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As a member of the
Division of Student Affairs, and in concert with their Recycling
and Environmentally Friendly Initiatives, the Department of Transportation
Services (DOTS) would like to introduce BIODOTS to you. This marketing
campaign is in place to inform you of the many steps DOTS has taken,
and is taking, to participate in the initiative and care for the
environment.
- We have provided all staff with recycling bins and appointed
‘coordinators’ at the Regents and Shuttle-UM offices
to be responsible for overseeing recycling at their locations.
- We promote and encourage the use of Alternative Transportation
options in commuting to and from campus. We continue to explore
additional area alternative services to introduce to our students,
faculty and staff.
- We have put bicycle racks on the front of our off-campus commuter
buses.
- We added the Burtonsville Park & Ride service to our shuttle
services. We will continue to run the Laurel Park & Ride.
See our web site for details. www.transportation.umd.edu.
- We have put a number of steps in place to increase our recycling;
- We encourage our transit users to download our schedules
to their pda’s or to print a schedule directly from
our web site to save paper and print only as needed. We cut
the number of printed schedules this year and printed in black
ink on a low-bleached paper.
- We will be flushing all diesel engine fuel system with an
additive to help clean internal parts of carbon and other
harmful byproducts of combustion.
- We will have the majority of our large buses’ exhaust
and intake valves adjusted and injectors recalibrated. This
will maximize the engines' efficiency.
- We have installed Diesel Oxidation Catalyst in eight of
our 33 buses. This devise is EPA verified, and proven on-the-road
technology. DOC eliminates 25% of PM, 70% of CO and 70% HC
gases. We plan to secure funding to install it in eight more
buses.
- We will be installing crankcase ventilation systems on all
of our buses. This will eliminate crankcase emission. Byproducts
of combustion will no longer be venting in to the atmosphere
as it will be all going back into the engine and will be reused.
- We will be switching to a cleaner burning, Ultra Low Sulfur,
fuel, by March 2006, or sooner if it becomes available in
this area.
- We ran a test use of bio-diesel fuel in the early Summer
of 2005. B20, which is 80% diesel and 20% alternate fuel source,
was our test product. All our transit vehicles will now be
run on bio-diesel.
- Every transit University of Maryland bus will now be required
to shut down after idling for five minutes. Our buses are
equipped with a turbo charger, thus it is recommended to idle
engines for at least five minutes before shutting down so
that the bus will cool down the turbo charger.
JOIN us in our efforts and you may WIN A FREE BICYCLE… If
the official DOTS representatives I SPY’s you doing the following:
1) recycling 2) using alternative methods of transportation 3) wearing
a BIODOTS t-shirt or pin or carrying a BIODOTS Frisbee or water
bottle or 4) anything else we view as supporting the environment,
we will enter you in our raffle to WIN.
We are giving away 10 bicycles, helmets, and locks over the next
few months! Sorry DOTS employees or family of DOTS employees, you
are not eligible to win. Recognition of a “I SPY” from
the official DOTS representative will result in your receipt of
a t-shirt, pin, or Frisbee and your completion of the raffle entry
form will enter you in the raffle.
If you have suggestions about how we can continue to make our services
more environmentally friendly, please contact our Public Relations
Staff at 301-314-2019 or email dotsprm@umd.edu.
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