Car-Free Getaways

According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation uses about one half of the fuel consumed by cars, SUVs and light trucks. But for most Americans, a trip to the great outdoors still means spending a lot of time sitting in a car. "Since public transport focuses primarily on commuting, the whole mentality of a bus or subway system is serving local people getting around the city, not trying to get out," says Dan Drazen, a former transportation planner with the California Department of Transportation. Now, however, the time may be ripe for change.

If we want to decrease our global-warming emissions, dependence on foreign oil and ever-more-expensive gasoline, and guard the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge against drilling, we need to look at alternative ways of getting around. Motor vehicles are the largest source of urban air pollution, generating more than two thirds of the carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, a third of the nitrogen oxides and a quarter of the hydrocarbons. And public transportation is also dramatically safer than car travel. According to the National Safety Council, riding a transit bus is 79 times safer than car travel. People traveling by train are 40 times safer than those traveling by car.

Here are some ideas for getaways that avoid the environmental pollution and traffic jams of car travel.

• Seattle's Puget Sound offers a very bike- and pedestrian-friendly ferry system with day trips to Vashon Island, Bainbridge Island or Bremerton and options to bike and ferry your way up through the San Juan Islands into Canada. "I've taken trips with the ferry and a bike many times," says Michael Clune, a long-time Seattle area resident. "The ferry system is completely set up for that. A lot of people use it that way. It's a great system."

• From Denver, the popular Ski Train runs from the public-transport-accessible Union Station, downtown. The train takes you through two and a half hours of mountain passes, ghost towns and hiking or biking areas, giving you several options of where to spend the day. The final stop is Winter Park Resort, which during the summer is set up for hiking, biking and camping on the seasonal ski slopes and mountain passes. The Ski Train runs every Saturday through August, and is best set up for a day trip, but you could easily spend a week there.

• Even in Los Angeles County, with over 5.2 million registered cars, and an average of 92 million vehicle miles driven daily, you can catch public transport to the beach. The metro bus and rail lines go to most of the major beaches, including Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Long Beach and the popular Cabrillo Beach and Marine Aquarium in San Pedro.

• Minnesota, with a relatively efficient public transportation system within the twin cities, also offers canoe trips on many of its famed 10,000 lakes. Many outfitters offer shuttles from the airport, the nearest bus station or the twin cities to the lake where your canoe awaits.

• From New York City, surfers take the A train and a shuttle to Far Rockaway, within two walkable blocks of the waves. "Taking the board on the subway is easy. I can take my short board and hold it standing up on a crowded train if I have to, but I usually try to get on the first or last car," says Peter Cole, an expatriate Hawaiian who works for Patagonia in New York. "The ride is great, most of it is above ground and you go by Jamaica Bay. It doesn't feel like an hour and a half." Via the Long Island Railroad, Long Beach is a mere hour from Penn Station, including a brief walk, while the dunes and sandbars of Montauk, at the island's far tip, are three hours plus a brief cab or bike ride.

• Amtrak offers city-to-city travel destinations. For non-urban destinations you have to get a little creative, but getting there is a good part of the fun. As Michael Clune says, "Biking or using public transport is an entirely different experience than car travel. You have a chance to see and experience things, rather than speeding down a highway in your own little world."