Help decrease traffic and your carbon footprint - ride the bus (or train)! It may not be as convenient as your own car, but public transportation gives you free time to "people watch," read, get a jump on paperwork, or just look out the window. Take the bus and you can save money, too. Did you know the average household spends 18 cents of every dollar on transportation, and 94% of this goes to buying, maintaining, and operating cars, the largest expenditure after housing.

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

(Energy Saver's Blog by the U.S. Department of Energy)

I have a love/hate relationship with buses. I love that they save me gasoline, are more efficient than driving a car, and reduce my greenhouse gas emissions. However, I hate them when they're running late! But there is one category of buses that I'm particularly fond of – those that run on alternative fuels. In fact, alternative fuel and advanced technology transit buses offer a number of health, environmental, and social benefits.

As anyone who has walked behind a traditional diesel bus knows, the...(more).

Public Transportation: By the Numbers

• 14 million: Americans who take public transportation daily.
• 40%: Reduction in U.S. reliance on foreign oil that would occur if one in 10 Americans used public transportation daily.  
• 79: Number of times safer that riding a bus is over riding in your own automobile.
• 855: Millions of gallons saved (equal to 45 million barrels of oil) from people taking public transportation each year. This is roughly the energy needed to power ¼ of all American homes annually.
• 6,000: Difference in pounds of global warming pollution that a diesel school bus emits over a natural gas school bus.
• 20%: Carbon monoxide emissions saved if one in five Americans rode public transportation daily; the savings would be greater than the combined emissions from all chemical manufacturing and metal processing industries.

Sources: American Public Transportation Association, Center for Transportation Excellence, National Resources Defense Council

Get on the Bus (or train!)
Find public transportation in your area:

City of Madison - Metro
Fond-Du-Lac Transit
Janesville Transit Department
Iowa's Public Transit Systems
Minnesota Public Transit Systems
Public Transit Systems in Your Community, PublicTransportation.org
United States Local and State Transit Links, American Public Transportation Association