by | May 11, 2012

DC Loves Buses!

Many children were overheard asking their parents to plan a motor coach trip!

DC is home to some of the best tourist attractions in the country and visitors pour into the District each year to see them, many of them traveling in the comfort of motor coaches. Since it is National Travel & Tourism Week, what better time to tell you how much we love tour buses and what DDOT has been doing to demonstrate its appreciation of the motor coach industry!

A little rain didn't prevent over 100 families from visiting DDOT's Board a Bus event.

In March, DDOT held a “Board a Bus” event in collaboration with the American Bus Association and Destination DC, for which Academy Bus provided a motor coach for kids (and adults!) to explore. The event provided an opportunity to inform the public about the District’s efforts to reduce diesel engine idling and share information about the importance of motor coaches to the District’s vibrant tourism industry, as well as provide safety tips for residents – all in a fun, interactive way. The Spy Museum had a hand in the festivities with a special “decoding” activity for kids to solve before winning a prize. The message they decoded? “DC Loves Buses – Get on Board!”

DDOT continued this theme, and on April 5, partnered with Destination DC, the Metropolitan Washington Council for Governments, the American Bus Association, the District Department of the Environment and over 50 representatives from the local DC hospitality industry for its annual “We LOVE Buses” initiative in which over 300 drivers from various group tour operators and bus companies were acknowledged. The event was also an ideal opportunity to raise awareness for DDOT’s Diesel Idle Reduction campaign, and nearly 150 bus drivers received prizes and were nominated on the spot for the Driver Recognition Program, which commends drivers who exhibit positive idle reduction behavior and abide by the District’s 3-minute idling limit. To learn more about the impact of idling and what the District is doing to curb it, visit www.turnyourengineoff.org.

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by | May 8, 2012

You’re Invited to Our Free Seminar: Telework Made Easy

goDCgo Employer Services is excited to bring you the next seminar in our employer series, and this one is all about telework. An innovative workplace strategy, telework is a sustainable business practice that can reduce your organization’s carbon footprint. Whether you are thinking about implementing a formal program at your office or would like to learn best practices to refine your current program, our free Telework Made Easy seminar is jam-packed with useful tips and information that you can take back to your organization. Please join us Tuesday, June 5 from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Farragut Business Center. You may have even already received your invite in the mail! If you did not receive a paper invitation but would like to attend, please RSVP to info@godcgo.com by May 25.

Our speakers include Matt Leedham, co-founder and Chief Achievement Officer of Velocity, a DC-based personal and professional development firm. Matt will discuss methods for managing employees in the modern age, as well as time management tips and guidelines for teleworkers. Frank D’Silva is the Senior Sales Engineer at Technology Management, Inc., an Arlington-based IT firm delivering enterprise-level IT capabilities to businesses and nonprofits. Frank will be discussing telework technology needs and ideas for your organization.

A special thank you to DC Business Centers for hosting the event in their bright and spacious conference room at the Farragut Business Center. An optional tour of the center will be available after the seminar. Be productive like never before with no dogs barking, no kids screaming and no telemarketers calling! DC Business Centers supports teleworkers with furnished offices by the day. Free Wi-Fi and coffee are included in the low $35 per day rate. Join other like-minded professionals and telework or book a meeting room today from their Metrorail-accessible centers at Union Station, Farragut Square or Georgetown. Please visit www.dccenters.com or call (202) 223-5200 for more information.

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by | May 7, 2012

May is Bike Month! What Are You Going to Do to Celebrate?

May is National Bike Month! Time to pull your bike out of the shed if you’ve been letting it collect dust during the winter and get rolling with events to celebrate and promote bicycling all month long. Here’s a look at how DC celebrates Bike Month:

Bike to School Day, May 9: Biking to school helps children wake up and arrive feeling energized and ready to learn. Now, through a partnership between the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the League of American Bicyclists, they can join thousands of other children across America in the first ever Bike to School Day. Click here to see if your school is holding a Bike to School event. If not, it’s not too late to get together with your neighbors, bike with your children to school on a safe route and start thinking about an event for next year!

Bike Fest DC, May 11: There’s no better way to support bicycling in the DC area than by attending The Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s annual fundraiser. This year’s theme, “And All That Jazz,” is sure to draw a large, enthusiastic crowd as WABA transforms DC’s Eastern Market into a bicycling speakeasy with food, drink, entertainment, raffles and a silent auction. Proceeds go toward helping WABA continue their mission of bicycle advocacy and education in the DC region. Click here for tickets and more information.

Bike DC, May 13: This fun, family-friendly event takes place on a Sunday morning when selected DC and Arlington streets are shut down to accommodate hundreds of cyclists. Two route options make this a great bike event for cyclists of all skill levels and children are welcome. There’s still time to register and you can get a sweet discount of $7 off the price of the adult registration fee for either the full or family ride. Simply enter the code “goDCgo” in the “Promotional Code” field on the “Review Registration” page. Please note that you must enter the code each time you register an additional adult.

Bike to Work Day, May 18: If there’s one bikey thing you do this month, make sure it’s this! Bike to Work Day happens once a year and is the ultimate event to promote cycling as a viable and fun transportation option. Even if biking to work is something you do every day, we still encourage you to register because the more people who participate, the more it draws attention to bicycling and the needs of cyclists in the region. Plus, when you register and attend one of the 58 pit stops, you’ll get a free t-shirt, food, drinks, and the chance to win a bicycle or other fantastic raffle prizes. Visit www.biketoworkmetrodc.org for complete information and to register for a pit stop.

WABA Bike Classes: Feeling a bit rusty on the old bike? Don’t let lack of confidence prevent you from getting out there and enjoying Bike Month…and beyond! The Washington Area Bicyclist Association offers classes both for the novice rider and for those wanting to improve their city cycling skills. Click here for more information and a calendar of classes.

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by | May 4, 2012

DC Pedestrian Advisory Council Launches New Website

The District is currently ranked 7th in the nation as the most walkable city according to Walk Score. That’s fantastic! However, pedestrian injuries and fatalities persist, with 11 pedestrian fatalities in the District in 2010. Clearly, there is more work yet to be done to get that number down to where it should be: zero. That’s where the DC Pedestrian Advisory Council – and you! – come in. The DC City Council created the PAC in 2010 to provide a forum for citizen input about the issues affecting District pedestrians and recommendations to address those issues, and now, we’re excited to see their newly launched website!

Photo: Jørgen Schyberg/Trygg Trafikk.

So who are these mysterious PAC members and what do they do? The PAC is comprised of 18 members, 13 of whom are District residents appointed by City Council members and five non-voting liaisons from various city agencies with a role or interest in pedestrian safety issues. As a group, they meet regularly to review policies, compare them to best practices elsewhere and make recommendations to the Mayor and City Council. The PAC plays a big role in maintaining accountability among city lawmakers and agencies and have pledged to focus more energy moving forward on accelerating the Pedestrian Master Plan (yes, DC has one!), as well as increasing traffic safety law enforcement.

Just as local bike advisory and advocacy groups have made such a difference in advancing the District as a bike-friendly city, your efforts and input will help keep key pedestrian infrastructure and safety projects moving forward at a progressive pace. That’s why it’s so exciting to see the PAC’s new online presence, which will certainly encourage more open dialogue and raise awareness! Want to get involved? Here are several ways to do so:

1)      Attend a meeting. All PAC meetings are open to the public and are held every second Monday of the month at 6:00 pm on the 11th floor of One Judiciary Square, 441 4th Street, NW. Check back to their website for any changes in the meeting schedule.

2)      Apply for a vacant position. If you really want to be a mover and shaker in the DC pedestrian safety scene, click here for more instructions on how to apply for a vacant seat on the PAC.

3)      Share your story. The PAC wants to hear from you if you have a pedestrian accident story to share. Stories from real people help put faces to the statistics and make pedestrian safety issues more compelling. Selected stories will periodically be posted on the website, but your identity may be protected if you request. Click here to share your story.

Be sure to visit the new website  to find out more about what your neighbors are doing to make you safer!

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Filed under DC Development, Safety, Walking

by | April 23, 2012

DC Area Residents Are a Multimodal Crowd! Green Giveaway Winners Announced.

The Earth Day 2012 Green Giveaway contest has come to an end—we’ve gleefully notified our winners and begun the exciting process of putting gift cards into envelopes and mailing them—but the impression that each and every person who entered the contest made upon us lingers. The comments we received on our contest blog post revealed a knowledgeable local population with a genuine commitment to making environmentally friendly transportation choices. In light of the fact that our job is to educate the public about the variety of transportation modes in and around the District, it was especially heartening to see that a multimodal approach to travel was the predominant theme. In fact, every single mode that we regularly promote on goDCgo was mentioned at least twice! If you didn’t get the chance to peruse all of the contest entry comments, here are some snippets of feedback we received when we asked you to tell us about your “green” transportation choices:

Walking

“My green commute is walking. Not only is it healthier for myself, it also helps save the Earth one small step at a time.” – Katherine

“On nice days, I opt out of taking the bus home and walk the 1.3 miles. Not only is it MUCH better for the environment, it’s cheaper too!” – Rachel

Biking

“Biking to and from work is probably my favorite part of the day. It gives me a chance to mentally prepare for the day ahead on the way there, and decompress on the way home.” – Adam

“I’ve always tried to walk or bike most places, and the addition of Capital Bikeshare has revolutionized how I get around the city.” – Megan

Public Transit

“I love public transit and use it all the time to get where I need to be. I’m always coming up with different ideas to link systems to get really far…” – Alex

“I take metro! its nice that I can get my work done while commuting and then I walk the rest of the way.” – Patrick

Carpooling

“When I have to drive, I aim to carpool!” – Alexis

“…we’ve been a one-car family for 9 years, which makes chauffeuring kids to sports and events *interesting* at times, but we carpool extensively.” – Stephanie

Car Sharing

“I also have zipcar and car2go memberships for those times when I need to transport more than I can carry on my back.” – Meredith

 

“I don’t have a car, but Zipcar and Car2Go both make it easy to use one when absolutely necessary.” – Maddie

Telecommuting, while not technically a “mode” of transportation, got a few mentions too, and several people said they chose their workplace or home based upon the nearby transportation options available.

“We based the decision on where to purchase our house on whether we could walk to a Metro…”  – Stephanie

“When I was laid off and looking for work I would only apply for positions that we close by and easily accessible to metro and bike.” – Russell

Congratulations to our winners—Katherine, Liz, Rob, Riordan, Russell and Stephanie S.! And a big thanks to everyone who participated by sharing your experiences with us. It’s nice to know you’re out there spreading the word about sustainable transportation and leading by example.

 

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Filed under Biking, Bus, Capital Bikeshare, Car Sharing, Carpooling, Commuting, Environment, General Interest, Walking