Start up the bus: Try Transit Week was great way to promote and encourage public transportation in the Triangle

Try Transit Week was a great way to get the community involved in practicing sustainable transportation habits.

Although the official week of events wraps up today, local residents should still make buses a favored mode of transportation.

Triangle Transit and other local transportation systems created the event to encourage others to protect the environment reduce dependency on foreign oil and improve the overall quality of life.

The weeklong program comes to a close today, but ideas that it promotes will hopefully resonate within the community as a whole.

The program featured events such as Rider Appreciation Day, where Triangle Transit rolled out the ice cream truck, along with music and prizes, at the Regional Transit Center on Slater Road in Durham.

Other perks and events included free rides on Triangle Transit for those riding bicycles to the stop and a scavenger hunt for those following Triangle Transit on Facebook and Twitter.

Today is Operations Appreciation Day, featuring comment cards on Triangle Transit buses.

The Triangle area is already seeing a greater reliance on public transportation as Triangle Transit ridership reached an all-time high at the end of June. And ridership on Chapel Hill Transit buses, which are free, is up 15 percent since last year.

With events like this one, the transit system continues to encourage others to partake in a more sustainable way of life.

Great public transportation has been the hallmark of the triangle area that has contributed to a better a way of life.

The level of ridership and programs like these also demonstrate the rise of the transit system in general.

That’s something the area can be proud of.