Welcome to the second in our series on green transportation alternatives in northern New England.

COAST Bus (Cooperative Alliance for Seacoast Transportation) serves the Seacoast New Hampshire area and Berwick, Maine.

While COAST does not offer any special summer deals, they have a great selection of routes to get you around the greater Portsmouth area, including Dover, Exeter, Farmington, Greenland, Newington, Newmarket, Portsmouth, Rochester, Somersworth, Stratham, and Berwick, Maine.

They also offer trolley service on Lafayette Road (make sure to get off at the Southgate Plaza to visit the Goodwill store!) and Pease International Tradeport.

New to taking the bus?  COAST offers some great tips on how to get started commuting green.  All buses offer bike racks.

With summer on the way, public transit systems often offer great deals for summer riding.  This is the first in a series of  blog posts that highlight public transportation systems in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and some of the great deals they offer to get out of the house this summer.  First up:

METRO (Portland, Maine)

The METRO serves the City of Portland and the surrounding communities of Falmouth, South Portland, and Westbrook.

METRO Summer Youth Pass
The summer youth pass is back! For only $20, children and teens (18 and younger) can ride the METRO all summer, with unlimited rides.  This is a really great deal and it is the perfect way for youth to get around Greater Portland in a safe, green way!  Bike racks and wheelchair lifts are available on all buses.

From the METRO:

Head to the beach, go shopping, visit an island (take the #8 METRO Bus to Casco Bay Lines Ferry Terminal), hike Portland Trails or see a movie. Visit your friends or take the bus to your job or summer camp.  Visit the METRO website for more fun summer trip ideas!

You can buy your Summer Youth Pass at these locations:

**METRO Downtown Transportation Center (PULSE) on Elm Street

**Participating Hannaford’s and Shaw’s Supermarket locations on bus routes (Youth Passes are not available at Hannaford’s on Forest Avenue)

**Casco Bay Ferry Terminal

**Portland and South Portland City Hall METRO office, 114 Valley Street

METRO Free Ride Home Program (Portland, Maine)

Also, did you know that if you take the bus to our Union Station Goodwill on St. John or the Forest Avenue Goodwill and show the driver your receipt for a purchase of $5 or more, you get the ride the bus for free?!  Leave your car at home this summer and enjoy a free bus ride on bus!  Please visit the METRO site for more details.

Dear readers,

Happy Earth Day!  Though these days being green and eco-conscious is a more than a once-a-year celebration (thank goodness for that!), it is also a good time to reflect on our personal habits and lifestyle choices and how they affect the environment.

It is important to note that living in a responsible, sustainable manner is not always “easy.”  Nor should it be.  The more we challenge ourselves and each other to reduce waste, cut costs, grow our own food, walk more, bike more, and share resources, the more we ensure the health of our local communities.

Earth Day is a great time to challenge ourselves on a personal level.  We are all in different places and have different goals.  Below are my top 5 goals for the Earth this year.  What are yours?

1. Use my car less. Though I do my best to only use my car for necessary trips, I often find myself using it for a quick errand to the store, if I’m feeling lazy, or if the weather is not a perfect 70 degrees and sunny.  My goal for the Earth this year is to commute  to work 3 days a week via foot, bike, or bus.  Not only will I reduce carbon emissions, but I will get  some exercise and meet new people!

I recently rated my neighborhood’s “walkability.”   Luckily, Portland is a pretty walkable city.  Plug your location into Walk Score and they will let you know how the “walkability” of your neighborhood.  Leave us a comment and let us know how your town fared!

2. No more plastic or paper! Though I am generally good about bringing reusable bags with me to the grocery store or farmer’s market, I often forget, and am inundated with paper and plastic bags I don’t need.  My goal for the Earth is to bring a reusable bag with me when shopping at the grocery store, video store, mall, farmer’s market–wherever I end up!

3. Compost! Though I used to compost, I have not done so in a few years–and I have no excuse.  Composting is an easy initiative we can call take, whether you live in the city or a rural town (check out an earlier post we had on composting).  The City of Portland sells inexpensive bins and I plan on picking one up this week.  My goal for the Earth is to reduce my waste by composting food byproducts and lawn waste.

4. Find someone who can use it.  When I am in the frenzy of spring cleaning or cleaning out my house in general, I am often tempted to just dump the things I don’t want in the trash, put it outside in the barrel, and be done with it!  My goal for the Earth is to give a second life to goods and find homes where they will be used.  I will donate to Goodwill, post items on freecycle or craig’slist, or give them to a friend.

5. Take the time to appreciate the world around me.  I often find myself in a rush, going from one thing to the next, and not taking the time to slow down and enjoy the natural around me.  With spring here, it is a good time to enjoy the parts of the day that enrich my life: the blue sky, the smell of spring rain, the sound of seagulls, and the grass, flowers, and trees coming to life.  My goal for the Earth is to foster a deeper sense of connection and appreciation with the natural world.