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King County Metro Transit is joining transit agencies across the country in a nationwide campaign on Thursday, June 8 to encourage residents to leave their vehicles at home and try public transit.
National "Dump the Pump" Day is sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association [external link], and was created to help spread the word that public transit offers the quickest, easiest alternative to the high cost of driving.
"We know many people prefer the convenience of their car, but sometimes it's just not worth it to drive alone," said Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond. "Public transit is the quickest way to beat high gas prices. When you compare the price of bus fares to the combined cost for gas, parking, and wear and tear on your car, most people find they can save money by taking the bus or participating in a vanpool."
Metro operates the largest public commuter van fleet (around 880 vans) in the United States. Metro is offering a $50 gift card to those that join or form a Metro vanpool or vanshare between now and May 31, 2007. Van drivers and primary bookkeepers receive an additional $50 gift card. People are also eligible for additional $50 gift cards for every new rider they recruit, up to a maximum of $250. With vanpool and vanshare, Metro provides the van, gas (for vanpool only), and insurance. Metro also changes the oil, provides other regular maintenance, and helps you find other riders.
To see how much you might save by riding the bus vs. driving alone, check out Metro's online Commute Calculator.
Metro offers comprehensive bus services throughout King County, with a system that features close to 300 different routes and 10,000 stops. It offers 129 park-and-ride lots and garages (many which also include bike lockers) that offer free parking and great transportation connections around the county. Metro provides a whole host of tools to help people try their many services:
- Trip Planner: Plan your trip between any two points online. You'll get a bus schedule instantaneously.
- Park-and-ride locations: Cut the distance you drive on your daily commute by using one of Metro's convenient park-and-ride lots.
- RideshareOnline.com: It's easy to find ways share the ride for carpooling, vanpooling, and vansharing.
- For 24-hour personal rider information service via the phone, call 206-553-3000.
These television public service announcements on high gas prices vs. the cost of riding Metro were recently completed by Metro Transit, and are scheduled to begin airing on the King County's television station, KCTV.
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Did you know?
- Since January 2003, gas prices in the United States have increased by 100 percent.
- By using public transportation to commute to work, a person can save between $300 and $3,000 in fuel costs per year.
- By getting rid of a car, and using transit to commute, a person would save between $3,300 and $11,100 annually.
- Transit use saves more than 855 million gallons of gasoline every year nationwide.
- These gasoline savings are equal to more than twice the energy consumed by the U.S. apparel industry, or half the energy burned by the U.S. paper pulp industry, or by all U.S. manufacturers of computers and electronic equipment.
- If Americans used public transportation for roughly ten percent of their daily travel needs, the United States would reduce its dependence on imported oil from the Persian Gulf by more than 40 percent.
- During the past 10 years, U.S. public transportation use has grown by 25.1 percent - at a faster rate than highway travel (22.5 percent).
Source: American Public Transportation Association, May 2006
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