• Catawba to Lynchburg 8am-5pm
• Salem to Blacksburg 7:30am-10pm
• Within Salem 10am-3pm
• Blacksburg to Dublin 9am-2pm
• Blacksburg to Roanoke 5pm-10pm
• Blacksburg to Roanoke 8:30am-5pm
• Within Blacksburg 5:30pm-8pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-3:30pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-4pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-5pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-6pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-8pm
• Within Blacksburg 9am-5pm
• Within Blacksburg 9am-6:30pm
• Within Blacksburg 9am-9pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

• Within Blacksburg 8am-11pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

• Roanoke to Christiansburg 7:30am-5:30pm
• Rocky Mount to Roanoke 8am-5:30pm
• Troutville to Blacksburg 9am-5:20pm
• Within Roanoke 6:30am-3pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

“This data confirms what we’ve been seeing every day for the last several years,” says RIDE Solutions Program Director Jeremy Holmes.  “Our database of regional carpoolers and Guaranteed Ride Home users has grown 1600% in five years.  Families are continuing to look for ways to trim their household budgets, and cutting commuting expenses by joining carpools or bike commuting can be an easy way to save money almost instantly.”

The American Community Survey data shows an increase in all alternative modes which it measures, such as a 21% increase in the number of 2-person carpools and a 36% increase in public transit use.  The most dramatic increase, though, comes from those identifying bicycling as their main commute mode – a staggering 152% increase.

“It’s important to recognize that the American Community Survey data actually understates the number of people using an alternative mode,” says Holmes.  “It only asks respondents how they get to work most days, which leaves out people who may bike or carpool to work only one day a week.  It also leaves out people who have replaced shopping or social trips with bicycle trips.”  These trips, Holmes points out, make up ¾ of a household’s total trips.

Among the elements that could be driving this increase, Holmes cites the 2008 gas price peak of $4 a gallon, which resulted in a mode shift to carpools and transit use that has largely stuck even after gas prices dropped, and significant improvements in bicycling infrastructure.  The latter includes the expansion of the greenway into Vic Thomas Park, bike lanes and wide shoulders on Shenandoah and Colonial Avenues, and bike routes marked by sharrows in downtown Roanoke.  Encouragement programs such as Bike Month in the Roanoke and New River Valleys have encouraged new bicycle commuters and raised the awareness of all sustainable modes.

RIDE Solutions provides multimodal trip planning services – including carpool matching, bicycle commute routing, transit assistance, and telework consultation – for citizens and employers in the Roanoke and New River Valley regions and surrounding areas within southwestern Virginia.  It is a program of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

Notice – Everyone please keep an eye out for two bikes: 1. A Blue Swobo Sanchez frame (like this minus the topbar badge http://www.swobo.com/catalog/product_info_b.php?cPath=2448_2461) with a black “Surly” front fork, Miche hubs, velocity deep-v rims, and 2. A Black “Performance” mountain bike. Both bikes have been set up for bike polo and have narrowed handle bars and fixed gear drivetrain. These bikes were stolen yesterday from Chad and Chelsea Lovings’ garage at 2049 Windsor Avenue, whilst the perpetrators also set a portion of the their garage on fire – causing several thousands in damage. Fortunately the building is masonry so the fire put itself out without causing major damage or injuring anyone.

A few high-school aged kids in ball caps and black hoodies were spotted in the alley yesterday before placing graffiti on the same garage, so I would suspect it was these kids that stole the bikes too. If anyone sees either please call the police immediately – as they are stolen and related to an arson and vandalism case with the Roanoke City Police Department. Thanks everyone for helping keep our neighborhood safe!

• Troutville to Roanoke 6am-6:30pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission. 

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

• Iron Gate to Roanoke 5am-2pm
• Roanoke to Salem 6:30am-6pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

• Blacksburg to Christiansburg 8am-5pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-11pm
• Within Blacksburg 8am-5pm

RIDE Solutions offer free carpool matching and Guaranteed Ride Home benefits for everyone who carpools, bikes, walks, takes the bus or telecommutes to work instead of driving alone.  We are a free public service of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.

By providing transportation alternatives in the Roanoke area, RIDE Solutions improves regional air quality, reduces traffic congestion, and helps create a sustainable transportation infrastructure.

Want instant updates?  Follow us on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

Conference organizer Ed Walker closes out CityWorks (X)po on Saturday | From CityWorks (X)po Facebook page

This past weekend I got to attend the CityWorks (X)po, held at Charter Hall and the renovated City Market Building (link goes to the event’s Facebook page, which I’m assuming will remain active in some form or another).  I really enjoyed it – an eclectic group of presenters of both national and local fame, and a variety of topics, all pointing back to the premise of the endeavor:  the small cities are the places where big ideas can happen, and where exciting things can be tested and implemented quickly.

Of course, I was particularly excited on the first full day of the event, which saw three presentations discussing the role of the bicycle in creating healthy communities – one of which came from Mia Birk, Principal of Alta Planning + Design and credited with making Portland what it is today.  Another came from Marin County, California, where they discussed how a community that grew a reputation for mountain biking parlayed that into a community where cycling became popular for transportation (also on mountain bike, as it happened, since many of the bike-friendly shortcuts throughout the county relied on taking off-road trails).  The mayor of Davis, California (a Platinum rated Bicycle Friendly Community) spoke via Skype and talked a little of the importance of cycling there.

There were a number of other presentations discussing various ways that small communities have done things to make themselves vital and thriving.  I came away from each of them with the germ of an idea, something to make the RIDE Solutions program better, or some way to rethink how transportation options can help spark activity in a locale.

Which is the problem with these things, isn’t it?  You come out with so many great ideas it’s hard to keep track of them, and then when getting back to the every day work sets in its easy to forget and let the energy fade.

One way the CityWorks folks (I think it’s them, at least) are trying to retain that energy is the Envision Roanoke project, a way to crowdsource great ideas.  I’d recommend checking it out (and maybe voting for the bike racks suggestion, hint, hint).

Another idea is the project of one of the presenters, the CommonPlace web community.  The platform looks like a great way to connect neighbors and neighborhoods.  Obviously, this would be great for things like carpool matching, finding bike buddies, and school walking groups.  There’s a place to nominate your community – I’d recommend doing so.

But in the spirit of soliciting Big Ideas, I’d like to ask for yours – what are some things RIDE Solutions could do better?  Who are some folks we should be partnering with but haven’t?  If you could change/fix/upgrade one thing about our transportation system in the region, what would it be?

Let’s keep the energy going!

Sometimes we need to sit back and reflect on the longer term trends that affect transportation demand over the decades.  We talk a lot in this blog about immediate issues of saving money, reducing emissions or even getting healthier through biking to work.  Understandably the discussion includes aspects of individual choice, choices in the transportation “marketplace” and how choice and demand interact. That discussion can get spirited at times because it involves the competing and coordinated interests of individuals and society as a whole.  But, what are some long-term factors that will affect everyone’s choice and the structure of transportation demand itself?

One such demographic factor is the retirement of the Baby Boom generation.  As the Baby Boomers retire (born 1945 to 1964) transportation demand is likely to change.  Types of trips may change, purpose of trips may change and in some cases the ability to travel itself may change.  The character of these changes will transcend simple notions of individual “market choice,” when some long-time drivers can no-longer renew their license or suffer a disability that prevents driving.  The discussion may then shift to access, options and multiple transportation choices.  We may even witness scenes of citizens in public meetings saying something along the lines of “I’ve paid taxes for 50 years, now where are my transportation options?”  There are a few simple and low cost things to consider such as: leisure and social activity ride-sharing.  There may even be some innovative private sector options such as car sharing systems, which help take the risk (repair costs) out of traditional car ownership.  In any case, the discussion will not be boring.  Chapter 6 of the Roanoke Valley Area MPO’s Long-Range Transportation Plan 2035 explores some of these issues and dynamics under the title “Scenario Planning.”

As the saying goes “The future ain’t what it used to be.”