Parking and riding
Yesterday, I saw something I'd never seen before: the Park and Ride on Kent Island had hardly any spaces at 8:30 a.m.
I am not exactly a regular at the Park and Ride, but a few times a year I end up meeting someone there, either from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the Dept. of Natural Resources. We choose it because it's an easy place to leave your car and then go exploring. There are often more empty spaces than full ones.
But yesterday, nearly every space was full. People parked their pickups, their SUVs and their small passenger cars and took the bus to D.C.
This is obviously a reaction to the high gas prices: the 50-mile drive to the District has got to cost close to $80 a day in a gas-guzzling SUV, and that's before you park. However, a lot of times habits developed during times of economic hardship stick when prices come back down, as people find riding the bus is a lot more pleasant and convenient than they thought it would be.
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.