What is a call bus ? I assume this is a cab company takes you direct to the trail head ? In the U.S. it is very difficult to get within 10 or 20 miles of a trail head without use of an automobile, at least in areas where one could get to peaks above 1 point. Good to see you have that option.
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I think the correct description should be âbus on requestâ. You can use an app to book smaller vehicles with a maximum of 8 people, which then pick up more people along the way. You canât go to a summit, but you can go where there are bus stops.
73 Chris
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The idea of âeco friendlyâ activations has been implemented in the GMA âgo greenâ award scheme.
GoGreen XOTA (cqgma.org)
Perhaps you want to save your activations there as well. You could even generate some go-green points for the chasers.
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Today I was back on the Bröhn, DM/NS-122. At Springe station I had to wait 25 minutes for the Sprinti (bus of request), back only 15 minutes.
Until the end of August I had and will have done almost all bus and train journeys with the current 9-euro ticket, which means I only pay 9 euros a month. Unfortunately, this state-funded subsidy is running out. Then maybe the 365 Euro ticket, which is valid for one year, will come along.
73 Chris
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Donât count on the Schiesser-Feinripp wearing Porsche driver, Chris.
Luckily, the northern states seem to negotiate on a solution that will cover DM/NS and DM/ND.
Ahoi
Pom
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I can only look on with envy. Public transport - luxury!
There are two bus routes passing through my district (ZLs equivalent of a county/shire), Wanaka - Dunedin and Queenstown - Christchurch. Both run once a day and both require an overnight stay if you wish to return on the next bus. None of my local towns have taxi services, or even anything showing up on Uber. So the choices beyond a private car are limited (hitching, walking, pushbike).
I have, so far, managed only one carbon-neutral SOTA activation (ignoring manufacturing costs) and that was by ebike. I have hitched to several - but whilst âbetterâ, thatâs not really carbon neutral.
The sole good news is our electricity is >85% renewable.
==
How do you get a country to move from 100% reliance on private vehicles to adopting public transport? The few attempts to establish local bus or on-call services have all failed due to lack of patronage.
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Does carbon neutral mean that one takes public transport, or human powered transport from home to summit, or a combination of both. Or:
If I drive near a peak then take human powered transport to the summit ?
If I drive an E vehicle from home to a trailhead and hike the remainder ? (E Vehicles burn electrons which start out 70 to 90 pct of the time from a combustible resource).
If I fly to destination and take human transport ?
Is there a rule set somewhere ?
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Where ZL has the advantage is having had >85% of itâs electricity from hydro / geothermal for decades now (a head start we are squandering).
So maybe EVs or ebikes are the answer here.
Elsewhere YMMV. Complex problems rarely have simple solutions.
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Very cool. Thanks for highlighting your story.
Eric
The largest Hydro dam in the U.S. in now 28% full and will shortly stop generating power if it falls much further. So the fraction of hydro is falling with advent of the heat waves that are sweeping large portions of this country and others.
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Over 1 meter of rain in the NW of the ZL South Island in the last week. With the damage youâd expect from that. Guess ZL got all the water this year.
Floods ⊠heatwaves ⊠we live in a time of extremes âŠ
(but I feel Iâve unwittingly hijacked this thread, so sorry for that)
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You didnât hijack my thread, quite the opposite.
If we donât change our anti-environmental behavior, we will lose our livelihood. The world is not in danger, humanity is.
73 Chris
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When I lived in a village in the Cairngorms the standing joke, every September, was âWhen is the next bus?â Answer âAprilâ
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Today I easily and quickly reached the 7th different summit by train and bus, DM/NS-126.
Only now do I realize how well the local bus and train services are organized in my local Hanover / Brunswick / Goslar area. As a die-hard motorist, I never bothered.
Maybe you would feel the same if you tried it. I am thinking above all of exemplary Switzerland.
Happy Sota eco !
73 Chris
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