DRIVE TIME
Break that dependency on your vehicle for Earth Car Free Day
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Take a walk. Ride the bus. Get out your old bicycle. Better yet, stay home. For just one day, see if you can do without an automobile.
That's the idea behind the second annual Earth Car Free Day set for Monday, which also happens to be Earth Day.
Organizers say the car-free day isn't designed to get personal vehicles off the road permanently; they know that's not likely in car-crazy America.
Information to help you get around O'ahu: • TheBus: For schedules and other information, call 848-5555 or visit www.thebus.org. • Vanpool Hawai'i: 596-8267 • Trafficam: Check out traffic conditions at more than 20 major intersections around Honolulu. • Road work:
Instead car-free days are a pattern break, a chance to think about transport choices and how cleaner, more effective forms of transportation can enhance our quality of life. They offer an opportunity to consider how cars affect air pollution, community planning, stress, the increasing pace of modern life, the high cost of insurance, your child's radio listening habits, you name it.
Commuting
Just for starters think of this: Pollutants from transport exhaust such as nitrogen oxides, sulfates, ozone and acid aerosols have been found to be associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, asthma attacks and reduced lung function. Meanwhile, increased roadway congestion has led to increased travel times, stress, noise and wasted time.
The car-free Earth Day movement isn't new. Beginning in the 1950s, local groups came together to protest the intrusion of cars in their cities and neighborhoods. The idea took hold in Europe in the late 1970s, when several cities began to consider ways to limit congestion; the first official car-free days were held in Switzerland in 1974.
The movement really caught on last year, when millions took part in car-free events in 30 countries, including France, Nepal, Chile and the Philippines.
The events included everything from whole cities going carless to neighborhood projects led by schools or health agencies. Bicycling groups led rides that attracted thousands of people and downtown walks were sponsored from Seattle to Singapore.
Earth Day supporters in Hawai'i say they don't know of any formal car-free events set for the Islands Monday, but that doesn't mean Hawai'i's hard-pressed commuters can't participate. State and city officials have implemented a number of programs in recent years aimed at reducing car use.
- The state Transportation Department maintains a ride-sharing information center. You can register yourself and find people willing to share a ride to and from work, or elsewhere.
- The state also has a Vanpool program, in which it makes new passenger vans available to a regular driver willing to fill it up with passengers, keeping more cars off the road.
- One of the most successful programs in recent years has been the city's efforts to put more bicycle racks on buses. These rack-and-ride options have proved popular with bicycle users who can mount their bike on a bus in one place, then hop off at their destination and pedal away.
Or for just one day, you could just ride the bus, take a walk or stay home.
If nothing else, all the people who are still in their cars Monday morning will be thanking you for making their commute better, even if it's for just one stress-reduced day.
Mike Leidemann's Drive Time column appears every Tuesday. Reach him at 525-5460 or mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
