the sidewalk, and being amazed at how slowly I had to travel. Switching to the street made my commute that much faster, and as I later learned, that much safer.
After 3 weeks (or 21 days, the length of time experts recommend to really latch on to a new habit), I took a deep breath, relaxed, and started the long journey towards truly enjoying my commute.
I discovered I felt more confident, less out of breath, and more like a biker. A biker! Out of shape, non gym-member me! It was a great feeling. I felt empowered by having arrived at my destination powered by nothing more than my own legs, which were growing stronger by the day. Thus I embarked on my low-car diet. In a fortunate coincidence, I was able to lose 15 pounds before my wedding.
I started biking to work four years ago when I was working for a foundation in southwest Atlanta. I rode 2.5 miles one way to the office, arriving sweaty, breathless, and at peace. My coworkers marveled at my dedication, but for me, it just made sense. Those 2.5 miles would have taken me 50 minutes to traverse by bus and train and bus again, and we were a one-car couple, so I didn’t think it fair to drive the car myself every day when my fiance might have needed it.
Eventually, once my now-husband and I both started biking to work, we wised up and took a class with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. A few short months later, I took over as the new executive director and had the privilege of sharing what I had learned with others.
Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 21. While thousands of Atlantans bike to work everyday, including the staff here at the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, Friday is a great opportunity for people who usually get to work by some other method to dust off their bike and give it a go!
ABC and our partners are providing Energizer Stations around town where bike users can fuel up for free with refreshments and giveaways. Experienced cyclists will lead Bike Trains that anyone can hop on in order to ride with others and make their commute safer and more social. And everyone who registers for Bike to Work Day (or to ride other days during that week) will be entered to win prizes including $20 gift cards from Sidebar and a surprise item from REI.
Then there’s the thrill of arriving at work, energized and engaged, ready to start the day knowing you took a step to make the air we breathe a little cleaner.
Rebecca Serna is the Executive Director of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, metro Atlanta’s voice for better biking. ABC’s mission is to make it safer and easier for people to ride bicycles to create a healthier, more sustainable region. ABC promotes bicycling to improve public health, clean the air, reduce congestion, and build community. Rebecca is a daily bike commuter – she and her husband blog about going car-free at carfreeatlantafamily.wordpress.com.
Think earning cash and winning prizes for choosing to carpool, vanpool, ride transit, telework, bicycle and walk to work is great? Well, now we have even more in store for you! Start clean commuting this summer, and you could:
- MINImize your impact on the air we breathe for the chance to win a 2010 Mini Cooper
- win a clean air cruise for two to Alaska
- get up to $1,000 in free gas when you use alternatives to driving alone
- score great seats for an Atlanta Braves game
- join Clark Howard in giving your car the day off to save money on commute costs
- win a year of free car washes
- rock out to a hit artist at the Clean Air Concert
If you’re already using alternatives to driving alone, consider this a big “thanks” for all that you do to help keep the air we breathe clean! If you haven’t started yet, there are even more reasons now to make the switch to a cleaner commute.
Visit the “Other Contests and Promotions” page to get the scoop on our latest contests and prizes. Tell your friends about it, and check back throughout the summer for updated contest information.
It's incredible to think that Earth Day turns 40 today. But as we blow out the candles, it's certain that Earth Day is far from being "over the hill." The movement toward environmental sustainability is celebrated every day in Georgia by employers, commuters and schools to the tune of 800 tons of pollution kept out of the air we breathe.
In some ways, Earth Day transcends many of the important days on our calendars:
It's like New Year's Day, when we resolve to make changes that make us better stewards of the place we call home.
Earth Day is like the Super Bowl, when champions are crowned for their accomplishments.
Telemanager of the Quarter Connie Hickey, Director of Information Services at ADP (L), with Clean Air Campaign Alternative Work Arrangement Specialist Erin Clark (R).
It's like President's Week, too, with an eye toward the big decisions and the key figures that make history.
It can even bear similarities to Tax Day, when fiscal responsibility is top of mind.
It's like a wedding anniversary, commemorating the start of something special and the journey toward something extraordinary.
Another way to look at it is like Labor Day, in that we've still got a lot of work to do to achieve our shared goals.
Earth Day can also resemble Halloween sometimes, when we discover the scary facts about neglecting our home state.
And it's also like Thanksgiving, when we get together and express our gratitude for all that has been done in Georgia by 1,600 employers, tens of thousands of Georgia commuters, hundreds of schools and dozens of partners to improve our quality of life.
Earth Day is every day. And when more Georgia employers, commuters and schools choose to think in these terms, the place we call home is made better … for us to enjoy today and for future generations to enjoy tomorrow.
Much has changed since that first Earth Day in 1970 when Senator Nelson led the first Earth Day demonstration. That first Earth Day led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA and laws and regulations that came in the following years made business accountable for polluting, harming human health and the environment, by handing businesses the bill. Businesses now had to comply to avoid huge fines and penalties.
As we mark Earth Day of 2010, the shift to sustainability in business is based on a different premise. Thought leaders and innovators in business today are taking the route of responsible capitalism, becoming accountable not to government, not to shareholders, but to the larger community of stakeholders in the business or corporation. The consumer pull or demand for responsibility is leading the charge. It is no accident that branding and PR are at the forefront. On a national level, Conferences like Sustainable Brands are more popular than ever with almost every major US corporations attending. Locally, companies like Coke, Cox, Interface and others are making huge efforts for their sustainability initiatives to be seen and heard.
Recognizing the importance of telling your green story and leading by example, the Green Chamber of the South gives companies the opportunity to do this regularly. On April 14 we will hold a seminar on Social Media and how to leverage it in the context of sustainability and green business, and in May we will hold a seminar on finding and telling your green story, all that in addition to our regular Green Wednesdays networking lunches, programs with local chambers TAG and many more. Please check our website for more details.
Ofra Tessler is president and co-founder of The Green Chamber of the South, serving green businesses throughout the Southeast. The Chamber connects green businesses, clean technology companies and corporations with sustainability programs to share best practices learn and grow. It offers businesses exposure, networking opportunities, projects, workshops and seminars. The Green Chamber of the South provides sustainable businesses in the Southeast with a strong organization, guidance, and ample opportunities for collaboration and growth. For more information: www.greencs.org or info@greencs.org
Earth Day is observed on April 22, 2010.
Clayton County’s bus service, C-TRAN, is scheduled to end March 31. This is a major hit to riders who rely on this service for their commute to work. Luckily, there are other options. The Clean Air Campaign wants to help make the transition to a new commute as seamless as possible for displaced C-TRAN commuters.
If you currently ride C-TRAN to work, there are some other commute options in your area that are worth investigating, such as riding an Xpress bus or joining or starting a vanpool or carpool. RideSmart can help match you with other commuters who live and work near you. If you want to carpool with someone who lives near you but works in a different area, you could try carpooling to the nearest MARTA station.
To learn more about your options and find out ways you may be able to offset the cost of your new commute, contact us by calling 1-877-CLEANAIR or e-mailing Daniel Jessee at DJessee@CleanAirCampaign.org. We’re here to help.
Calling all employers: sign up for the Alternative Work Arrangement Webinar on March 25. It’s our first Webinar of the year and will teach you how your company can be successful with compressed work weeks and telework programs.
Many of you have attended The Clean Air Campaign’s Lunch and Learn events in past years, but for 2010, we’re shaking things up a bit. First, say goodbye to the name Lunch and Learn. This program will now be called the Employer Program Education Series. The focus is on helping employers get the most out of their commute options programs. An additional change this year will be the format of this series. To make Clean Air Campaign events more congruent with what we represent – less traffic and cleaner air – we’ll be hosting most of them online as Webinars. In many cases, you’ll no longer need to drive to an event; we’ll come to you via your computer. This will save you time, help keep pollution out of the air we breathe and even make it possible for you to access our presentations online at a later date, whether you missed them the first time or want to watch again. So what are you waiting for? Sign up today for our first Webinar of the year!
It's easy to dwell on the problems facing metro Atlanta with respect to gridlock and air pollution, but there are lots of things going right … and some of the best work being done anywhere to beat back traffic and tame smog is happening right here. The Clean Air Campaign and its partners recognized the region's best workplaces for commuters on Tuesday, celebrating the 10th annual PACE Awards along with a crowd of about 200 guests.
The PACE Awards program is the good news about traffic and air quality. It is among the most tangible examples of the shared responsibility that exists between the public and private sector to take actions that improve the way we commute and the air we breathe. And in this tight economy, where everybody must find creative ways to do more with less, commute options programs have become a frontline strategy to create stronger workplaces.
The Clean Air Campaign's executive director, Kevin Green, talks traffic and commute options with a crowd of 200 employer and property management partners at the 2009 PACE Awards.
When the curtain fell on the 2008 PACE Awards last October, nobody predicted the budget ax would fall at the same time. But the bleak economy and the ripple effect of shortfalls in the state budget in the months that ensued made the PACE program impossible to sustain financially.
Still, when it became clear in early-2009 that the recession was going to make it tough for the business community to have enough good stories to rally around, The Clean Air Campaign and the local Transportation Management Associations responded with a scaled-down PACE Awards program built on sweat equity that has successfully kept the torch lit for recognizing the region's best commute options programs.
From a terrific field of more than 50 applicants, four employers (small, medium, large, public sector) and a property manager were recognized for their great programs to make it easier for commuters heading to their worksites to choose alternatives to driving alone. Get the scoop on the winners and finalists here. One employer led a commute options essay contest during President's Week in February, asking commuters which U.S. President they'd like to share a ride with and why. Another employer rolled out an innovative bike share program that has been well received.
PACE hardware. In all, five organizations, representing the most outstanding workplaces for commuters, were recognized with awards at the 2009 PACE event: Georgia Natural Gas/SouthStar Energy Services, Porsche Cars North America, Emory University, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Carter.
In addition, the accomplishments of a handful of commuters whose long term individual efforts at clean commuting have kept 50,000 pounds of pollution out of the skies were recognized at the PACE Awards.
50,000 pounds of pollution kept out of the skies through sustained efforts at clean commuting. That's what Howard Mindel (left) has accomplished, making him among the first 50K Clean Air Commuter Champions in Georgia. Howard, a dedicated bicycle commuter, receives his certificate of appreciation from The Clean Air Campaign's Mike Williams (right) at the 2009 PACE Awards.
Many thanks to Midtown Alliance and AT&T for the donated venue, Aramark for catering services, WABE-90.1 FM for being a media sponsor, Perimeter Transportation Coalition for contributing the trophies, a great stable of PACE Awards judges from a cross-section of organizations with an interest in the issues we follow and all the employer, property manager, agency and funding partners who work to promote commute options in Georgia. Looking forward to next year's program, and hope you can be part of it!
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