Some people say they’ve got the blues. I’ve got the greens. No only have I realized that I look good in bright green lately, but I’ve also noticed that Philadelphia and this country is finally realizing, hopefully not too late, that we need to go “green.” This is a bandwagon I am happy to jump on. There are so many ways you can reduce your negative environmental impact. As I’m watching “Today,” which is showing me numerous ways you can go green, I get a message from a friend about LocalHarvest, an organization who is educating the masses on how you can learn about and buy locally grown food products. (The Ethicurean is also good!) I started with a lightbulb change (incandescent to compace flourescent). Now I try as hard as possible not to use plastic bags. I’m currently using a tote bag, a granny cart (I’ll be pimping this soon), and reusing bags I already have.

Selling my car was a big decision, but how often did I really need it? If you live and work in the city, why not join Philly CarShare? This May, they’ll be sponsoring a challenge for you Philadelphia drivers to find alternative ways to get around. You can win a bike! (Please don’t ride it on the sidewalk)!

I was out of town after the Philly Spring Clean-up, but have found the results of the largest United States cleaning day in history. This Nutter’s on to something! All major goals were surpassed. Look out for future clean-ups. Here’s a beautifying event, sponsored by Greater Philadelphia Cares.

One final note: Keep your eyes peeled for GreenFest Philly, held on South Street. I haven’t been able to find the date of the event yet, but check back for updates! (September-ish)

I’ve never ever witnessed couples getting it on while traveling on the train, but apparently someone has! I spotted this addition to one of SEPTA’s standard signs.

I only had my phone with me, so apologizes for the quality; if you can’t make out the graffiti, it reads: no sexual activity.

Perhaps with Valentine’s Day next week, some lovely El rider decided to be a bit pro-active and warn would-be lovers now, before they get the urge.

How about it? What’s the craziest randy thing you’ve witnessed—or even been part of—on any service of SEPTA?

I ride my bike to work sometimes. Other than my legs, my bike is my main source of transportation, as it is for many other Philadelphians. There are many problems that plague bicycle riders in the city, too, and for this reason, and the fact that this is a free country, there is a glory of a thing called Critical Mass. I only recently heard of it, but I’m psyched that there is one this Friday, with a Halloween theme!

Critical Mass is described as:

…an unorganized coincidence that happens in cities around the world on the last Friday of every month. It is a ride through the city to celebrate and remind everyone about the use of the bicycle as an effective means of transportation.

We’ll be riding at 6 on Friday. Meet on the west side of City Hall. Wear a costume!

For me, one of the major drawback to living in Philadelphia is the airport, a major hub for the worst airline in the country, US Airways. Or, as my very well travelled friend calls them: US Scareways. Everyone I know who has flown with them has had a miserable experience. My fiancé and I were once forced to fly them back from Florida, and gained some lovely firsthand knowledge. The plane was old, shabby and improperly pressurized. I don’t recall any in-flight service, although I’m sure we must have at least gotten soda or water. A pilot and a flight attendant along for the ride sat behind us blasting a dvd for the entire cabin to hear. Thank goodness it was a short flight.

We refuse to fly them again. Last year we returned to my home airport to fly out of Newark on Continental. There were some takeoff delays but the prices were excellent, service good and they gave us full meals included. For trans-atlantic, once again, we wouldn’t even consider US Airways and ended up flying out of JFK for a much cheaper fare on British Airways than available from PHL.
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PATCO, the people who bring us the wonderful speedline over the Ben Franklin Bridge, have a new ticket system! This past Monday was just my third time riding PATCO with the new system, but I’d finally thought to snap a photo with my camera phone before the turnstile ate my ticket.

PATCO Freedom is the new system of smart cards and paper tickets, and yes, it is so much easier than trying to figure out if I have enough coins to use the “exact change only” old magnetic card system. I haven’t used the smart card yet, which appears to be pretty awesome. Just load up a balance from your credit or debit card, hold up your card at the gate and ride anywhere at anytime, as the fare for that ride is deducted from your card. The smart cards can be used for PATCO station parking as well as train rides. Nifty!

Pictured here is the new paper ticket, which has a date stamp and expires after three days, so don’t buy these in advance! Every time I’ve used the vending machine so far it asks for cash, not a credit card, for payment, but I don’t think that is always the case.

This system seems to have been in place for about a year now, which just shows you how often I ride PATCO. I should ride more often! There are some neat and interesting places along several PATCO stops, like the Pop Shop in Collingswood, which I wrote about Monday.

With the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota many Pennsylvanians have been asking, ‘How safe are our bridges?’ One could infer since many of our bridges are generally going to be older, they may be in need of further inspection and repair than we previously thought.

Thank goodness we have PennDOT, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, looking out after our interests. Our tax dollars already pay for this state run authority and each day they are out and about checking bridges and roads so we won’t have happen to us what happened in Minnesota.

PennDOT was recently asked how we were doing? Were there any bridges or structures with which we need to be concerned? PennDOT thought if they released any information it could cause un-do concern!

Oh! Crap! We must be in trouble. PennDOT won’t tell us how we are doing even though we pay the bills.
To read more about this issue, click here

A couple months ago, I was walking down Walnut Street when a huge bunch of balloons floated in front of me from one of the parking garages. As I got closer I noticed the shiny fleet of new silver hybrid cars, and I was immediately approached by people handing out flyers and coupons for Flexcar. Now, at the time I was on my way to the PhillyCarShare pod at 13th and Locust to pick up my car for the day, and was completely not interested in anything to do with Flexcar.

Since then, I’ve been bombarded with Flexcar: billboards for Flexcar, posters on the sides of SEPTA buses, cars parked at their designated pods. However, while I often catch people driving their PhillyCarShares, I have yet to actually see a Flexcar on the road.

So, what’s the deal with Flexcar?
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PennDOT is repaving the portion of 76 between City Line and Walnut St. On a normal non-construction day this stretch often resembles more of a Schuylkill parking lot more than a Schuylkill expressway. Fortunately, they’re only closing lanes between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. on weekdays (8 a.m. on Saturdays) so it shouldn’t affect rush hour. Even so, I would definitely suggest seeking out back road alternatives at night as I’m sure the traffic will pile up very quickly with the closures.

This morning I witnessed a very scary near-accident. A dark red ford was going north on 33rd and tried to turn left onto Chestnut. Yes, left, as in head on into two lanes of oncoming one way traffic. Fortunately that traffic was stopped at the light. Several horns sounded as the ford turned and nearly clipped a stopped car. Realizing their mistake, they threw it in reverse and tried to back into the intersection just as a SEPTA LUCY bus was roaring through northbound on 33rd. The pedestrians on the corner around me let out a choruses of “Oh my god” and gasps. I’m ashamed to say I covered my eyes with my hand like a big scaredy cat and hunched up my shoulders, bracing for the *scrapecrunchshatted* of metal and glass. Nothing.
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I totally forget how I came across this website, but I must say that even if it is a bit flawed, Public Routes is still pretty cool. There are a few metro areas from which to choose, Philadelphia being one of them. You can get directions in a variety of ways: driving, walking, taking public transit, or a combination. The walking directions are nifty, but so far some of the bus routes have taken me way far off course. As always, it’s recommended to check traffic conditions and SEPTA advisories before heading out.