More than 2,800 pledge to participate in Car Free Day on Long Island

More than 2,800 people pledged to participate in Long Island's second observance of Car Free Day on Monday.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone was among the participants, riding a bicycle 4.4 miles from his home in Babylon Village to Deer Park, where he hopped a bus to the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge.

Car Free Day has been observed on Sept. 22 by cities around the world since 2000. The event aims to reduce traffic, conserve energy, protect the environment and promote fitness by getting drivers to consider transportation alternatives, including buses, trains, carpooling, cycling and telecommuting.

"This is Long Island's event. It's about Long Islanders taking action to have a positive impact on our environment and our economy," said event co-chairwoman Rosemary Mascali. "There's 3 million of us on Long Island. And if we all drove just 1 mile less, that's 3 million miles."

Car Free Day is organized by the Long Island Rail Road's Transit Solutions program and the New York State Department of Transportation 511NYRideshare program. The event has been supported by major Long Island employers and transit providers, including the Nassau Inter-County Express and the North Shore-LIJ Health System.

As of just after midnight Monday, 2,569 Long Islanders had taken the pledge, available at carfreedayli.com.

That number of drivers would result in the avoidance of 65,287 miles of driving and 33 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, "almost exactly our totals for last year," said Mascali, manager of the federally funded Transit Solutions.

Later Monday the number of pledges jumped to 2,813, she said.

Last year, more than 2,500 people took the pledge to go car-free or at least car-light on Car Free Day.

According to the website, those who take the pledge vow to "eliminate or reduce my driving. This includes trips for work, school and/or to run errands."