So I went to the A2D2 Committee Meeting on Parking and Transportation last night . . .

Uh . . .(you say) . . . what’s A2D2 and why should I care?

Well, here’s the deal.  Basically A2D2 is in place to make sure the downtown develops in a way that people want it developed.  A major part of A2D2 is Parking and Transportation.

A2D2 itself is made up of folks from the Planning Commission, the City and the DDA, with help and support from getDowntown, the AATA, the Washtenaw Area Transportation Study (WATS) and others.

Much of the info that A2D2 uses to guide it’s thinking on Parking and Transportation to and from the downtown is from a recent Ann Arbor Downtown Parking Study.

So why should you care?  Well, here are some of the things that A2D2 talked about last night:

• Increasing the frequency of buses to the downtown and to and from Park and Ride lots
• Increasing the number of Park and Ride lots
• Creating more express commuter service, be it in the form of a bus, a train, or a trolley.
• Conducting comprehensive studies of the economic forces that drive transportation demands as well as a study of downtown employees and their commuting needs.
• A plan for expanding parking downtown as precursor to changing the way people pay for parking to further incentivize the use of other options.

If you are a downtown worker or business owner, these are important issues for you.  It is my hope that I can be the bridge between A2D2 and downtown employers and employees.  I want to let you know what A2D2 is doing and I want to be able to tell them what you think.

That’s why I hope you’ll come to Commute Chat as well as continue to email me with your thoughts.