This month’s Golden Transfer goes to Cari A.: nurse, mom, and alternative commuter extraordinaire. I met Cari back in August (and she would have won the GT in August, had I managed to post the entry on the 31st), at a “Car-Free with Kids” event hosted by her employer, Children’s Hospital. Cari was one of the event panelists, so I got to hear firsthand how she buses to work with her two children, four-year old Ava and one-year old Grayson.

Ava and Grayson, who attend the Children’s on-site daycare and must commute along with their mom, deserve to share equally in this illustrious award. Ava, like most four-year olds, is obsessed with buses, and her repeated requests to ride eventually motivated Cari to try (and like!) leaving the car at home. Grayson, despite occasional attempts to, as his mom puts it, “lick the pole,” is a well-behaved bus passenger, who brightens the commutes of more than a few fellow riders with his squeezable cheeks (see below).

Cari and her kids live in Bothell and ride the 75 from a Children’s park & ride in Lake City to the hospital’s main campus in Laurelhurst. The 75 runs every eight minutes during peak hours, which means they don’t have to adhere to a strict schedule. And as for the actual bus time? The coolness factor (driver! bell! lift!) keeps Ava entertained for the 12-minute ride; snacks and toys keep Grayson in check.

Says our winner, “It’s not as difficult as you might think. It’s actually harder to get organized to go to the zoo for half a day than it is to ride the bus with my kids.” (Source: Children’s Hospital internal website [article author: Alison Link])

Our three winners, waiting for their ride home

Thanks, Cari, for showing us (and your children) that getting around–even for a busy, working mom–doesn’t always mean hopping in the car. After all, “a bus is like a massive, pimping SUV with 4000 horse power and lots of 45 inch wheels.” And you never have to fill up the tank.