Metro is celebrating California Clean Air Day by encouraging everyone to take transit instead of driving with free rides on Metro Bus, Bike and Rail on Wednesday, Oct. 6!
Metro will be offering free rides on trains from midnight to 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 6. Buses are currently not collecting fares. Unlock free 30-minute rides all day on Metro Bike Share with promo code 100621 (rides are $1.75 per 30 minutes thereafter).
Even one less car trip helps spare the air, and we’re also making public transit greener for better air quality. Metro’s Moving Beyond Sustainability plan is a strategy for the next decade to make Metro facilities and transit greener while reducing air pollution and trash from construction.
We’re also trying to give more people options besides driving. That’s important because — as the chart below shows — private vehicles are the largest source of greenhouse gases in California. Greenhouse gases = climate change, which is being blamed for all sorts of weather-related havoc lately (see: wildfires, floods, hurricanes, drought, etc.).
Credit: California Air Resources Board.
Among our sustainability plan’s specific goals are transitioning from compressed natural gas buses, which are fueled by Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), to a 100 percent electric bus fleet by 2030.
The change has already begun. The G Line (Orange) is now 100 percent electric and conversion of the J Line (Sliver) is in the works. The plan also calls for:
•Nearly tripling Metro’s on-site renewable energy generation by 2030.
•Reducing the agency’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 79 percent from the 2017 baseline.
•Reducing nitrogen oxide emissions — a main smog ingrediant — by 54 percent from the 2018 baseline.
So take the clean air pledge with us! Visit CleanAirDay.org to take the pledge and get more information on other ways you can help clear the air.
Categories: Go Metro, Policy & Funding
Agreed until they start offering a service that will not only compete with driving but offer something better. Metro only strives to achieve the minimum. Create a system that will offer frequent and FASTER service. Second the state needs to make driving more expensive for too long have motorist gotten away with low taxes and cheap gas at the expense of our health and environment. If countries like Singapore can do it why can’t we? We’re the USA we can do anything right?
The buses are free to ride everyday so I don’t know why there is a free ride day
Is metro parking free on this day?
You can have as many Clean Air Days as you want; but, nothing will change until Metro and Municipal carriers do a better job of serving the Los Angeles Area. We have a horrible system for service in an area this large. Many Metro and Municipal carriers do a lousy job of serving many areas of Los Angeles County. Some areas have no bus or rail service at all. Only the Westside and Central Los Angeles have decent bus service. It has helped having the Orange & Silver Lines for more frequent bus service. However, many of Metro and Municipal local bus lines stop running around 9:30 or 10:00 PM. In the South Bay which includes Torrance and many other cities including beach areas, bus service is generally once only ever 45 to 60 minutes. It takes twice as long to take a bus rather than to drive. In most cases, you have to deal with transfers between buses or bus and rail. Sadly, the pandemic has not helped along with many homeless people Metro Rail, using as their home. People have indicated on many buses and trains, the smell is terrible because they are not kept clean. And now, sadly with the Metro Rail Crenshaw Line being delayed because of construction defects, it does not give Metro a glowing way to use public transportation.
As a decades-long MTA bus rider, I advise people with options to avoid MTA buses and trains during the pandemic because it’s just too dangerous. After the pandemic is over, depending on your travel needs, you *might* find safe, reliable, clean, comfortable MTA transportation, but you might not. It’s important to ignore MTA’s steady stream of dishonest hype and consider the opinions of MTA riders who take the buses and trains that you are considering.