Yesterday the GoKid team was invited to talk about our carpooling app in front of New Haven’s Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) representing 35 New Haven schools.
We were invited by New Haven’s Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Department to speak about GoKid; while there, we had the pleasure of learning some interesting facts about New Haven and its transportation initiatives.
New Haven, the second largest city in Connecticut with almost 130,000 residents is most famous for being home to Yale University. When walking through the campus one gets the impression of being in a beautiful, quiet New England town. What many don’t know is that New Haven is also the 7th most polluted city in the nation, even though 30% of their households don’t own a car. The bad air quality is caused both by highways (I95 and I91 cut through the downtown area) and by polluted air coming from southern coastal areas (including NYC). Traffic in and around New Haven is so bad that it causes 48 million hours in delays annually, and a stunning $970M in lost time and fuel.
On the bright side: New Haven is ready to address the issue with an emission reduction goal of 80% below the 2001 level by 2050. Officials estimate that transportation causes 40% of Connecticut’s emissions. The mayor has launched several initiatives to tackle this problem.
One is the goNewHavengo initiative whose main goal is to create a more livable, vital New Haven, by promoting health and well-being in the region by advancing safe, cost-effective, and convenient transportation for getting into and around New Haven.
goNewHavengo collaborates with organizations across the city and state to host community events, encouraging local leaders to champion mobility, and striving to create a multi-modal transportation system that services everyone. Some of the services the goNewHavengo provides were presented by the Director of Transportation, Doug Hausladen at the event yesterday:
- Safety & Logistics
- Walking school buses & bicycle trains (or carpooling without a car)
- Streets Smarts Education Campaign
- Bicycle training class
- Connecticut Rides resources for staff and teachers
- Paid consultants to work directly with schools on the SRTS Program
I was thrilled to learn about these initiatives; as passionate advocates for public transportation, walking, and biking, we feel that educating our kids about their transportation choices is key to changing a car-centric society.
Obviously, biking and walking are not always available for all of New Haven’s students and kids; that’s why GoKid was invited to present an alternative mode of transportation: When school buses are not available, pooling kids of several families on the same route makes sense not only from an economic standpoint but also to further New Haven’s ambitious traffic and emissions reduction goals.
We are excited to be partnering with New Haven in future initiatives – go NewHaven go!
