Attention StarMetro riders (and would-be StarMetro riders): Our local transit service is continuing to incorporate your feedback into the new, decentralized route system and several requested changes will go into effect on January 21. If you already ride the bus, you’ll want to look in on the new Ride Guide and see if any of the adjustments will affect your trip.  And if the previous routes or schedules didn’t suit your preferences this is a good time to consider it again.

StarMetro riders save money, enjoy “me” time, and may qualify for our FREE Emergency Ride Home Program! Follow the links and get all the details today.

Commuter Services of North Florida’s quarterly Advisory Board meeting will be held this Thursday, Dec. 8, from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. The location of the meeting is the Council on Culture and Arts (COCA) Offices at 816 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. This meeting is open to the public, but please RSVP no later than Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 12:00 pm.

On January 6-7 the organization CyclingSavvy, a traffic cycling curriculum from Florida Bicycle Association, will be offering classes in Tallahassee. Class locations are still to be determined, but the dates are set. Individual sessions are $30. You can take the full course (three sessions) with a package discount for $75.

Below are the courses being offered.

Friday, January 6
Truth & Techniques of Traffic Cycling, 6pm – 9pm

Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee
2810 Meridian Road
Tallahassee, Florida 3231

Saturday, January 7
Train Your Bike, 8am -11am
Lunch 11am – 12:30pm
Tour of Tallahassee, 12:30pm – 4pm

You can learn more about the course sessions on the CyclingSavvy website. Register online to takes one or more of these course.

FSU now offers several transportation helps to make getting around (and parking) easier! Students, faculty and staff are all invited to participate in these new programs:

ZipCar allows you to rent a car by the hour. You can carpool or take the bus to get to campus and have a very affordable ride reserved to drive to your lunch meeting or dental appointment. Check it out!

ZimRide is a place to find or offer rides to class, to the game, or home for the holidays. This is a Facebook group for FSU only and, since you use your FSU ID to log in, you get to see who’s who—and save parking hassles and gas money at the same time.

FSU reCycle is a bike rental program that will loan you a fully-equipped bicycle to use for the semester, for a ridiculously low fee. You get a helmet, light kit, security lock and a little handbook of bicycle laws—everything you need to get to class or wherever safely; plus, free workout!

Remember too, using any ‘green commute’ option at least 3 days a week means you can register for Commuter Services FREE Emergency Ride Home Program. If you get sick, stranded, or stuck in a storm, members of the ERHP get a free Yellow Cab ride home.

We’ve had a lot of questions lately regarding how our Emergency Ride Home Program works. In this post we will address some of the most common questions we receive.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why do I have to register ahead of time? Our arrangement with Yellow Cab is that participants give the driver our voucher, which they will accept as cash and bill to us. You must have one of our vouchers in hand in order to have the bill sent to Commuter Services.
• What if I live far away? If you live or work in our service area, your voucher will cover the cost of one emergency cab ride home, regardless of the distance.
• How many vouchers do I get? One. Each voucher is good for one emergency ride home. People rarely use more than one a year and, since our participants are so responsible, we can be flexible if an individual needs to use an additional voucher from time to time. When we receive and validate the receipt (yellow copy), another voucher will be issued.
• Can I give my voucher to someone else who needs it? No; each voucher is assigned to an individual commuter registered in our system and any bill submitted under another name will be rejected for payment. What you can do is tell your friends and co-workers about the program and how they can register, too!

Be Prepared

Log into your profile on EZ Ride periodically and do a quick search for new matches. Reach out to co-workers or neighbors and introduce yourself. If you feel comfortable, ask them if you might call on them for a ride home sometime, ‘just in case’. This is also a great way to handle ‘driver out of town’ situations; many people are happy to pool occasionally or temporarily, even if they don’t care to on a regular basis.

Keep track of your voucher; look in on it once in a while and let us know if it gets lost. It’s much better to get a replacement sent out in the mail ahead of time, than discover it missing when you need it!

Be ready for seasonal weather; carry an umbrella with you. That way, you can still walk or wait for the bus in a drizzle—and save your voucher for a thunderstorm.

We appreciate that our participants are careful and responsible in their use of the program. We don’t want to discourage anyone from using their voucher—that’s what it’s there for! We simply want to be clear on what the guidelines are so that we can offer the benefits of a quick, safe ride home to every qualified commuter who needs one.

If there’s ever a question of your health or safety, go ahead and use your voucher! Any clarifications can be sorted out after the fact.

If you have other questions, give us a call toll-free at 1-888-454-RIDE(7433).