Advocacy Project: Tackling Transportation!

Federal Transit Authority
Tackling Transportation:
The purpose of this activity is to get students to map out alternative routes of transportation they could use in their everyday life.



BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

According to George Mason University, 77% of Americans commute to work by driving alone. When commuters drive alone, car emissions, including carbon dioxide, are released into the atmosphere and thus decreasing the quality of health for individuals and the environment. According to the American Public Transportation Association, a person who takes public transportation saves 126 million pounds of hydrocarbons from being released into the atmosphere. Hydrocarbons have been contributed to causing respiratory illness and smog, therefore by taking public transportation a person is being environmentally friendly. According to Nutra Health Environmental Research Inc. driving a car is the most air polluting action the average person does each day. A lot of this pollution can be avoided if individuals found alternatives ways to get around. Such ways could be walking, biking, or taking mass transit, which include buses and subways.

According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation reduces energy consumption and increases air quality. According to APTA, a person who takes the bus everyday to work in place of driving saves 1,888 gallons of gasoline each year. Taking public transportation keeps individual active member of communities and decreases traffic congestion.93% of welfare recipients rely on public transportation to get to work and to other destinations. According to the American Public Transportation Association, 40% of Americans believe traffic congestion is a serious problem. This has a harmful effect on the environment. By using alternative sources of transportation a person can help save money, save time and save the environment by reducing noise and air pollution and reducing car emissions.

The H.R 3271 Green Routes to Work Act is a bill proposed to congress to give tax credits to businesses who supply their employees with transit passes in the hopes to promote their employees to take public transportation instead of driving alone to work. At UMD students can ride the bus for free. Therefore, in order to promote taking an alternative route to school and other destinations we will planning routes to locations you frequently go to. If you already take the bus, see if there is a convenient walking or biking route to your destination.

Activity Instructions:

Answer the following questions:

1. Pick three locations that you go to often. (It can be school, work, home, the mall etc.)
2. How do you typically commute to these locations?
   
3. Access Google Transit
4. Map your transit route by plugging in the addresses of each location and which times you would usually leave to go to these places. Choose if you would like to walk, bus, or bike to these locations. (do not choose driving)
   
5. Report the most convenient route to your 3 locations and the modes of transportation.
6. How does this route differ from your typical commute?
7. Are these commutes a realistic change you could put in your schedule? why or why not?
8. Do you plan to try incorporating this routes into your routine?