Oregon daily emerald., October 21, 1977, Section B, Page 6, Image 18

J
Photo by Gregg Weed
Those flasy red wagons of the pest don’t necessarily sit
idly in the attic. Loran Carter uses hers to chauffeur her
sons, Nathan, 5, and Nick, 2.
Wagons aren’t just for kids
"Mommy, how come we don't have a car like
everybody else?’ her five-year-old asks.
.. The mother continues walking, pulling the red wagon
her son is sitting In and ponders the query. "He always
asks that," she muses to herself. "I wonder If he minds
our wagon. It’s all we’ve got."
Lorna Carter doesn’t own a car. She owns a wagon,
the kind toy stores sell. The kind children Jump with glee
over when they find one parked under the Christmas
tree.
The wagon is Lorna's set of wheels. She pulls her two
children to the park in it. She hauls home five bags of
goroeries in it. She used to lug her dirty clothes to the
laundromat in it, but now she has a washing machine.
The 27-year-old mother used to own a car, but sold it
last April because it was falling apart. Since then, she
has relied on her two feet for walking, busee for longer
trips and her wagon for hauling.
A University sophomore in sociology, Lorna says tots
of divorced mothers like herself use wagons as their
primary mode of transportation. There's at least a
couple of wagons in every low-rent housing project
around town, she adds.
“I like my wagon,” she says. “1 was brought up In a
family of walkers and want my kids to grow up walking.
“My parents didn’t have a car for a long time but my
dad got one in 1966. I remember when he first drove it
home. But now, my dad’s got Mercedes end Porschee
and stuff like that.”
Lorna has had her wagon almost two years now.
Before that, she did most of her hauling in her son’s
baby stroller, and before that, it was a baby-carrying
backpack.
A car is too expensive for her right now while she’s in
school, she says, although she plans to purchase one
after graduation.
But even then, Lorna says she will continue to use her
legs and buses as much as possible. When her five-year
old, Nathan, grows another inch or two, she will teach
him how to ride a bicycle and then the three of them will
bike around town, with two-year-old Nick perched in a
baby’s seat.
Until then, however, Lorna says she’s content with her
wagon.
She bought it on sale for $9 and says she likes the
freedom from maintenance costs which normally ac
company more complex forms of transportation.
To date, the wagon’s maintenance has totaled one
good oil job on the wheels and one 14-oent nut and bolt
replacement.
What’s it like to pull a wagon with 75 pounds of kids In
it a mile or two?
“It really isn’t that bad,’’ says the 4’ 11” mother. "The
only tough part is going up hills, and even a little ramp is
a hill for us.”
Lorna explains curbs are her biggest obstacle, but
they are also Nathan’s cue to jump out and help.
"He’s real good about getting out at the curbs and
helping me lift the wagoh op. He has a job in the whole
works,” she says.
QUALITY USED BICYCLES!
We Buy, Sell, Trade
I FPM Ism
...1,371 tons of pollutants would
have seeped into the atmosphere
Students can pat themselves on the back when it
comes to patronizing Lane County’s primary public
transportation system, the Lane Transit District
(LTD).
An LTD passenger survey taken in December,
1976, reveals students comprise about 40 per cent
of the district’s passengers.
The survey also determined the destination point
for 18 per cent of LTD passengers is school and
passengers age 19-24 comprise 30 per cent of the
total LTD crowd.
One of the main purposes of LTD, of course, Is to
curb motor vehicle use, thereby minimizing air
pollution.
According to LTD statistics, 1,371 additional tons
of pollution would have seeped into Lane County’s
atmosphere if all the people who rode buses in 1975
had driven cars. LTD carries 12 per cent of the
county’s population on .095 percent of the area’s
vehicles.
LTD operates 45 diesel and 22 gasoline-powered
buses. Diesel buses fair the beet when considering
carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide
pollutants, says Tony George, a Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) spokesman.
But diesel performs worse than gasoline when
compared to particulate emissions and foul
smelling fumes.
So depending on which type of pollution is
studied, George says, diesel and gasoline buses out
do each other.
The LTD network is fairly comprehensive In Lane
County and getting somewhere on the bus Is only a
matter of time, 35 cents and some schedule
figuring.
LTD buses frequent the University at the corner of
13tn Avenue and Kincaid Street about every 15
minutes during the day Monday through Friday.
Then they head for the Eugene Mall, the central
transfer point for all LTD buses.
Buses also run between the University and
Springfield, Vida, McKenzie Bridge, Westmoreland
and Laurel Hill.
OB «*> Mutton tMtoflcs on <Mdn tiMHng is it«m m hour
Wild*
am*
Gaaolincbu*
Cm
carbon monoxiA*
17
2*5
45
htdRxarbon*
3.4
33
7.3
nitrogen oxld«
31
13
4.4