It's not practical to leave your car at home all of the time. But if you know how to use trains and buses, you can often use public transportation to get to many interesting places. CDOT offers a range of transit choices you can use to get where you'd like to go. In this activity, you will leave the family car at home for the day and find your way to your destination using transit.

Instructions

It's Saturday and you and a friend want to go to the movies. Pretend you live on East Hunting Ridge in Stamford, and the matinee starts at 12:30 p.m. at a theater in Greenwich Commons. You will find East Hunting Ridge and Greenwich commons on the Stamford Map System under bus and train maps, below.

Give your car a rest for the day, and plan your route using a bus, train, bicycle or by foot -- use one method or a combination to get to your destination.

Find a way to travel without going by car. You can take the bus, train or a combination of both to complete your journey.

For bus map, go to http://www.cttransit.com/content/pdfs/StamfordMapSystem.pdf

For bus schedules: http://www.cttransit.com/content/routesStamford.asp

For train schedules: http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm

• Where will you meet your friend?
• Where will you catch the train or bus?
• What time will you catch it?
• Will you have to use another method of transportation to finish the trip?
• When will you arrive near the movie theater?
• How much time will you have to buy tickets, drinks, popcorn and candy before the movie starts?

If you made it with time to spare, have a tub with extra butter to celebrate!

Now make up your own situations and try it again. Here are some links that will help:
http://www.cttransit.com
http://www.gbtabus.com
http://www.norwalktransit.com
http://as0.mta.info/mnr/schedules/sched_form.cfm

For maps and schedules from transit operators throughout the State of Connecticut, visit www.ctrides.com.