Good public transit has many benefits…convenience, quality of life, job creation, less traffic, and an essential service for those without cars.  Personally, though, the most important benefit is a calm, peaceful ride to work.  You see, I am not a happy driver.  Sure, I enjoy a quiet ride in the country (though even then, I’d rather be on my bicycle), but I loathe rush-hour traffic.  Loathe.  I am at my worst when stuck in a line of cars or when being buffeted by other drivers swerving in and out of traffic to save themselves a few seconds of time.  At my worst.  Just ask my wife.  I become a grumbling, angry mess, shouting words I haven’t used in normal conversation (at least since I left the Army).

On the bus, though, I am able to sit back and relax.  I am able to catch up on my reading, do a little Facebooking, prepare for a meeting at work, or just chat with the other regulars.  With my schedule, I can’t take the number 20 bus in to downtown every day, but I cherish those days when I can.  My peaceful days.  That is one of the reasons I’m active with Transit Now Nashville; I want public transit to be so convenient that I, and others, can have more of those peaceful days.

To kickoff Transit Week 2013, we hope you will join us on Saturday, April 20, at Nashville’s Earth Day Celebration. The event will be at Centennial Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

We’d love for you to ride the bus (Route # 3 runs on West End). If you don’t ride but would like to know more, our booth will be next to MTA’s booth and they’ll have a full size bus there for you to walk in and check out. We’ll help give a tour and you can participate in a quick Transit Now Nashville Transit Camp that will help you with everything you need to know about riding. Also at our booth, we’ll likely have some transit swag for you just for stopping by to say hi!

For more information on Earth Day, see www.NashvilleEarthDay.org.

And, here’s a few important reasons why taking transit is good for the environment from www.publictransportation.org.

 Public Transportation Reduces Carbon Footprint

•  Communities that invest in public transit reduce the nation’s carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons annually: equivalent to New York City; Washington, DC; Atlanta; Denver; and Los Angeles combined stopping using electricity.
• One person switching to public transit can reduce daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds or more than 4,800 pounds in a year.
• A single commuter switching his or her commute to public transportation can reduce a household’s carbon emissions by 10% and up to 30% if he or she eliminates a second car. When compared to other household actions that limit CO2, taking public transportation can be 10 times greater in reducing this harmful greenhouse gas.

Public Transportation Saves Fuel, Reduces Congestion

• Access to bus and rail lines reduces driving by 4,400 miles per household annually.
• Americans living in areas served by public transportation save 646 million hours in travel time and 398 million gallons of fuel annually in congestion reduction alone.
• Without public transportation, congestion costs would have been an additional $13.7 billion.

Join us at Earth Day!

Residents of Middle Tennessee’s first “transit-ready” subdivisions will be able to catch a train or rapid transit bus just a few steps from their door and commute to downtown Nashville without giving traffic on I-40 or I-65 a second thought — or even a first. Read the full article on the Tennessean.

Check out this recent Atlantic Cities article about a recent study on the economic benefits of public transit.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/03/economic-case-rail-subsidies/5007/

We’ve had a great month!.  We have had one benefit concert so far with another on Oct 30th, so we couldn’t be happier with all the support we are seeing for the development of our mobile transit application.  Last Friday, the Dot Commies performed at the Rutledge for us and helped us raise over $1,000 to go towards the project.  This coming week, the Grammy nominated ALIAS Chamber Ensemble will be performing at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt for our benefit as well (you can still get tickets by visiting them online).

In addition, Nashville MTA has been going through some changes that will impact the Transit App.  Earlier this month, the MTA released a request for proposals for the development of a new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and allowed us to give input on the specifics needed to make this app a reality.  We need an ITS system in order for the app to work, specifically, an ITS system that will relay the real-time information through an Automatic Programming Interface (API) to mobile apps.  The ITS system that MTA currently has, doesn’t have the necessary API components for a mobile app to work.  So this is great news.  Unfortunately, the project will be delayed until next winter, but we can guarantee that we’ll have an ITS system that will allow us to develop the best Transit App you can imagine.

Thank you for coming out, and we hope to see you at ALIAS this week!