So Friday is Bike to Work Day. And we’re giving away Commuter Bikes with the help of local Bike Shops.
The only thing we ask is that people submit an essay to be eligible to win a bike.
So far, we’ve received around 30 essays. And they’re great!
They are all up on our website for your viewing pleasure: Bike to Work Day Essays
We will announce the winners at our Bike to Work Day Rally on May 16th at 8am at City Hall.
This Friday at 8am is the Bike to Work Day Rally at Ann Arbor City Hall (100 N Fifth Ave). There will be rides departing from bike shops and other locations to City Hall.
In addition to much food and fun, WE WILL BE GIVING AWAY COMMUTER BIKES AT THIS EVENT! But you must submit at essay to be entered into the drawing!
To submit and essay and learn more about the Bike to Work Day Rally, please go here: Bike to Work Day Rally.
Here are some more winners of Curb Your Car Month Prize Drawings:
Bike to Work Friday Winner (won a $25 gift card to Whole Foods): James Welch, Arbor Research Collaborative for Health Employee
Monday go!pass drawing winners: We have the numbers and the places they work, but we don’t know the names yet. The go!pass numbers drawn were 4117 (Brown Jug Employee) and 4350 (Vinology Employee).
You can win, too! Check out all of the Weekly Prize Drawings here: Weekly Curb Your Car Month Prize Drawings.
Cedric Richner is a Curb Your Car Month Ambassador. You can read more about him (and other Ambassadors) by clicking here.
He’s been writing a journal of sorts to some of his friends detailing his experiences participating in the Commuter Challenge and being an Ambassador. He recently sent this hilarious top ten list. Please read it with a sense of humor:
The Top Ten Reasons I Decided to be an Ambassador for the Commuter Challenge
10) I learned that it turns out that in the competition to be the country’s fattest state, it is good to be like number 49 or 50… not number 1.
9) Biking to work will give me a reason to wear spandex- legitimately, instead of holed up in my basement rec. room after the family has gone to sleep as usual.
8. I can finally participate in all of the great camp songs the bus drivers on the AATA lead riders in every morning.
7) Walking to work allows me the opportunity to be openly disdainful, and morally superior to everyone driving in their gas guzzling behemoths.
6) Did I mention the spandex?
5) $4.00 a gallon.
4) My mother’s voice in my head: “Do something constructive for once with your life will you!”
3) To keep Nancy Shore, the Challenge’s director, from getting canned.
2) Walking to the refrigerator for a Bud and a chicken pot pie does not constitute a cardiovascular workout.
1) We’re in tree town for God’s sake… you can’t drive
The AATA and SEMPCOG just introduced Michigan Rideshare. This computer program will allow you to create an account and view people who want to carpool and vanpool to work. The site is officially live today so we need people to start using it so we have some matches.
You can create an account by going here: https://mirideshare.org
Want to learn more? join others who want to carpool and vanpool tonight at Conor O’Neill’s Celtic Room. More info here.
In this Sunday’s Ann Arbor News, Menlo Innovations CEO Richard Sheridan shares his thoughts on biking to work. Among his many observations:
But he says it much better that I do. Read his Other Voices Piece in the News here.
Ann Arbor Googler Ashley Schubert, 24, is an AdWords Account Coordinator who works on supporting Google’s growing base of advertisers. After graduating from Wake Forest University in May 2007, she moved to Ann Arbor and has been working for Google since December.
Ashley is an avid supporter of sustainable transportation. She shares her thoughts below.
Why should you walk, bike or bus to work instead of driving?
There are so many answers to that question- it’s hard to know where to begin. As a young 24 year old that has just started her first job at Google after many years of schooling, it is a simple answer: money. Don’t get me wrong- I’m a hippy at heart and I try my best to help the environment, but I also need to be fiscally responsible right now. And have you seen the price of gas lately?? Taking the bus or biking to work everyday for two weeks will save me over 40 dollars in gas. And that’s not even adding on the cost of car maintenance and insurance.
I take the bus most days to and from my office in downtown Ann Arbor. If it is a particularly beautiful day, I’ll bike or walk. In addition to money, it actually saves me time by taking the bus because then I don’t have to walk to and from the parking garage, the bus picks me up right outside my office door! And in the winter you quickly realize after spending 10 minutes scraping snow off the car and defrosting it, that if you’d just taken the bus, you’d be in transit by now- and be significantly warmer. I also hate driving in the rain. And who wouldn’t want to walk to the bus stop on a beautiful day?
My favorite days are the ones when I can bike downtown and complete all my errands without ever having to park. I especially like being able to get places faster, like Kerrytown, because I don’t have to follow all the one-way streets on my bike. The Farmer’s Market, my Pilates class above Café Zola, and the Dawn Treader bookstore are my three most common places to commute to-… but it would be a shame to miss all the stuff in between. Ann Arbor is full of great people, but you can’t appreciate its diversity and how unique it is from inside your car.
So just to recap why YOU should bike, bus, or walk:
- Save MONEY (and we love to do that)
- Feel good about curbing CO2 emissions
- Save time and worry over driving in snow and rain (which we have a lot of)
- And connect with the city- really appreciate all the great people and opportunities we have in Ann Arbor. You miss so many great restaurants and little unique shops when you are cruising past them at 30 mph.
I hope to see you on the bus or sidewalk soon!
–Ashley
getDowntown would like to announce the following winners of our weekly prize drawings:
Monday go!pass drawing winners: Ann Jacobs, Arbor Research Collaborative for Health and Elizabeth Sharon, Miller Canfield
Carpool/Vanpool Tuesday drawing winner: Casey Brooks, Arbor Brewing Company
Walk to Work Wednesday Winner: Julie Sverid, People’s Food Co-op
To see what these people won, and the prizes for the upcoming drawings, go here: Weekly Prize Drawings.
Since there is going to be a car-lite, car-less discussion tonight at the Ann Arbor District Library, I thought I’d take this chance to highlight some of the Curb Your Car Month Ambassadors.
Here are some Ambassadors that are clearly living car-less and car-lite, as indicated by their reasons for being an Ambassador:
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Jeff Gaynor
AAPS-Clague Middle School
Bike and Bus Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? I have gone happily carless for 2 months, and plan to continue. I bus or bike to work - 11 mi round trip. (I did not buy my first car until 15 years ago - when I was 42 years old, and had children to drive).
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Michael Rice
U of M - Kresge Business Administration Library
Bus Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? I have been a full-time U-M employee for just over ten years now and do not own a car. I enjoy walking to work, but the bus becomes *invaluable* in the winter and when the weather is inclement… I don’t know what I would do without it! — I am very fortunate that U-M and the AATA have an arrangement that allows me to commute to work and I use it quite often; I am therefore, very grateful to both of them and hope that this would be one way to show it. Thanks!
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Astrid Larsen
US EPA on Plymouth
Bus Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? I finally started riding the bus to/from work this past February after living in Ann Arbor for 3.5 years. And it’s been GREAT! I can’t imagaine driving my car to work anymore. There’s a bus stop near my house and a bus stop very near the office. My commute couldn’t be anymore convenient. I’m encouraging my office “cube-neighbors” to give bus commuting a try during Curb Your Car month. Maybe wearing a T-shirt and posting signs outside my cube will inspire other’s to give AATA a try.
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Jason Voss
Zingerman’s Mail Order
Bike Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? I love riding my bike to work and hope to completely curb my car for the whole month of May, commuting entirely by bike. I would like to share my passion by encouraging others to use alternative commutes.
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Jackie Bendsen
Ann Arbor YMCA
Bus and Walk Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? Since moving to Michigan, I’ve committed to riding the bus and/or walking as much as possible. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the bus system and am so grateful that I’m able to ride the bus to and from work almost every day. Busing, carpooling, biking, and walking are terrific ways that everyone can make a positive impact in the communitiy and environment. Walking and busing are an important part of my daily committment to living a more enviornmentally, socially, economically sustainable life. This is a terrific way to introduce others to the benefts of making changes that will have a profoundly positive affect on their community, and in their individual lives as well.
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Jennifer Zimmer
UM - Ross School of Business - Kresge Library
Bike Ambassador
Why do you want to be an Ambassador? Riding my bike to work is the best part of my day. When I get to work I have a smile on my face because I just got some fabulous exercise and didn’t have to drive my car. I want to share this feeling and experience with others and help them realize that they CAN commute by bike to work, especially here in Ann Arbor, and that getting to work can actually be fun and good for you at the same time!
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Tonight, getDowntown is partnering with the Ann Arbor District Library to bring you a panel discussion featuring local commuters who are living car-less and car-lite. The idea is to also have audience participation for this event, so please come and share your stories, too!
Here’s the blurb about the event (from the AADL website):
Car-lite, Car-less: A Panel Discussion On How We Commute to Work
Thursday May 8, 2008: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm — Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room
Ever marvel at the bicyclists zooming by you in traffic downtown? Or gaze enviously at pedestrian commuters? Hear what local commuters Ed Vielmetti, Alaine Karoleff, Scott Munzel and Tamara Real have to say about their alternative commutes. The panelists will discuss their methods, challenges and surprises they encounter, and how using a sustainable mode of transportation helps them get more out of their commute.
This event is cosponsored by the getDowntown Program and the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce in celebration of Curb Your Car Month. The getDowntown Program (www.getdowntown.org) encourages/assists downtown commuters in the use and development of sustainable transportation choices and is a partnership between the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, and the City of the Ann Arbor.
