What is it?
Hamilton CarShare began May 2009 to help decrease our reliance on a personal automobile and address air quality issues. Hamilton CarShare operates a fleet of vehicles available to members on a self-serve pay-per-use basis. Reservations for CarShare vehicles can be made for as little as 30 minutes, or as long as needed. Members are billed monthly for insurance and vehicle use. Gas and vehicle maintenance costs are included in the co-op’s rates.
EcoDriver run by Green Venture, focused at addressing drivers of light duty vehicles. Funded by the Ministry of the Environment through Green Communities Canada, drivers are informed on how they can reduce their fuel consumption and emission of greenhouse gases.
Idling Stinks Campaign was designed in 2006 to raise awareness of the negative impacts of emissions from idling vehicles. On June 2008, the City of Hamilton’s Anti-Idling Control By-Law (By-Law 07-160) came into effect.
The Commuter Challenge is a week-long, friendly competition where Canadian cities compete to reduce air pollution by using active and sustainable modes of transportation. Participants make a commitment to walk, jog, cycle, rollerblade, take public transit, carpool or telecommute for a week and record their trips on the National Commuter Challenge website.
Hamilton has celebrated ten years of the Commuter Challenge. In 2009, the total number of participants across Canada passed the 44 000 mark! This led to a reduction of over 640 000 kilograms of greenhouse gases and over 3 000 000 car kilometres. In Hamilton, 333 of the City’s employees participated in Commuter Challenge. Over the course of the week, City staff collectively traveled 25 000 kilometres by using sustainable modes of transportation, while preventing about 4 700 kilograms of greenhouse gas equivalents from entering the atmosphere.
In the community, 38 local companies and 1 636 individuals participated in Commuter Challenge and collectively traveled about 75 500 kilometers using sustainable modes of transportation, while preventing over 15 000 kilograms of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere. As a result, Hamilton placed 3rd provincially and 8th nationally out of 138 communities. Hamilton was also considered one of the top 10 biking cities and one of the top 10 walking cities based on distance traveled during the week.
Make a commitment to alternative forms of transportation and take the challenge! Commuter Challenge Reports are available here.
For more information and to register for the next challenge, visit the National Commuter Challenge website.
Commuter Challenge Results: