{"id":217839,"date":"2010-01-14T12:02:47","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T17:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2010-01-14T12:02:47","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T17:02:47","slug":"5-ways-to-get-people-thinking-about-alternative-transportation-downtown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/217839","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Get People Thinking About Alternative Transportation Downtown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downtown Phoenix<\/strong> is coming alive with new businesses opening up in our urban core – all of them are easily accessible using the light rail<\/strong>. \u00a0However, in some cases you might want to combine more than one mode of alternative transportation (a bike, a taxi, etc). \u00a0Doing so will help you enjoy the many restaurants and coffeebars that Downtown has to offer. \u00a0Recently, over on my blog, I talked about ways the light rail improved the quality of life in Downtown Phoenix<\/a>. \u00a0While the light rail has helped, there still needs to be more awareness about other things people can do to drive less and truly help green the city.<\/p>\n

Bike rentals<\/strong> or a bike rental kiosks in various parts of Downtown would be hot. \u00a0Right now, the nearest bike rental facility is either way south of Downtown or on the east side of the airport. This is why we need a bike rental kiosk in our urban core. \u00a0Tucson is trying out a bike kiosk and so are a handful of other major cities around the country. \u00a0Why not here? \u00a0True, there was a bike sharing program in Phoenix at one time, but people kept stealing the bikes. \u00a0A rental<\/em> program in downtown would encourage people to leave their cars at home, or at least encourage people to take the train into town and rent a bike once they’re here. \u00a0You can seee the Tucson bike kiosk story\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"bike_racks\"Bike racks <\/strong>are <\/strong>lacking in many parts of Downtown. \u00a0Copper Square and the Downtown Phoenix Partnership have a good supply in the heart of Phoenix, but \u00a0we need more and lots of them throughout the rest of Downtown, midtown and uptown. \u00a0Secure areas to park our bikes will encourage more people to bring their bikes into town. \u00a0Many cities across the country are finding there are federal funds to pay for racks if the location meets city ordinances. \u00a0Recently, I pointed out how restaurants along the light rail are seeing green by installing new racks on their own. \u00a0See a previous story I wrote on the bike racks in Downtown Phoenix\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zipcar<\/strong>, a car sharing program, has cars in most major cities including right here in Phoenix. \u00a0Zipcar is an hourly car rental service has several location in the Phoenix market, mostly around the three Arizona State University campus locations.\u00a0 They’re inexpensive when you use the cars for short trips like running errands, and can get more expensive when you rent them for longer periods of time.\u00a0 There’s even an iPhone app for convenient reservations.\u00a0 I realize the service and concept is relatively new for many people, however I don’t think enough people know about this service, especially when I tell people and their reaction is ‘what’s a Zipcar?’ \u00a0 If that’s your’re question too, read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Curbside taxi service at light rail stations <\/strong>apparently is <\/strong>not allowed to offer service to and from a light rail station. If they were, think of how easy it would be to get to the airport or to a baseball or basketball game from the various park and rides along the light rail line.<\/p>\n

Pedicabs <\/strong>are a quick and easy way to get around in the center of town.\u00a0 Not only are they a green form of transportation, but the pedicab drivers and the carts add character to downtown Phoenix.\u00a0 I took a ride on one the other night and found out how many hundreds of pounds each one can haul.\u00a0 Read more, plus get the number to call a pedicab here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city of Phoenix has come so far in such a short amount of time when it comes to promoting alternative transportation. \u00a0As you can see from this list, there’s still more work we can all do to get people out from behind the wheel of \u00a0a car.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downtown Phoenix is coming alive with new businesses opening up in our urban core – all of them are easily accessible using the light rail. \u00a0However, in some cases you might want to combine more than one mode of alternative transportation (a bike, a taxi, etc). \u00a0Doing so will help you enjoy the many restaurants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4042,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}