Buses Make a Great Green Travel Option

As backpackers, we essentially leave a small travel footprint to begin with, but most of us want to make our travel as green as we can. Buses, those big, exhaust-belching behemoths, are actually a greener travel method than most (especially when compared to driving our own cars, fun as road trips are). Some interesting stats:

According to the American Bus Association, "Motorcoaches currently provide 206.6 passenger miles per gallon (MPG), more than double the second most fuel-efficient sector, commuter rail at 92.4 passenger MPG. Transit buses achieve 31.4 passenger MPG, domestic air carriers achieve 44 passenger MPG, and single passenger automobiles achieve 27.2 passenger MPG. Each motorcoach has the potential of removing 55 autos from the highway."

,/P> That's a lot of carbon emissions that will never happen if you take a bus. And buses are a great form of transport (believe it!). In North America, buses are cheap, fast enough, and some (there are more buses on the road than just Greyhound) offer a student discount. Buses are *the* best way to get around in Mexico, and you can even take a bus from the US into Mexico (deep into Mexico). Learn more about buses:

• All About All the Buses in the US
• Student Discounts on Greyhound
• About Riding the Bus

More Green Travel

A collection of what we're starting to learn about green travel:

• Leaving a Small Travel Footprint
• Earth Day for Travelers
• What You Can Do at Home for Earth Day
• About Carbon Offsets and Plane Travel
• Readers Respond: Would You Buy Carbon Offsets?
• Good Green Travel Reading

_{---> Return to Buses | Return to Earth Day for Travelers | Return to Green Travel | Return to Student Travel Planning}