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The Real Skinny on Alternate Transportation
The problem is, it IS pretty skinny. Our Puget Sound area seems to have more trouble with getting mass transit available than anywhere I have been. It takes years of controversy and battles and never seems to get done. For those of you who have been around this area a long, long time remember how long I-90 took, remember all those overpasses going to a deadend? Even Portland has better mass transit than we do. The U.S. is not like a small european country where we can hop around everywhere with out getting in a car. That being said, there are things happening and more will, now that pressure is on because of gasoline prices. Here is info from the Alternate Transportation Day at Issaquah’s Public Market at Pickering Barn.
By the way, if you are intimidated by the looks of the parking lot at Pickering on market day, did you know there is tons of parking in the back? Go past the barn turn left at the stop sign a half block away (Lake Dr) then the next left into the parking lot entrance. there is a pathway to the market.
There are now 2 Park n Rides in Issaquah, Issaquah Highlands Park n Ride and Issaquah Transit Center, just getting open. There are many publications available and online infomation to help you get where you are going. Some areas have links to light rail, (not us yet). www.soundtransit.org
There are Van Pools, where a group of people use a van that’s owned, insured and maintained by King County. One member of the group volunteers to drive and rides for free, the others pay a low monthly fare. www.RideshareOnline.com
Many of us work at jobs that don’t go to the same place each day and require a car. Some people are physically able to ride a bike to work, if the route is bike friendly. They don’t work too good for some things, i.e. picking up the kids at school, buying family groceries and picking up the dry cleaning. There are getting to be better choices for cars, such as the Smart Car.
Would you feel safe in this car? Perhaps, if there weren’t so many big cars zipping around.
There was a biodiesel car at the fair and many brochures about biodiesel fuels and other concerns. Biodiesel is NOT Ethenol, that is made from corn, and much has been made about Ethenol being unsustainable, and competing with food crops. The claim is made that biodiesel does not compete with crops and is sustainable because it is byproducts of crops grown for livestock feed. www.nwbiodiesel.org and www.nwbiofuels.org
I have to admit that my favorite choice was the Toyota Rav 4 EV, an ALL electric car. Even an SUV! NO GAS, ZERO EMISSIONS, NO NOISE!
Where can you get one of these??????????????????????????????????
You can’t!
You can order this DVD from Amazon to find out why. Or rent it from Blockbusters.
Did you know that there was quiet destruction of thousands of new, radically different electric vehicles that were once produced to meet California’s Zero Emission Mandate during the ’90s? www.pluginamerica.org
I need to find out more and do more, how about you? I guess we have to be hit in the pocket book.
