Alexandria’s Commuter Revolution

This story was sent to me by a Commuter Revolution participant (Margaret T. from Saint Stephen and Saint Agnes School) and I couldn’t not share it with everyone. Enjoy!

I bought a Vespa scooter this winter…not the weather to do much riding, but this month has been great. I get 80 miles to the gallon….Enjoying the beautiful flower smells as I “scoot” around town. Had an unusual experience yesterday…I was scooting behind a van that decided to clean the pollen off its windows. I got a surprising shower!

Do you have a great story about your Green Commute?  Either post a comment to this story or email salkins@urbantrans.com so we can repost it!

The Commuter Revolution starts officially on Monday, April 5. If you track your commute 3 days a week, you will be entered to win a prize worth $25; if you track your commute 4 days a week, you will be entered to win a $50 prize and 5 days for a chance to win a $100 prize.

Here are the prizes for the first week:

$25: The Dairy Godmother

$50: Mom’s Organic Market

$100: Wheel Nuts Bike Shop

We are also giving away a one month free membership and personal training session to Snap Fitness in Old Town to anyone who tracks at least three trips next week. This prize is worth $200. Not too shabby!

In my previous post, I mentioned two free bike tune ups. They have already been claimed but Wheel Nuts is giving all participants a 10% discount during April, just mention the Commuter Revolution.

During the Commuter Revolution, chances are you’ll be figuring out a completely new way to get to work.  While you probably drove alone in the past, now fiddling with bus maps and VRE timetables might be a bit daunting…  Luckily, there are some great tools on the web that can help you figure out your new commutes.  Here are just a few:

• Metro Trip Planner: For people looking to see what options exist on Metrobus, Metrorail or other local bus services, look no further than WMATA.com.  Metro provides a trip planning tool that lets you enter you origin/destination addresses as well as other information such as how far you’re willing to walk.  This is a great first place to check and see what options exist near your home and job.
  

  Courtesy of Flickr User wjarrettc

• NextBus: Now, it’s no secret that the bus doesn’t come on time.  When it does, we tend to call that a miracle.  For those other times, there can be long waits and questions regarding when the bus will actually arrive.  For commuters using Metrobus, a relatively new tool called NextBus can answer many of these questions.    Simply plug in what line you ride and what stop you’re waiting and and you’ll get real time information regarding how long until the bus arrives.  Each bus has a GPS receiver on it that provides these up-to-the second updates.  Say goodbye to wondering about the bus…
• Google Transit: For people looking to plan complete trips on the DASH bus, consider using Google Transit.  You may tend to think of Google Maps as only for driving, but there are also walking and transit directions available through maps.google.com.  Just enter where you’re coming from and where you’re going.  Google will create custom directions for you based on a variety of modes.  They’ve also recently added bicycling directions that find the most bike friendly routes for bike commuters to use as well.

Hello Green Commuters,

Our friend Ron at Wheel Nuts Bike Shop in Old Town has generously donated two free bike tune ups. If you’re planning on using  your bike during the Commuter Revolution, this would be a great opportunity to get a free inspection and tweaking from a bike expert. E-mail Marina at budimirm@urbantrans.com or Sam at salkins@urbantrans.com and the first two people will receive a free bike tune up.

And if you need a new bike, helmet, etc., mention the Commuter Revolution to Ron and you’ll receive 10% off of your purchase. That’s a pretty good deal.

The Commuter Revolution is almost here. Yesterday, we hosted a Challenge Coordinator Training at the Beatley Central Library. Representatives from participating companies and organizations joined us for a short and sweet training presentation.

The enthusiasm and engagement in the room were overwhelmingly inspiring. Everyone contributed with insightful questions and comments as we powered through the presentation and next steps. A big thank you goes to La Pain Quotidien for catering our lunch and underwriting 100% of the cost.

All participants of the Commuter Revolution will receive goodies including a candy-filled jar, a welcome packet with useful transportation information and be entered for weekly prize drawings.

Challenge Coordinators will be working to answer any questions or concerns you might have. Also, Sam, Gabe and I are here to help out.

A special thank you goes to Johann Lansky from La Pain Quotidien for providing our hardworking Challenge Coordinators with a delicious lunch.

The Commuter Revolution begins on April 5, please remain on the lookout for news from your company or organization about events and next steps prior to the start. We are very excited to see the first registrants trickling in and the momentum slowly building!

There is a buzz sweeping the streets of Alexandria.  An exciting new program is about to dare commuters to commute without their cars for a month.  Alexandria’s Commuter Revolution is looking for ten brave employers who are willing to challenge their staff to rethink their ride and compete for great prizes.  Each week Commute Revolutionaries will commit to not driving alone and instead using bus/rail, carpooling or vanpooling, biking or walking to work or teleworking.  Depending on how many days they use their green commute they will be entered to win big prizes!  All participants will be entered to win a $500 Visa Card!

Does this sound like something that you or your company wants to participate in?  Check-out the contact us info on the sidebar to learn more about how to get started!