Tag: car-free

Sept 18 & 21: Mass. Car-Free Week Kick-Off & Celebration

September 12, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Tufts Office of Sustainability is celebrating Massachusetts Car-Free Week September 17th-23rd by encouraging students and faculty members to make their commutes car-light!

Endorsing the environmental, financial, community, and health benefits of sustainable travel options, Mass. Car-Free Week promotes public transit, carpooling, bicycling, walking and teleworking as greener modes of transportation.

Track your progress on www.nuride.com, a travel rewards and ride-sharing program sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Win daily prizes for commuting car-free by signing into NuRide from September 17th-23rd!

Tufts Office of Sustainability will guide you through Mass. Car-Free Week with Kick-Off and Celebration events:

Kick-Off: Tuesday, September 18th, 11am – 2pm: Tufts Office of Sustainability (OOS) will host a kick-off event on the lower patio of Mayer Campus Center to promote the environmental and economic benefits of car-light commuting for Mass. Car-Free Week. The OOS will be signing up students and staff for Car-Free Week via NuRide. Come join the local biking and alternative transit community to register your bike, pick up bike maps and flyers, purchase bike locks and other transit merchandise, and learn about everything from folding bikes to car-sharing!

Celebration: Friday, September 21st, 11am – 2pm: There is such thing as a free lunch! Tufts Office of Sustainability will offer a free lunch for all registered participants in Mass. Car-Free Week. Enjoy a meal in the Pearson parking lot (across from Dewick dining hall), where Professor Cathy Stanton’s Anthropology 132 “Myth, Ritual, & Symbol” class  will demonstrate alternative uses for an open parking space. Please RSVP to the lunch either by sharing a picture of your car-light ride on our Twitter (@tuftsOOS) or Facebook, or by sending us an email of your NuRide account progress at tuftsoos@gmail.com.

To learn more about Mass. Car-Free Week and other events in the Boston area, visit the MassRIDES website.

With the Hubway bikeshare system, Boston is your oyster. Go explore!

October 5, 2011 / / 2 Comments

A cyclist taking a load off and soaking in the gorgeous Charles River.

Get out of that dorm room, you couch potato, and glide around Boston using the city’s new bikeshare system.

Trust me. The will be the start of a beautiful friendship. So beautiful that from all the exercise, you won’t feel bad about stopping off in the North End for a gelato. And, with zero emissions, no friendship could be greener!

So how does this work? First, head to any of 61 bikeshare stations in Boston, where you can buy a 24-hour ($5) or three-day ($12) membership with a credit or debit card. I suggest the one at the Charles/MGH station, a quick jaunt down the Red Line from Tufts.

Then, ride the bike! They are sturdy and comfy, if slower than those of Boston’s veteran bikers, and traverse neighborhoods at least as quickly as the MBTA. The bikes also feature a bell, adjustable seats, and lights that turn on at night. You can park only at Hubway stations, but at least you don’t have to worry about locking the bike or buying one in the first place.

Make sure, of course, to check out TheHubway.com for safety tips and a list of Boston retailers that sell inexpensive helmets. Gotta cover that noggin, Jumbo.

By the way, if you have any questions about using the Hubway, reach me at chrisjgirard@gmail.com. I happily use it to commute.

So where should you go? Here are a few ideas:

These Hubway bikes need friends! Come ride one.

1) The Ivory Tower Tour: Start at Park Street and say hello to friends at Suffolk University and Emerson College. Then, bike to the Christian Science Plaza station and rub shoulders with Northeastern University and Berkeley School of Music students. Once you get sick of the guitar busking, head over to the station at 725 Commonwealth Avenue, where you can check out the Boston University campus, which has a million Green Line stations. (Hey! Give some to Tufts!) Finish up by riding to the Harvard Stadium station. Cross the beautiful Charles River and check out the Crimson campus before taking the Red Line to Davis home.

2) The Art Lover’s Tour: Start at South Station and ride over to the Fan Pier station in the Seaport District to check out The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston’s shiniest and (probably) weirdest museum. Then, head to the Northeastern University station to see the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and, right next door, the fabulous Museum of Fine Arts. Ride back to South Station and feel good about being so cultured.

3) The Title Tour: Start at Park Street and ride from the Tremont Street station to North Station, and pay homage to the Celtics and Bruins. Then glide over to the Yawkey Way station to worship at the altar of Fenway Park before proceeding to the site of Braves Field, where the Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves) used to play, near the Agganis Arena station. Then ride over to the Charles/MGH station to head back home to nap, dreams of future Boston championships swirling in your head.

Sep 23: Massachusetts Car-Free Week Reception at the Office of Sustainability

September 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Next week is Massachusetts Car-Free Week, a great opportunity to promote healthier modes of transportation for both yourself and the environment! Starting Sunday, Sept. 18th through Sept 24th, you can track your car-free and car-light trips and be eligible to win prizes. Pledge your commitment to be Car-Free for next week and start tracking your trips on Sunday.

To celebrate everyone’s involvement in this event, the Office of Sustainability is holding a reception on Friday, September 23rd at 11 am. The Office is located in Miller Hall (around the back on the parking lot side facing Hillel Hall) on the Medford campus. If you made an effort to reduce the number of single-occupancy trips in your car (even if it’s just one less day than usual), come join us for some refreshments!

Please pass this information along to your colleagues so that we can get as many people as possible traveling car-free next week! There is a flyer that you can print out and post in your department to help raise awareness.

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