All rides on CityBus will be free all day on all routes on Thursday, June 18, as residents are encouraged to “Dump the Pump” and use public transportation instead, Marty Sennett, CityBus general manager, announced at a new conference at CityBus.
Residents who regularly ride CityBus can save on transportation costs, ease traffic congestion and contribute to the community’s air quality, Sennett and other speakers said. Their messages were reinforced by children from McAllister Center’s Summer Day Camp, who rode in on a hybrid CityBus for the news conference. They carried signs reading “Save Money” and “Live Better” and shouted “Dump the Pump” as they tossed miniature gas pumps into a recycling bin.
“Dump the Pump is an opportunity for our community to experience how riding CityBus helps people save money and live better,” Sennett said. “The average annual cost in the U.S. to own and operate a car is $8,600. During challenging economic times like these, a two-car family can save $8,600 a year by becoming a one-car family and using CityBus for daily trips to and from work. And as we’ve seen, gas prices can go wildly high, making it imperative to consider permanent, less expensive, and environmentally wise ways to commute.”
West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said, “This is a great time to consider the ways that CityBus helps people not only to save money, but to live better—by easing parking and traffic congestion. Last year, there were 5 million rides on CityBus. Imagine what the traffic and congestion would be like if those rides were taken in cars instead.”
Lafayette City Councilman Rick Cornstuble agreed. “Here’s one more, he said: CityBus riders also help keep our air clean by saving 4,800 pounds of carbon emissions per person each year. Better air quality is essential to better quality of life.” He also heralded CityBus for its vital function in ensuring that students, youth, elderly, low-income, and residents with disabilities have access to jobs, education and healthcare.
Dump the Pump is a nationwide campaign coordinated by the American Public Transportation Association. Many cities across the U.S. are participating this year.
CityBus route information is available at www.gocitybus.com or 742-RIDE.
CityBus operates a fleet of 67, including four hybrid buses, with seven more hybrids arriving this summer. Five of the new hybrids will be 40-feet long; two will be 60-foot articulated buses, which have two rider sections and are used on high-capacity routes.
The mission of CityBus is to be a proactive community partner, striving to improve the community’s quality of life by operating safe, reliable and environmentally friendly transit services, by partnering in local economic development and sustainable development activities, and by providing excellent customer service and efficient, convenient access to destinations throughout Lafayette and West Lafayette.
Save Money, Live Better
CityBus riders stand to save $8,600 a year if a family owns one less car.
Other facts from the American Public Transportation Association:
Residents who regularly ride CityBus can save on transportation costs, ease traffic congestion and contribute to the community’s air quality, Sennett and other speakers said. Their messages were reinforced by children from McAllister Center’s Summer Day Camp, who rode in on a hybrid CityBus for the news conference. They carried signs reading “Save Money” and “Live Better” and shouted “Dump the Pump” as they tossed miniature gas pumps into a recycling bin.
“Dump the Pump is an opportunity for our community to experience how riding CityBus helps people save money and live better,” Sennett said. “The average annual cost in the U.S. to own and operate a car is $8,600. During challenging economic times like these, a two-car family can save $8,600 a year by becoming a one-car family and using CityBus for daily trips to and from work. And as we’ve seen, gas prices can go wildly high, making it imperative to consider permanent, less expensive, and environmentally wise ways to commute.”
West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis said, “This is a great time to consider the ways that CityBus helps people not only to save money, but to live better—by easing parking and traffic congestion. Last year, there were 5 million rides on CityBus. Imagine what the traffic and congestion would be like if those rides were taken in cars instead.”
Lafayette City Councilman Rick Cornstuble agreed. “Here’s one more, he said: CityBus riders also help keep our air clean by saving 4,800 pounds of carbon emissions per person each year. Better air quality is essential to better quality of life.” He also heralded CityBus for its vital function in ensuring that students, youth, elderly, low-income, and residents with disabilities have access to jobs, education and healthcare.
Dump the Pump is a nationwide campaign coordinated by the American Public Transportation Association. Many cities across the U.S. are participating this year.
CityBus route information is available at www.gocitybus.com or 742-RIDE.
CityBus operates a fleet of 67, including four hybrid buses, with seven more hybrids arriving this summer. Five of the new hybrids will be 40-feet long; two will be 60-foot articulated buses, which have two rider sections and are used on high-capacity routes.
The mission of CityBus is to be a proactive community partner, striving to improve the community’s quality of life by operating safe, reliable and environmentally friendly transit services, by partnering in local economic development and sustainable development activities, and by providing excellent customer service and efficient, convenient access to destinations throughout Lafayette and West Lafayette.
Save Money, Live Better
CityBus riders stand to save $8,600 a year if a family owns one less car.
Other facts from the American Public Transportation Association:
- Public transportation saves 900,000 automobile fill-ups every day in the U.S.
- Those fill-ups would total 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline a year
- Since January 2003, gas prices have increased by 100 percent
- Car ownership and operation is an individual’s second-highest expense; only housing costs are greater
- Switching to CityBus reduces carbon emissions by 4,800 pounds a year for each rider.
- People with access to transit drive an average of 4,400 fewer miles annually.
Dump the Pump
Ride free Thursday, June 18, 2009, on all CityBus routes. For route information, visit http://www.gocitybus.com/ or call 742-RIDE.
