Transit and Trails: Connecting People to Nature on Public Transit Project of the Bay Area Open Space Council (BAOSC)
http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/10/transit-and-trails-connecting-
people-to-nature-on-public-transit/
http://www.transitandtrails.org/
Transit and Trails: Connecting People to Nature on Public Transit
By Deborah Fleischer | October 31st, 2009  Comments


Don’t own a car, but want to get out to one of the Bay Area’s
hundreds of parks and trails? Or perhaps, you are trying to reduce
your carbon footprint and wondering how to get to your favorite hike
without using your car?
Transit and Trails is a new resource for outdoor enthusiasts who want
to leave their cars behind and easily get information on how to take
the bus (or ferry) to reach Bay Area hiking trails and campgrounds.
A project of the Bay Area Open Space Council (BAOSC), the new
interactive website identifies hundreds of trailheads and 150
campgrounds to explore across the Bay Area’s 1.2 million acres of
preserved lands. Just enter your starting location, and roughly how
far you want to venture, and the site suggests possible hikes and
featured trips. Once you decide where you want to go, it connects
with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s 511 Transit Trip
Planner to provide a detailed trip itinerary, complete with a map,
transit times, fares and walking directions to and from the transit
stop.
BAOSC a collaborative of more than 55 member organizations actively
involved in permanently protecting and stewarding important parks,
trails and agricultural lands in the nine-county San Francisco Bay
Area. They are committed to connecting people to the land.
According to Bettina Ring, Executive Director of the BAOSC, “Transit
and Trails is the first ever trip planner focused on parks and
trails…It brings all the needed information to your fingertips so
you can easily plan your outing.”
The ROI of Not Driving

The site also calculates the cost of driving to your destination and
estimates the pounds of carbon you would save by using public
transit, so you can calculate the ROI of leaving the car at home.
Wouldn’t this make a great iphone application?
Transit and Trails makes it easy for you to access all the amazing
parks and open spaces in the Bay Area while minimizing costs (save on
tolls, gas and parking) and reducing your carbon footprint. Give it a
try! Since I live in Marin and can reach many trails from my front
door (or if I need to travel, I have the dog along) I have not tried
the service yet.
—
Deborah Fleischer is founder and president of Green Impact. She is a
LEED AP with a Master in Environmental Studies from Yale University
and over 20-years of direct experience working on sustainability-
related challenges in both the public and private sectors. You can
follow her at @GreenImpact.
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