Over 6,000 people abstained from driving Sept. 22 to raise awareness for society’s reliance on vehicles as part of Car Free Day in the DC Metro area. The event was run by Commuter Connections, a company focused on joining different public transportation networks.“Car Free Day is a global catalyst for choosing alternatives to solo-driving,” said Nicholas Ramfos, director of Commuter Connections in a Sept. 9 press release. “In the Washington, Virginia and Maryland areas alone, we lose countless hours in travel delays every year, and as a result, purchase extra gallons of fuel to travel on congested roadways.”

The Car Free initiative is part of the larger efforts of the World CarFree Network, an international organization, which implements eco-friendly projects on nearly every continent. In addition to holding and organizing Car Free Day, the group releases newsletters and magazines warning people about the harmful environmental effects of industrialization.

The DC chapter opened in 2007 to host the first metropolitan area Car Free Day, and 1000 people pledged to keep their cars off the roads. Last year, the number increased to over 5000 people. This year’s statistics indicate, with over 6000 people participating, that the organization’s impact will continue to increase.

The Maryland, DC and Virginia governments partnered with the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund the event. Bike shops such as Bike and Roll and public transportation systems also helped sponsor.

The DC Car Free organization celebrated the event by hosting a festival on the streets of DC, which offered yoga classes, performances, bike valet parking and free raffle contests. Bike and Roll offered free bike rentals all day at its DC and Alexandria locations.

Even with all of these incentives, a surprisingly low number of people participated in the event in general. Few people were aware that the event was occurring, preventing the organization from having a big impact. In a survey of 50 Whitman students, only seven said that they had known about the event.

Many students who took the survey said that they didn’t know about it because there were no advertisements or announcements. However junior Julia Cline, who heard an ad on the 94.7 FM radio station, commends them for originality and creativity in their advertising.

“The ads were really entertaining and funny,” Cline said. “Typically I ignore ads and turn the radio down, but this time I actually turned it up.”

Sophomore Yeiwah Brewah, who did not know about the event, said that she might have participated had the advertising effort been more widespread. Brewah, who uses public transportation often, says she fully supports their cause and advocates their message.

“Students should want to participate. It helps the environment, which is a big issue right now,” she said. “It will give people better ideas about the environment—to not drive their car and to utilize public transportation more often.”