Car Free with Metro

For your viewing pleasure, here is the short video I made for the user-generated video contest sponsored by WMATA.  In celebration of Car Free Day, I recorded my trip across DC on the MetroRail from Tenleytown/AU to Dupont Circle on the Red line.

And although I’m having trouble finding other riders who recorded their trip, I’ll be sure to post them in a follow-up once the contest winners are announced later this week.  In the meantime, you might be interested in some of the findings from a recent survey of metro riders.  Here’s a hint – area residents rely on the Metro system, and even if they don’t love it (and there are lots of reasons) more riders are leaving their cars at home everyday!

Car Free Day

To celebrate Car Free Day this Monday September 22nd, WMATA is going to sponsor a video contest, where riders are encouraged to document their reduced commutes with a video. Although I am an inadvertent participant since I sold my car before moving to DC, I still haven’t thought of a trip video clever enough to earn one of the $100 prizes – I’ll be sure to post one here (if I make one at all).  
According to their website:

 Metro is sponsoring the contest in support of the international event in which people are encouraged to travel without a car, using transit, bicycling, walking and any other alternative modes of transportation. By taking more cars off the roads, participants can improve air quality, save money and reduce their carbon footprint. 

There are three categories participants can enter: most humorous or entertaining; most unusual or unique commute and most informative or best documentary. One winner in each category will be chosen on October 9 and receive a $100 SmarTrip card. 

And while we wait for videos to populate the tubes, let us remind ourselves that there are worse options than user-generated videos; Metro could have paid to produce a video like this one, promoting use of the bus bike racks in Louisville, KY.