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
