Parking Panda!

Every morning, before I go to work, I’m in the habit of checking my email, and every now and then, I stumble across an article that a colleague has sent me that inevitably causes me to become so engrossed in it that I’m late getting out the door.  This morning’s treasure was about a new service in Baltimore, MD and Washington D.C. called “Parking Panda.” 


Imagine that you are one of those lucky people who has off-street parking in your city.  Every morning, you pull out of your driveway to go pick up your carpool (hint hint) and your driveway sits.  Empty.  And alone.  All day.  “Wouldn’t it be great,” you think to yourself, “If I could rent out my driveway for a fraction of the cost of a parking permit or meter downtown?”


The Parking Panda must have been having the same crazy thought, because that’s exactly what’s he decided to do.  If you’re lucky enough to live or work in Baltimore or D.C. you can check out Parking Panda and see if someone near your workplace has a free driveway that you can use for the day for a fraction of the price of a parking permit downtown.  Or, you could always couple it with a bus pass, and still spend less than you would on parking. 

Now… if we could just get the Parking Panda to come to Ithaca…..


-Ray Weaver, Way2Go Program Educator

AWayWeGo!!

Welcome and thanks for joining us here on the brand-spankin' new Way2Go BLOG!

Way2Go, a program of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, is transforming our community’s culture of transportation among users, providers, and decision makers, so that everyone can meet their transportation needs with minimal environmental impact, to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future. Needless to say, we're not quite there yet! Despite our unusually robust and sometimes underutilized array of transportation services, options, and support programs here in Tompkins County, we’ve still got some perplexing problems to solve: unequal access to transportation, safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists, air pollution and its related health concerns, pain at the pump, and more.  

We plan to use this blog to address not only the problems we face, but also to provide interesting, meaningful, and educational content on other transportation-related issues and topics.  We're hoping to engage readers who are already knowledgeable and excited about transportation, as well as those who are seeking to learn more and widen their perspectives. Indeed, we here at Way2Go will be blogging about our many interestes and concerns, but we also want to know what YOU want us to do! Have a curiosity about test-driving electric cars? Ever wonder how to use the bike racks on buses? Want to know more about local transportation culture? Send us your thoughts and we'll oblige!

So, how often do you think about transportation and access to it? Chances are, if you have a car readily available, it’s not the first thing on your mind. On the other hand, folks who regularly take the TCAT bus, who are members of Ithaca Carshare, who utilize Zimride, or who walk and bike to get places, probably find themselves thinking and talking about transportation far more often. Either way, it's a fair bet that there is a wide range of perspectives among each of these groups. That said, the other major goal for the Way2Go blog is to create and foster a space where members of our community of all stripes can express their own points of view and dialogue with each other about all things related to transportation.  This means WE WANT YOU to create content too! Anything is fair game, as long as it's related (even loosely) to transportation of some sort. Share your photos, videos, stories, and experiences with us! Pose questions to the rest of the community! Spark a transportation revolution one blog at a time! If you're interested in contributing, please email us at staff@way2go.org.

As we like to say, “we’re on everyone’s side,” and we’re part of a global movement to "reinvent (how we use) the wheel."  We hope you’ll join us again soon!  

-The Way2Go Team