The Santa Barbara Car Free Project is sponsoring a promotion featuring special offers from hotels and recreational activities, all to help visitors “Take a Vacation from the Gas Pump” and arrive car free. The promotion coincides with the third annual “Dump the Pump Day,” marked nationally by transit agencies and locally by the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District and the city of Santa Barbara.
“We are showing visitors how they can take a vacation from the gas pump – and from traffic – and be rewarded with savings from our partners,” says Mary Byrd, manager of the project at the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, which initiated the program in 1998 to reduce air pollution from visitors’ cars.
Vehicles are a major source of smog-forming pollution, and of greenhouse gases contributing to global climate change; Santa Barbara Car Free is a cooperative initiative led by the district with more than 100 partners – all working to encourage car-free travel to and around Santa Barbara for cleaner air and a healthier planet.
How can locals benefit from the program?
Encourage guests arriving from out of town by train or plane to show their ticket to benefit from special offers from 10 hotels and seven recreational activities through Dec. 31. Details are available at www.SantaBarbaraCarFree.org.
Visit a special page on the site, www.santabarbaracarfree.org/locals.htm, to plan fun car-free weekend activities in town by downloading self-guided walking tours, checking out biking ideas and links, exploring boating, excursions and tours pages, and making plans for guests to visit Santa Barbara’s top three attractions car free.
Check out links to find out about car-free commute options by visiting the Traffic Solutions Web site.
Laura Kath is promotions coordinator for the Santa Barbara Car Free Project.