 "Photo: April Simon/Echo staff photographer")
Crank up your favorite song, blast the air conditioner (or heat, now that the chill has set in), and settle in for a nice relaxing drive.
That is, if you find traffic and searching endlessly for a parking spot "relaxing."
The average American spends more than 100 hours behind the wheel commuting to work or school.
Driving is so much a part of our lives that many cannot imagine living without a vehicle.
By extension, the daily stress and frustration that comes with it is something that we have come to expect.
Alternative transportation is one of those terms we hear thrown around. What does it really mean?
"When I think of alternative transportation I think of buses, cabs, car pooling, vans and anything other than one person in a car," said biology junior Deborah Green.
Ongoing issues in and around N.C. Central University's campus related to parking and traffic have led administrators to take a more proactive role in developing transportation programs to campus.
Kevin Rome, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, secured a $60,000 grant from the Triangle J Council of Governments in May to develop an alternative transportation program at NCCU.
The vision of the project, currently in the planning stage, is to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles coming to campus daily.
For the rest of the academic year the focus will be on transportation demand management, which involves assessing the needs and wants of NCCU.
This will be done through observation and an e-mail survey.
Some of the grant money will be spent on marketing and outreach, as well as on hiring students to assist in the process.
As the year progresses, there will be giveaways and events, such as Dump the Pump day, held last June, which encouraged bus riding and bicycling to campus.
"Right now students should use the DATA or Triangle Transit buses that run through campus and car pool as much as possible," said Jonathon Leach, TDM Coordinator.
"Or they can use the shuttles that Campus Crossings and the Verge provide."
Leach, who was recently appointed as NCCU liaison to the Durham Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Commission, adds that students who are unwilling to walk across campus can use one of the several campus shuttles that run regularly Monday through Friday.
Some students are already using the many alternative transportation options available to them.
"I ride DATA to and from campus every day," said Spanish senior Lauren Cohen.
The extra time saved riding the bus leaves time to do things that are impossible while driving.
Bus riders can catch up on sleep, or write a letter their mothers -- maybe even finish up that forgotten homework.
"Challenge people to ride to work/school with a friend driving one day without talking to the friend driving," said information technology computer consultant and daily bus rider Jeffrey Daum.
"Instead, sit quietly in the car and read a book or newspaper, or catch up on e-mail correspondence," he said.
"If they do that, they may see how much time could be saved by using public transportation."
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