Transportation

Chapter 23 - Electric Vehicles/Bikes

  • To get a deeper insight into electric cars, from how to install wall chargers to busting common EV myths, check out the ‘Now You Know’ YouTube channel on https://www.youtube.com/c/NowYouKnowChannel. Now You Know is an educational technology channel that creates unique videos with a focus on electric cars!

  • Carpool! ‘Carpooling’ is sharing car trips with more than one person to prevent the need for others to drive to a location themselves, which reduces emissions. By having more people using one vehicle, carpooling reduces each person's travel costs like fuels, tolls, and driving stress. In 2019, 76.3% of workers in the U.S. commuted by driving alone, and only 9% of workers carpooled (a drop from 19.7% in 1980). Joining a carpool can help lower household fuel costs, prevent GHG emissions, and reduce traffic congestion.

  • Start car sharing or join a car club. Avoid purchasing or maintaining cars, by instead sharing the responsibility with a community by renting the cars for short periods of time, even for an hour. Research which car sharing operators are near you to get started.

  • Read the ICCT (The International Council on Clean Transportation) reports to learn more, such as their piece on Five Things You Know About Electric Vehicles That Aren’t Exactly True (https://theicct.org/stack/explaining-evs/)

  • Download the Bikemap app! Featuring more than 10.6 million bike paths, Bikemap puts the world’s largest cycle route collection in your pocket. You can also discover handpicked cycling regions all around the world with Bikemap's beautiful region guides.

  • Grab a bike when you’re out and about as an alternative to car travel or public transport. Download a bike sharing app such as ‘Ofo’, ‘Mobike’, ‘LimeBike’ or ‘JumpBikes.’ Depending on your region, some of these apps may be better than others

  • If you only need a car occasionally, you can use car-sharing apps such as ‘ZipCar’ that make it easy to find cars on-demand. ZipCar in particular has a goal of having a fully electric car fleet by 2025 too, and you can specify an electric car during your selection process.

    Chapter 24 - Public Transportation

  • Use public transportation instead of driving. If your community doesn’t have accessible and connected public transportation, demand it from your government. Many cities, like Los Angeles (USA), are embracing universal basic mobility as a human right. Take trains and buses for business or vacation travel to be more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly than air travel and car rentals.

  • Help fight for cleaner school buses and ensure kids get rides to school that don’t trigger health problems by supporting ‘Clean Buses for Healthy Niños’ on https://chispalcv.org/clean-buses-for-healthy-ninos/. Find out how you can call on your local government to make change too by visiting https://electricschoolbuses4kids.org/join-the-fight/

  • Download some apps to help you travel using public transport more efficiently! ‘Citymapper’ is an app that helps you navigate public transport, whether you’re using the train, tube, bus, uber, cabs, or your bike. ‘Transit’ is another great option that can automatically display the nearest public transportation options to you. ‘Moovit’ and ‘Google Maps’ are other apps you can use!

  • Chapter 25 - Walking/Cycling

  • Increase active transport] (walking, cycling, or skating) when possible. The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests at least 30 minutes of physical activity per day.

  • Contact your lawmakers and politicians on every level to invest in walking and infrastructure and public infrastructure, all of which remain grossly underfunded while car-centered planning and design continue to take the lead (Source: United nations)

  • Learn more about great urban planning and cities leading the way to help make walking and cycling more accessible, by subscribing to ‘Not Just Bikes’ on YouTube and checking out their videos! I recommended watching ‘Why City Design Is Important (and Why I Hate Houston)’

  • Be a part of the movement to complete the Great American Rail-Trail and help speed up the progress of a bike path that spans across the United States! https://www.railstotrails.org/greatamericanrailtrail/takeaction/