Transportation
Maintenance and Ride-sharing: Efficient Use of Your Car or Truck
Six ways to burn less climate-warming gasoline
- Carpool with people in your community and/or use Park and Ride lots
- Get regular oil and filter changes, maintain tire pressure, and keep up with emissions checks
- Avoid idling when you’re waiting in your vehicle
- Start driving right away—even in the cold
- Ask your school district about a “no idling” policy for school buses
- Put the above in place as policy for your business or agency if you have a fleet
If you can’t currently replace your car with a combination of public transit, walking, biking and/or an electric vehicle, you can still get your vehicle to use fuel more efficiently and keep its emissions as low as possible. Most of these actions will also save you money on gas.
Household action: Maintain your car according to its manual—the manuals of most cars are online if you don’t still have your copy. This will reduce the gas your car needs to burn in order to run.
We can reduce stress and build community by riding together. Most trips to work in RI are in single-occupancy cars, which increase both traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. Carpooling can cut a community’s car-based emissions by a half or two-thirds, depending on how many people are regularly riding together instead of driving alone. It also allows riders to split the cost of gas, and in some cases of a parking spot.
Community action: Carpool and share rides. If possible, take turns so that no one person is using their car all the time. This can be especially effective for commuting to work, if you live near any of your co-workers, and for going to community events like religious services or kids’ sports events. This can also be a good service for a younger person to do for an elderly person who no longer drives or finds driving difficult. For other carpool options, here’s a link to RI’s Park and Ride lots: http://www.dot.ri.gov/travel/park_and_ride.php