Risk road rash to reduce emissions

In the first two parts of this UNM transportation series, I discussed how UNM Parking and Transportation Services needs to step up to reduce our carbon footprint and how managing your transportation options begin with deciding where to live.

As a mobile society, each resident wants his or her own private mode of transportation. In this last installment, I’d like to recommend alternative transportation choices that don’t take away from having your own mode of transportation.

Human-powered options
Human-powered transportation options can expand your ability to use transit or simply take you anywhere in town by your own power, especially around dense, urban areas.

Riding a bicycle is the easiest, quickest and most convenient way to get around the UNM and Nob Hill area. Average bicycle speeds in dense urban areas are the same as, or better than, a car. In addition, bicycles can be parked feet from your
destination, and in many cases, can be brought in with you.

If you live pretty close to UNM or you chose transit, inline skates and skateboards are also great transportation options. Although not as fast (for the most part) as bicycles, both kinds of skates are faster and can be more fun than walking. You can even carry (or roll) them in with you wherever you go. As an added bonus, non-motorized vehicles have more direct routes to most places around UNM than cars do.

There are great bicycle routes to campus (most of which are used by inline skaters and skateboarders). The bike lanes on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard take you to and from downtown. The Silver Avenue Bicycle Boulevard (with 18 mph speed limits) takes you around the neighborhoods to the south and communities east of UNM. Another route to the east is Campus Boulevard/Copper Avenue. The Paseo Del Nordeste Trail along the North Diversion Channel (NDC) and the Hahn Arroyo take you to the northeast heights. The route south along Buena Vista Drive takes you to famliy student housing and the new student housing being built near the UNM Athletics complex. All of these options give you a break from parking fees, give you great exercise and take you door-to-door.

50cc scooters
If you absolutely must drive a motor vehicle to campus, there are more economical and parking-friendly options than your standard car.
According to Ralph Pena, owner of Voodoo Scooters, 50cc scooters can get you up to 95 miles per gallon and reach speeds of 35 mph. Electric scooters have a top speed of 20 mph, have a range of around 25 miles and can be plugged in anywhere to recharge their batteries. You don’t need to register, insure and buy a UNM parking permit or a motorcycle endorsement for either kind of small scooter.

Larger scooters and motorcycles
Scooters larger than the 50cc model and motorcycles need motorcycle endorsements, insurance and a UNM parking permit, but they have various advantages over your average car.

To begin with, they cost a whole lot less to insure (exception: really fast motorcycles with young, male drivers) and they get much better gas mileage. A small 250cc motorcycle will get close to 80 miles per gallon and achieve highway speeds. Even the fastest and most powerful motorcycles get better than 35 miles per gallon and are cheaper to insure than your car (see exception above). In addition, motorcycles and larger scooters, for a small fee to Parking and Transportation Services, can be parked all over campus. Off campus, parking is also a lot easier because you have the same options as a car, plus much smaller spots they can’t fit into.
Most agree that UNM has a transportation problem.

Many see it as a parking problem, but others see it as an opportunity to reduce the number of cars coming into the area and reduce UNM’s carbon footprint and achieve its carbon neutrality goal. In the end, it’s up to us to decide how much we contribute to the problem or to the solution by living closer to UNM, living along transit or trail corridors and using alternative modes of transportation.