WDAY Green Tip #17 - Ride the bus

October 21, 9:18 AMFargo Green Living ExaminerWendy Gabriel

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Note: Each Wednesday Wendy brings Simple Tips for Green Living to The Christopher Gabriel Program. We also highlight a different favorite green site each week. You can listen live on AM970 WDAY or stream the segment at approximately 1020am (CDT) every Wednesday at WDAY.com.

GREEN TIP: Take public transportation whenever possible, it will help our planet and your wallet at the same time.

This week is Try Transit Week in Fargo Moorhead, an anual promotion designed to entice new riders to the Metro Area Transit (MAT). All bus rides this week are 50 cents. Take advantage of this economical way to see if riding the bus could fit into your daily routine.

Here are some of the ways riding MAT helps to protect our planet and save money:

• One person riding MAT for one day reduces their carbon emissions into the environment by 20 pounds. That equals more than 4,800 pounds per year! Riding MAT offers immediate benefits to the environment.
• One Metro Area Transit bus full of people removes up to 50 cars from the road; that’s a line of cars approximately four city blocks long. Think of the traffic jam averted by utilizing MAT!
• The typical Metro Area Transit rider consumes, on average, one half of the oil consumed by an automobile rider. Each year, people using public transportation save the equivalent of 34 supertankers of oil, or a supertanker leaving the Middle East every 11 days.
• By eliminating one car in a two-car household, taking public transportation instead of driving can result in a savings of up to 30% of a household’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
• MAT buses produce nearly 50 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), per passenger mile, as private vehicles.
• Public transportation can save households an average of $8,368 every year. The savings continues to grow with the ever-increasing price of fuel.

• A MAT pass for an unlimited number of adult rides costs only $480 per year. Also, employers subsidizing bus passes for their employees can save money and also receive a tax credit.

• Every $1 invested in public transportation projects generates from $4 to $9 in local economic activity.
  
  Source: Metro Area Transit (MAT) of Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo
  
  My Green Side’s weekly website pick:
  
  Pew Center on Global Climate Change
  The Pew Center on Global Climate Change brings together business leaders, policy makers, scientists, and other experts to bring a new approach to a complex and often controversial issue. Their approach is based on sound science, straight talk, and a belief that we can work together to protect the climate while sustaining economic growth.