A final blog post from Patti Smith, who attempted to use her car less this summer . . .

Well! Another summer almost at an end! At the beginning of the summer, I aimed for an almost car-free season. While I didn’t do as well as I wanted, I still did better than I thought I would.

Things I learned:

• One of the main issues with taking the bus or riding a bike is that you have plan well. For instance, we had a party in July and I rode my bike to the store to get what we needed. An hour before guests were to arrive, I noticed that I needed one more ingredient. My choices were either to not have the ingredient (which would have meant less food), ride my bike and get back to my house after guests arrived or drive my car. I drove my car and grabbed what I needed. Next time, I will be more prepared.

• One needs a lot of time when traveling by bike or bus. This is probably quite obvious, but I never really thought about it prior to my summer experiment. Fortunately for me, the #5 bus stops almost right in front of my house. Unfortunately, I have lousy timing and always seemed to just miss it. Fortunately, another one would come by soon, but it still would delay me a bit.

• Health issues can wreak havoc on one’s best intentions. For the past two years or so, I’ve been plagued by profound fatigue. I finally found a doctor who wanted to help me and I learned that I have something called sleep hypopnea. Now that I have my CPAP machine, I am not so tired. But before that, I would think about riding my bike somewhere and just feel so exhausted that it was not possible for me. This, along with lifelong asthma, sometimes thwarted my plans.

Some triumphs:

• I had many “car free” days this summer. I even had one stretch where I didn’t drive my car for three or four days. I missed driving it, but I was kind of happy to give the car a little break.
• I rode my bike more than I thought I would, including a fairly long ride out to the beer fest in Ypsilanti. I also walked a number of times, including a few walks from downtown to my house (over 3 miles—feels like 12 in the hot sun).
• I found that I kind of like the bus. It has air conditioning and is fun for people watching.

All in all, I didn’t do too badly. Next summer, I hope that my sleep issues will be resolved (or at least still under control) and I may do better. I have had a blast blogging for Get Downtown and I want to thank my friend, Nancy Shore, for giving me the opportunity. My next goal is ride my bike, at least a little, throughout the fall and winter. So if you see a brunette slipping and sliding along Packard Road, that may very well be me!

See you on the roads!!

FYI:

Following decisions by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) to stop funding the Link downtown circulator and the University of Michigan to operate the campus portion of the service with its own buses, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) Board of Directors has reluctantly approved a resolution to discontinue the Link service.

On behalf of AATA, Board Chair David Nacht said, “I believe that a free downtown circulator strengthens our downtown businesses, but, currently, we lack the resources to fund it.”

Public input on the proposal to eliminate the service was gathered during the month before the board had to make its decision.

In addition to discontinuing the Link, AATA will implement the following bus service changes:

• Selected trips on Routes 2, 3, 4 and 36 resume operation on Monday, August 31. These trips do not operate during the summer months.
• Route 4 – Washtenaw – Timing for many trips to Ann Arbor is being adjusted to compensate for the relocation out of the Arborland shopping center onto Washtenaw Avenue.
• Route 5 – Packard – The ‘Packard & South Boulevard’ timepoint is being renamed as ‘Packard & Stadium’.
• Route 7 – South Main-East – The last four trips to Downtown Ann Arbor on weekday evenings will leave Washtenaw Community College at seven minutes past the hour. On Sunday, all trips leaving the Blake Transit Center will end at Washtenaw and Huron Parkway and all trips to downtown Ann Arbor will begin at Washtenaw and Huron Parkway.
• Route 33 – EMU Shuttle – The service will resume operation on Wednesday, September 9.

AATA would also like to alert riders to expect detours and delays of its bus routes during the upcoming University of Michigan student move-in days from September 2 through 4 and during U-M home football games.

AATA route, schedule and detour information is available at www.TheRide.org and 734.996.0400.