Transportation

=__Transportation__=


 * Discovery Questions:**

What is the impact of Punahou Commuters on our air quality? Take a survey: How many people take the bus? Come in a family car? How many people carpool? How many are in that car? Take a survey: How many people drive hybrids? Compact cars? SUV's? What happens to your old cars? Car parts? Car tires? Your oil when you have it changed? What is our gasoline/fossil fuel use on campus? Think of EVERYTHING that uses gasoline on our campus in a day?

> > > Can we convert any of our fossil fuel use to alternative energy sources? How can we reduce the number of cars that enter our campus each day? How can we reduce the negative impact of the cars that do enter our campus? (hybrids, idling cars, exc.) Where do Punahou commuters, students, teacher, and parents, go before and after school? What are possible incentives and disincentives the school could use to alter campus traffic patterns? Is there a way we could reduce the number of people that need to be on campus at all? How long does it take for a car to idle before the cost of the fuel being lost outweighs the cost of shutting off and restarting the car? How will a mass-transit system effect traffic? What about during construction?
 * vehicles
 * cars
 * golf carts
 * electricity
 * stuff transported using oil (which are made out of plastics, which is made out of oil)
 * clothes
 * computers
 * wristwatches
 * backpacks
 * pens
 * white board
 * AC
 * remote control for AC and VCR/DVD
 * mechanical pencils
 * headphones
 * iPods
 * security cameras
 * buildings
 * wire insulation
 * lunch boxes
 * ID card for lunch
 * ID card reader so I can pay for lunch
 * food wrapper that I take off to eat the lunch
 * forks, spoons and knifes that I use to eat lunch
 * ketchup, relish and mustard packets for lunch
 * waste basket that I put wrappers in after lunch
 * wast basket liner to prevent the waste basket from being dirtied by my lunch
 * clock that tells you its time for lunch
 * bench you sit on to eat lunch
 * chair that I'm sitting on instead of getting lunch
 * food for lunch
 * lunch grown in petroleum based fertilizers
 * feed for livestock that are for lunch grown in petroleum based fertilizers
 * vehicles for making and transporting lunch ingredients run on oil
 * Oil and gas
 * materials for producing... products
 * For diesel powered vehicles there are two options:
 * [|Grease cars]
 * [|Biodiesel]
 * Carpool
 * Take the bus
 * ride a bike
 * walk (if you're nearby)
 * get dropped off outside of campus
 * More bike racks


 * Project Ideas:**
 * Carpool
 * Make a database of where people who want to carpool live (Google maps?)
 * Use a bike instead of car
 * Walk
 * Take the bus

I think that there could be a handful of communal buses would help transportation issues a lot. These buses could split up and pick up students in a general area at a given time. One of the reasons why these buses would be good is because they could take a good twenty five people. If there were say eight to ten buses, they would alleviate a possible two hundred and fifty cars. That is a lot of cars that are no longer a part of the daily traffic. On top of that, the gas consumption would be at least a little less than it is now. But having these buses would not only decrease traffic, they would also decrease the amount of emissions from cars because there would be fewer vehicles on the roads. -MS

I agree with the fact that buses would be very helpful and that it would save a lot of gas. Although, we have to think of the students who would just rather be taken to school in their own comfortable car with their parents driving. If a parent is already going in to town it would make sense to drop their child off at school instead of having to pay for the bus expenses. I think that to help traffic move more smoothly though the Science Center road we need to not have cars parked there. There should be three lanes, but really cars just sit there and there is only one lane. This causes a lot of traffic to pick up students. Officers that can help traffic run more smoothly should be on duty before school and after school to make sure that cars do not stop and clog up the whole road. -KG

I think that a mass transit system would be beneficial to everyone because it would be taking cars off of the road. It seems like some people are worried about the construction and think that it may increase traffic for a while. I think that it would be worth the extra traffic for a while because after it's finished there would be less traffic on the road. If you don’t think that it's worth it I can see what you mean. I don’t know how much traffic it would take off the road, but for the kind of money their talking about it better be a lot of cars. -NW

I ride the city bus to school every morning, but if I had my own car and a parking space near Punahou, I would probably drive myself every morning. There are many reasons why catching the bus is more logical than driving. It is cheaper because you wouldn’t have to pay for gas, a parking space, or upkeep of the car. However, sometimes the bus takes longer than driving in a car, and can be a waste of time. Having your own car is very convenient. You have more freedom and flexibility because you can go where you want, when you want. Also if you can afford a car and the expenses that come with it, it is difficult to give that up to catch the bus. Punahou is making an effort to reduce the number of cars on roads by having their own buses and using them frequently – driving students to sporting events and practices, ASPE classes, and Junior Function. -SB


 * Projects in Progess:**