Now here's something else we should consider. The Globe is just full of stuff today!
This is about ride sharing, which is gaining in popularity in NH (also check out the story above it, about a planned parking garage in Haverhill).
Ride sharing is also becoming more attractive in the Bay State. "We're seeing an increase in interest daily, both in car pooling and van pooling [a program where a group of commuters lease, drive, and maintain a van]," said Jennifer Walsh Carroll, a spokeswoman for MassRIDES, the executive office of program that provides free assistance to commuters and employers interested in organizing car and van pools as well as exploring public transportation options.
Carroll said she is unable to determine how many new commuters have signed up to the registry because of skyrocketing gasoline prices, but she said there's plenty of incentive. According to figures compiled by MassRIDES, the average Massachusetts household spends more on transportation than it does on food: 15 percent of its income. Of the 3 million people who commute in Massachusetts each day, 74 percent of them drive alone.
Carroll said there are now about 13,000 commuters registered on the MassRIDES website.
How about that? We spend more on transportation than we do on food. And I've got to drive back down to N. Billerica on Mon. morning. Maybe they'll give me food at the place I'm writing a story about.
3 comments:
As a Chelmsford native, I know N.Billerica, too (my first girl friend lived there). It's near Lowell. Might you get sucked into its vortex? Do you need directions? :-)
Yes ... and yes, please! I have to go to 101 Billerica Ave., supposedly right off (495) exit 37.
That's the extension of Woburn St., Lowell. It is, indeed right off the exit. You'll pass the big Raytheon plant on your right, where I worked for 3 college summers. At that time, the next thing down the road was a rendering plant that smelled much worse than our waste water treatment plant. A little further is a huge "junk yard" where we used to buy parts for the junk cars we drove. I think where you're going is right about at the junk yard, but might be across the street.
If it's still daylight after your meeting, continue South (the way you were going, away from 495), take the first right, cross the Concord River, and you'll find yourself in the middle of an archetypal New England mill village. That was the Talbot mill, one of many that moved South after the war. Right there is where the Middlesex Canal crossed the Concord River, too.
But, then remember to turn back or you'll find yourself on 128 again. :-)
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