JOIN THE PARK-AND-RIDE COMMUNITY (PARC)
Tallahassee has embraced the park-and-ride concept as if it were a newly invented solution to congestion of the not-so-long-ago two-laned Thomasville Road as one commutes south from the 'burbs. Park and ride lots have been around since at least the early '60's. I remember driving by the empty lots wondering what was their purpose. Actually, when I moved to the northern Tallahassee 'burbs in the early '90's, there was a park and ride sign and a little unused lot on the corner of Thomasville and Bannerman Roads, now repaved into the Walgreen's parking lot. But, now the ride will offer free Wi-Fi on the StarMetro bus and will, just like the Southwood 80X Express bus, deliver you only to the downtown Adams Street central hub.
Greenovation, (not the biotech company based in Freiburg, Germany) is part of the Knight Foundation's Creative Communities Initiative, and is recruiting 20-30 people in the north Thomasville Road area to participate in a three-month park-and-ride experience.
Participants who live in the Killearn area will receive a special StarMetro bus pass with one week of free rides, plus a gift bag with such things as a reusable shopping bag that folds to fit into your pocket or purse, a lunch bag with water bottle, an umbrella, gift certificates from local businesses, and much more. Each participant will also receive an individualized trip plan to meet his or her needs.
Participants are asked to commit to riding the bus an average of twice a week between Tuesday, Sept. 4, through Friday, Dec. 7, leaving their cars at lots near Village Square so a Killearn Lakes resident would still have to drive 5+ miles to get to park, then ride Route 16 to the bus plaza downtown. Free transfers will take riders to their final destinations.
Starting Oct. 23, an express route (80X) will add stops at Wal Mart and Target on north Thomasville Road. Then, folks I have seen walking to work from the current northern end of the bus line in front of Stein Mart to the Thomasville Road Wal Mart can catch a break, at least until 7 pm. and until the pilot's end on December 7, 2007.
To sign up, send your name, home address, work address, and your travel times to parkandridetallahassee@gmail.com. You will receive a brochure and the URL for our soon-to-be-posted Web site.
Now, if StarMetro can get the folks without cars living in southwest Tallahassee off Lake Bradford Road a bus to get to a grocery store and back in under 1.5+ hours each way, they could put that free shopping bag to good use.
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