A Sustainable Choice for Commuting

Dave Van Hattum Downtown Minneapolis Transportation Management Organization-Commuter Connection Sharing the ride by carpooling or vanpooling is a sustainable choice for commuting to work. A carpool is one of the most energy-efficient and low-polluting ways to get around town. Pools take up minimal road space and reduce the need for …

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Benefits of Hybrid Buses

METRO TRANSIT Metro Transit’s expanding fleet of hybrid-electric buses is helping Twin Cities’ commuters experience an even greener ride. Metro Transit unveiled its first hybrid bus in 2002 and recently added 60 more to its fleet as part of the agency’s Go Greener initiative. Over the next four years, 112 …

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Bicycle Commuting Guide

Doug Shidell Little Transport Press What’s the key to bicycle commuting? It’s the will to ride. Making the switch from driving to bicycling requires overcoming some barriers. It’s a lifestyle change. Bicycling requires being out in the weather; it means supplying the power that gets you to work; and it …

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Commit to Not Driving Just One Day a Week

It’s Easy To Bike-N-Ride With Metro Transit Metro Transit All Metro Transit buses and trains are equipped with bike racks, helping to expand your trip options. Racks on buses accommodate up to two bikes at a time. Each Hiawatha light-rail train car can hold four bikes. There is no additional …

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Commuter Rail is on its Way!

METRO TRANSIT Beginning in late 2009, the Northstar Commuter Rail Line will offer efficient transportation from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis, helping ease traffic congestion-and the resulting emissions-in one of the state’s fastest growing travel corridors. Trains can carry the equivalent of nearly one-and-a-half lanes of highway traffic at peak …

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Eco Car Comparison

Mark Snyder Do It Green! Minnesota So you’ve heard a lot about the environmental impacts and other evils of car ownership, but you can’t quite bring yourself to go car-free. What choices are available that might help reduce the global warming consequences of your driving? One of the first things …

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Eco Cars

Eco Cars HOURCAR Program Manager Let’s get this straight: the most efficient mile you can drive is a mile you don’t drive. Despite technological advances, cars are still 3,000 pounds of steel moved around by (mostly) fossil fuels. That said, there are some exciting new technologies which promise more efficient …

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Environmental Impacts of Air Travel

ELI EFFINGER-WEINTRAUB Do It Green! Minnesota Aircrafts account for 12 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from US transportation sources and three percent of our total carbon dioxide emissions. The US is responsible for nearly half of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft. Airplanes emit nitrogen oxides, which are chief contributors …

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Explore Your Travel Options

Metro Transit If you’re looking for ways to leave your car at home and reduce your carbon footprint, Metro Transit can help you pick the best option to get you moving. Metro Transit has a variety of tools at metrotransit.org to get you started. One example is the Trip Planner …

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Green Driving Tips

Mark Snyder Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance Do you drive a car? If so, this is probably your most polluting daily activity. This article will help you to minimize the environmental impacts of using your car by offering driving and maintenance tips as well as things to keep in mind …

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Gridlock

Ian O’Brien Do It Green! Minnesota You are not in a parking lot, but you may as well be. It is five-o-clock in the evening. Interstate 394 is packed with vehicles, stretching past the bend in the road far ahead. The red brake lights of the stationary stream of cars …

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Hauling Cargo with Bikes

Jim Gregory Bikes At Work Inc. An estimated 10,000 people ride bicycles in Minneapolis each day, mostly for recreation or to commute to work or school. But bicycles are useful for more than just carrying a single person. With the right equipment, a reasonably-fit person can move 300 lbs in …

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Have We Forgotten About Trains?

David Johnson National Association of Railroad Passengers Some people say that Americans have forgotten about trains for long distance travel. However in February of 2006, a Harris poll found that, the modes of transportation which the largest number of adults would like to see have an increasing share of passenger …

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How & Why to Be Auto-Free

Sam Tracy & Mark Peterson Culture Change (formerly Auto-Free Times) As clear as the phrase ‘auto-free’ might seem, it is open to some interpretation. Within the context of contemporary conditions, the choice to live auto-free occurs for a variety of reasons. The choice is made less free because of transportation …

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Human Powered Move

Eric Gustafson Corcoran Neighborhood Organization Corcoran Neighborhood in Minneapolis has a new resident that moved 15 miles without gasoline this last July of 2007. There was no moving van involved in Karl Stoerzinger’s move from Inver Grove Heights to the Corcoran neighborhood last month. In fact, there were no cars …

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I Am Car Free!

Jamez Smith Transit for Livable Communities My breakup with my car occurred in July of 2007 when I moved to Minnesota from California. I had every intention of getting a car, but it has yet to happen. When I arrived in Minneapolis I got a bicycle. It is very easy …

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Introducing Nice Ride Minnesota

Bill Dossett New Ride Minnesota Coming to America via Minneapolis: Nice Ride Minnesota will launch a public bike sharing system-based on an internationally successful model-in Minneapolis in May of 2010. It’s easy: Anyone can subscribe. Take a bike from one kiosk and ride to another kiosk. Anytime you need. It’s …

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Minneapolis Named Best Biking City

ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles Our more than 120 miles of bikeways, many bike amenities and strong, vibrant bicycling community has prompted Bicycling magazine to name Minneapolis as America’s best bike city in its May, 2010 issue, stating that “The unforgiving and frigid city of Minneapolis is the country’s top spot to be an …

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New Bike Library at the Sibley Bike Depot

Excerpted from “Transit for Livable Communities” by Joan Pasiuk Transit for Livable Communities, through Bike Walk Twin Cities has awarded $193,200 for the Sibley Bike Depot’s new Community Partners Bike Library. This program will enable patrons to check out a bicycle at no cost for an extended period of time …

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Oily Food

Steven L. Hopp Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen-about 17% of our nation’s energy use-for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other …

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Pass Along Your Cycling Passion to Your Kids

Excerpts reprinted from REI.com “How do I get my child started in cycling?” It’s one of the first questions bike-riding parents ask. Happily, kids and bikes seem to be drawn together by a natural kind of magnetism. By following the tips we outline here, you can quickly strengthen that attraction. …

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Reduce Your Commuting Costs by Asking Your Employer about Metropass

Bob Gibbons Metro Transit More and more Twin Cities businesses large and small are helping employees underwrite the cost of commuting by bus and train. Employees within a company frequently become the catalyst for a company-sponsored transit benefit by asking their employers to examine Metro Transit’s premium business partnership called …

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Rideshare Program in St. Paul

St. Paul Transportation Management Organization (TMO) In 2007, the St. Paul Transportation Management Organization (TMO) brought the nation’s first incentive-based ride network, a national web-based organization called NuRide, to the seven-county metro area. Estimating that a 10% increase in ridesharing decreases congestion delays by 50%, the TMO believes everyone would …

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Share the Ride

Metro Transit Explore your transportation options instead of driving alone. Sharing the ride in a carpool or vanpool can save you money, help the environment and allows you to relax during your commute. To get started, visit http://metrotransit.org/rideshare and use the Rideshare Planner. It will automatically match you with potential …

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Sidewalk Etiquette

Eva Lewandowski For most people, sidewalks aren’t a common topic of conversation. At most, we might hear about them a few times in winter, when our weather makes (or should make) shoveling an almost everyday occurrence. But we’re still enjoying relatively warm weather, so why am I writing about sidewalks …

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St. Paul Biking Statistics

Russ Stark Midway Transportation Management Organization (TMO) A St. Paul Bicycling Survey was conducted in August of 2006 from people who either live or bike in St. Paul. There were 750 responses so far with an expected 1,000+ survey responses for the final tally. Here are the preliminary results of …

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Taking a Trip on Two Wheels?

Unknown Unknown Consider renting a bike locker. Metro Transit can help make trips on two wheels easier. If you need a place to store your bike, consider renting a bike locker. It’s like a garage for your bike. You can start or finish your commute on a bike and lock …

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Top 30 Environmentally Friendly Vehicles

A research firm J.D. Power and Associates from California has released its inaugural Automotive Environmental Index (AEI) study, which lists the top 30 environmentally friendly vehicles listed in alphabetical order below: Acura RSXCar poolingChevrolet AveoChevrolet CobaltFord Escape HybridFord FocusFord Focus WagonHonda AccordHonda Accord HybridHonda CivicHonda Civic HybridHonda InsightHyundai AccentHyundai ElantraKia …

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Transportation

Barb Thoman Transit for Livable Communities Transportation is a means of gaining access to the goods and services. Access can be provided by trains, planes, buses, bicycles, private automobiles, taxi cabs, or just by walking. The most environmentally-friendly forms of transportation are walking and bicycling. Unfortunately, government spends little on …

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Trip Bulletin Board

METRO TRANSIT Metro Transit helps match Twin Cities commuters who want to share the ride to work or school through its Carpool/Vanpool Planner at metrotransit.org. Now you can look for carpool partners for trips in addition to work or school. This new option is great for errands, weekend trips around …

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Walkers Can Make a Difference

Paul Moss Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance Pedestrians are people who get to places by walking and most of us act in that role at least some of the time. Walking provides us with healthy exercise and is typically more efficient for short trips or errands. When compared to driving, …

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Why Consider Electric Cars?

Jukka Kukkonen PlugInConnect For the last century we have relied heavily on oil to provide energy for our transportation needs. Gasoline- and diesel-powered internal combustion engines (ICE) have monopolized as the propulsion provider for cars and trucks. They have worked fairly well for us, but we are also paying a …

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