Earth Day is a great opportunity to think about ways you can make your life greener and help out the planet. But you don’t have to *just* think about these things in April – you can make green changes to your everyday life, and opting to take sustainable and active public transportation is an easy way to celebrate Earth Day every day.
Find Out the Top 6 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Every day
1. Bike or Walk one day a week
Biking or walking to work or school one day a week is a great mode of sustainable transportation and will reduce your carbon footprint dramatically. Aim for a Tuesday or Wednesday, so you have a few other days as fallbacks.
2. Sign up for a Capital Bikeshare membership
This popular and safe mode of transportation is perfect for first/last mile options when combined with public transportation, and a quicker way to get around town on the weekends.
3. Get on the bus
Metrorail is quick, convenient, and moves many more people than most other modes of transportation. But, if you want a more scenic way to get around, hop on the bus.
Metrobus will take you all over the region, and the green ART buses will get you just about anywhere in Arlington you want to go. Tap your SmarTrip card, sit back, and watch the neighborhoods go by. Bet you see something new each ride!
4. Share your ride
Carpool, UberPool, LyftLine, and similar services are better for the environment because sharing the ride with other people means fewer cars on the road, thus fewer emissions.
You can find ride matches in the Commuter Connections database, or try out UberPool and LyftLine. Check out our blog post to learn the difference between ridesharing and on-demand mobility options.
5. Ask your employer if they offer transit benefits
Perhaps they already offer a pre-tax transit benefit, or even a subsidy, and you don’t even know it. Taking advantage of financial benefits for your commute helps you out, as well as your coworkers, boss, and everyone else.
It helps you reduce stress (less “#@$!$ traffic!”), spend less money maintaining your personal vehicle (“Who wants to go out for lunch?”) and improve your health (“Who wants to go get salads for lunch?”). If your company doesn’t offer a benefit, ask them to – and tell them ATP can help!
6. Realize that you don’t need to do this every day
We know – the struggle is real. Everyone in our office has a preferred mode of transportation. For some, it’s biking, for others, it’s Metro or the bus. But even when we have a favorite way to get to work, sometimes we switch things up to better accommodate our complicated lives.
So don’t think you can’t give up driving for good – we aren’t suggesting you do that (although here are some tips on going car-free). We want you to think before you grab the car keys – is this a trip you can make on foot, by bike, on transit or with a friend?
How Do You Plan to Celebrate Earth Day?
If you’re ready to change your commute, but need more information or even a custom commute plan – contact ATP. We can help from the moment you leave your front door to when you arrive at your desk.
Photo Credit: Sam Kittner/Kittner.com for Arlington Transportation Partners