Hard to believe this month marks my 4th year of being car-free! :) I was just checking today to see if there are Zipcars located at the Metro station near my new home residence, and I was happy to see there are...one car is a Prius, which costs only $8.50/hr. Also I just found out that there's a Zipcar even closer - just a handful of blocks from my house - - even better! :) So that's good to keep in mind for the future.
Speaking of the future, I came across this interesting video of a new program (called "Mo-bility.com") that was launched in Munich, Germany: http://vimeo.com/30483592. The concept is that when members uses one form of public transportation, they collect "mo miles" which entitles them to a discount on other transportation modes. I think it's a GREAT way to connect the separate modes of transportation. It'd be a great addition to cities like Washington, D.C., where people use bikes, buses, subways, Amtrak, etc. to get around. Hmmm....maybe ONE day we could have the program implemented here...I don't see why it couldn't work. I'm not sure how much the program costs though, to get started, nor how much the membership would be?
I've sent an email to the people at Mo-bility.com, to inquire if this program could be implemented in the D.C. area. Stay tuned...
On Thanksgiving, I went to catch my Megabus ride up to Baltimore to meet my sister. Megabus recently moved their D.C. stop from K Street, to the Union Station parking garage. One great thing about this is that now, finally, we have shelter from the elements. :) As you've read from some of my previous posts, the other D.C. Megabus stops have been in open parking lots - so you were exposed to the summer sun, wind, cold, etc. So I was happy that we now have shelter. :) Plus, since it's at Union Station, passengers can take Metro right to Union Station and take the escalators up a couple levels to the parking garage. At the previous stop on K Street, you had to walk a number of blocks to get to the stop. I remember one time a lady in front of me was on her cell phone, talking to her friend who was racing to get to the Megabus stop. Her friend was exiting Metro, but still had the many blocks to cover. Her friend was anxious for her to make the bus and kept urging her to hurry, hurry! She asked the bus attendant if they would hold the bus, since her friend was close by. He said that if they saw her in the parking lot, they would. I don't think her friend made it in time, so she had to catch the next Megabus. So, having the D.C. stop connected with Metro will be helpful. I was running a little low on time myself and decided to bike to Metro and take it to Union Station. Unfortunately, I have to transfer from the Green line to the Red line, so you lose time in waiting. I think it took me as long to ride Metro as it would have been to bike. The return Metro ride home though, the timing of the trains were better and it didn't take me as long.
