This wonderful reflection (and story) comes from Clague Middle School Teacher Jeff Gaynor, who’s gone happily carless for about a year.  He’s a great advocate for all things sustainable transportation.

This story really gets to the heart of what I think is the best part of sustainable transportation–community.  When you share rides with others or use public transportation, you get to chat with people you might never have come across if you were just driving alone.  And study after study will tell you how important it is to have connections with others.

But I’ll stop my yapping and let Jeff tell his story:

Actually, going carless since last January has been less of a story than one might think - as I can easily enough bike the 5.5 miles to and from work in just under a half hour, or take the AATA, involving a transfer downtown, and make the door to door trip in 45 minutes - though much of the time on the bus is my time. I also get short walks in, to or from the bus stops.

But last Wednesday I found myself involved in five different modes, none of them taking my own - meaning my wife’s - car. Actually the only time I drive her car, other than driving family members, is the rare time I have to buy more than 3 large grocery bags full; that much I carry on my bike with the aid of panniers, a rear rack, and luggage straps.

1) I leave home by bike, head through the Burns Park and Ann Arbor Woods neighborhood, through Gallup Park and North on Huron Parkway.

I just enter the construction zone - they have now blocked off the entire right lane for the use of bicycles it seems - when I hear, “thump, thump, thump…” I stop to find my rear tire is flat. I lock the bike to the post, remove one of my panniers, my laptop, and work bag, and …

2) Stick out my thumb, harkening back 30 some years to when I did quite a bit of hitchhiking. Within 3-4 minutes a car has stopped ahead. I run up, get in, and a very nice guy asks where I’m going, and proceeds to drop me off right at the front door of Clague School, where I teach. This is the second time this year I’ve had a flat and quickly gotten a ride, the other on a Saturday morning on Scio Church Road as I was heading to a workshop at the WISD. People really are nice; we don’t have to be afraid of each other.

3) After school, a colleague with a pick up truck offers to drive me home, picking up my bike on the way. As he was a former student teacher in my classroom, it is understood that he is paying me back for time I have spent with him in the past.

4) That evening, I take the AATA bus downtown - it’s raining by now - for an evening of jazz at Kerrytown Concert House, part of the Edgefest. The second concert will end after regular AATA bus service, so …

5) Between the sets, I ask around, and find that one of the producers lives two blocks from me. He is happy to drive me home afterwards. I wait for him to talk to this person and then that, but it’s a minor and amusing ‘inconvenience’ given I’m getting a door to door ride and meeting a neighbor. Turns out that his wife is also a teacher and I’ve known her for 20 years!

In fact, one of the benefits of giving up my car, is that my social life has improved. Now, instead of riding alone, I get to go places with friends or colleagues, or people (new friends?) I’ve just met.

I’ve met two former students by taking the bus. Both were about 8 when they were students; one is now 24, the other 30! I was motivated to join a group of jazz aficionados, and have been offered rides into Detroit to concerts. Before, even when I had a car, I wouldn’t go that far by myself. I return the driving favors with a ticket to a concert, or by paying for a meal, or maybe a beer. Not having the ongoing car expense, the money I save allows me to be generous in return for rides. But I don’t ask for a ride much - and I’ll rarely ask anyone to go out of their way.

Most always, living in Ann Arbor, I find that I can get to where I’m going by bike or bus. But last Wednesday brought out more dimensions to this “lifestyle” — never once did I have any doubt that I would be stranded. In fact, it turned into a net plus each step (or pedal, or ride) of the day.