“We are half way through the Try + Ride challenge, and going strong! Arcturis has had a lot of fun the past month trying different routes for the transit challenge. With 7 new transit users and 4 existing, our count exceed 25% of our St. Louis staff with a little push by Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) and the Green Business Challenge. Our Try + Ride team consists of a broad spectrum of people within our firm including owners, principals, architects, interior designers and accountants coming from neighborhoods spread throughout the city including Tower Grove, Benton Park, Lafayette Square, the Central West End, the Loop, Ferguson, Richmond Heights and Demun.
Green and Healthy is our way of life. Living and designing green is a choice; our goal is to make that choice as instinctive as possible. This attitude makes a difference in who we are as designers and as people. It makes a difference in the way we think, problem solve, and live our lives. We constantly push ourselves to not only design green, but live green. We take it seriously around here. This is why when Jean Ponzi approached us to compete in Try + Ride, the answer was of course, YES. As a group we have discovered a lot of exciting things about our amazing St. Louis that we may have otherwise missed. The walk through the Central West End to the Metro stop, for instance, really highlights that St. Louis is a bustling urban place to live. There is a seriously diverse group of commuters, one of our favorites being the extremely friendly woman that gets on the Metro at Civic Center and shouts, “Hello Everyone!” to the entire train and similarly, “Have a Great Day!” at 8th and Pine as she exits.
Chrissy Hill Rogers, an architect and new mom, lives in Tower Grove East. She and her husband both work downtown, and used to carpool the 7 minute commute to work as often as they could (then came the year of the Arcturis babies). Baby #6, Jack, threw a wrench into the once simple commute. With varying daycare locations, drop-offs and pick-ups – they found themselves driving all over town. Thanks to Try + Ride, they are able to take advantage of Metro from Shrewsbury, the Central West End, and Grand to help alleviate some of the stress, and gas, associated with the new schedule.
As the competition comes to an end, we are very anxious to see the results, and more importantly hear what the other teams have learned through the process. We cant promise that all 11 team members will continue to take transit to work as often as we are now, but our eyes are certainly opened to the possibilities and benefits that Metro has to offer. We also have some ideas on how to improve, which we will certainly share with the great team at CMT.”
Blog source: http://www.arcturis.com/Blog/tabid/65/Article/160/Try-Ride.aspx