New City Public Transportation featured at 2014 Earth Day Festival

(COLUMBIA, MO) -

Columbia Transit is excited to participate in this year's Earth Day Festival by hosting an on-site COMO Connect information bus for locals to learn about the big ways public transportation can affect our daily lives, and our planet. The information bus will also be focusing on educating customers about the new routes coming this August and preparing them for the change.

Public transportation such as Columbia Transit offers many benefits to the community and our environment. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transit customers can save over $10,000 per year by switching from a personal vehicle because of the drastic savings in parking fees, gas consumption and car maintenance. Traffic congestion and harmful vehicle emissions are also reduced for our area with every car taken off the road when a customer chooses public transit, as well as increased roadway safety by less distracted drivers and traffic jams. 

The City's Multi-Modal Manager, Drew Brooks, comments "The City is going to be reaching out to customers in a variety of ways this summer, and the Earth Day Festival is a great way to reach potential customers that are interested in public transportation as part of an earth-friendly and active lifestyle. We think with the new COMO Connect system coming to Columbia this fall it's the perfect time to attract new riders and make people think about public transportation in Columbia a little differently."

Columbia Transit will also be partnering with Columbians for Modern Efficient Transit (CoMET) at the Earth Day Festival to spread the word about public transportation options. The CoMET team will be hosting a public vote on new designs for bus shelters by MU Architectural Studies students at their booth, as well as joining forces with Columbia Transit for some great prizes and giveaways for visitors at the festival. There will be a chance to win free Columbia Transit bus passes or a commuter pack donated by CoMET, as well as the opportunity to play around with the free DoubleMap bus tracking app that makes riding the bus even easier.

The COMO Connect information bus will be parked on south 8^th street amongst other festival booths and the City invites everyone out to visit with the transit staff about upcoming route changes and how public transportation is an easy step to live a little more earth-friendly.