Due to the global need to address climate change, the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (TheRide) has formalized a Sustainability Policy and Plan, setting goals to enhance the sustainability of transit services and the greater community. During the last five years, focused efforts have reduced its main facility’s water usage by 43% and electricity usage by 18%. The Sustainability Policy and Plan builds on these efforts and creates a formal commitment to good stewardship. In the coming months, TheRide will roll out the largest portion of a 40% increase in service approved by voters in May, 2014. While more resources will be used to run buses, the increase in coverage, convenience, and availability of transit service is expected to attract riders.
Transit service provides affordable mobility, reduces greenhouse gases, improves air quality, facilitates smart land use, and saves energy. For instance, a rider who has chosen to leave his or her car at home offsets over four million kilograms of CO2e annually by using TheRide. TheRide’s new Sustainability Policy and Plan sets goals that will enhance the sustainability of transit services and the greater Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area as a whole. The Policy and Plan were developed with significant input from a team of local sustainability experts, the public, and other community sustainability efforts.
“Sustainability has always been core to TheRide’s existence,” said TheRide’s immediate past chair, Charles Griffith. “We have strived to be a leader — from pioneering service for people with disabilities, to investing in fuel-efficient hybrid buses and building a new LEED Gold designed transit center. TheRide is committed to helping achieve a more resource-efficient, just, and ecologically sustainable world for our community.”
Staff from TheRide will be available to answer questions and collect feedback on its sustainability efforts on Thursday, Feb. 11 at the Ypsilanti Transit Center between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., and Tuesday, Feb. 16 at the Blake Transit Center between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. On Thursday, March 3, TheRide CEO Matt Carpenter will be participating on the Land Use and Access forum as part of the fifth annual Sustainable Ann Arbor series, which will be hosted by the City of Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor District Library at 7 p.m.
