Last week, US News and World Report announced something that many of us knew already: Ann Arbor is a great town for people who want short commutes. Fifteen cities were profiled where the population was greater than 50,000 people and where the commute times were less than the national average of 24.4 minutes. Ann Arbor came out fifth on the list for percentage of non-car commuters, at 27.5%. Cambridge MA had the highest percentage of non-car commuters at 58%, while both Ann Arbor and Boulder CO had the shortest commute times, at 18.4 minutes.

This acknowledgment that commute times are short is important to note. Who doesn’t want to live in a city where they have to spend less time getting to and home from work? The statistics on how people commute to work are significant as well. getDowntown conducted a survey with Survey Sciences Group this year and downtown employers and employees were polled about their commuting habits.

The majority of respondents, 24.7%, stating they commuted between .5 and 2 miles one way to work. This survey also found that 38.6% of downtown commuters use a sustainable option (bike, walk, carpool, bus, etc) to get to work each day. That is considerably higher than the 27.5% noted in the article. This disparity between our survey and the one noted in the US News and World Report article makes sense: they focused on the entire city, while this survey focused on the downtown. So many  people who work downtown also choose to live close to downtown.

It was also interesting to note that 13 out of the 15 cities listed had a northern climate. Waiting at the bus stop, biking or just walking to work might seem uncomfortable in the cold weather but a considerable amount of Americans in other cities with climates like ours do it too. Keep this in mind as you wait for the bus – the one you didn’t have to scrape the windshield of, warm up or dig out of a snow drift – this winter.

This leads to the question: did you make a choice about where you chose to live because of your commute to work?

Combine DIY culture with bike culture and what do you get?  BikeHacks!

BikeHacks is a blog dedicated to people looking for fun ways to “hack” their bike.  In addition, it’s got some interesting post on biking culture, including bike commuting.  Some of the recent posts on BikeHacks include installing a car horn on your bike,  how to make your bike reflective for free, and musings about biking with kids.

Starting December 1, 2009, the getDowntown Program will be moving to the following location:

getDowntown Program
518 E. Washington St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-214-0100 (phone)
734-668-2525 (fax)
info@getdowntown.org

This will be our mailing address as well.

Here’s our other contact info for the new space:
Moira Branigan (Employee Services Coordinator): 734-214-0100; moira@getdowntown.org
Nancy Shore (Program Director): 734-214-0114; nancy@getdowntown.org

As a result of our move, the getDowntown Offices will be closed on Monday, November 30th and Tuesday, December 1st, 2009.  If you really, really need something, call or email first so we can let you know if we are available.

Thanks!

Recently the Washtenaw Biking and Walking Coalition organized a discussion on pedstrian issues in Ann Arbor.

While it is true that it’s much safer to be a pedestrian in Ann Arbor than in other Michigan Cities, this video created as part of the presentation also shows how much further we have to go.

If you are interested in knowing how many Michigan metro areas rank when it comes to pedestrian safety, check out Transportation for America’s facts heet on this issue. Among some of the facts:

• The Flint area is the most dangerous area for pedestrians in the state and is way more dangerous than the national average.  The Ann Arbor area is the safest and is way less dangerous than the national average.

Read the report here.

Transportation for America recently published a report on the state of transportation in our United States.

Where does Michigan Rank?  Here are some of the stats.

See the full report here:

Transportation For America » State Facts — Michigan.

Here at the getDowntown Program we spend a lot of time talking about the traditional commuting options like walking, biking, busing and carpooling.  But what about people who get to work a little more unconventionally?  When I recently stopped by Vault of Midnight I was surprised to learn that many of their employees commute to work by skateboard. Clearly there’s a strong culture of sustainable commuting at the store, which can definitely be traced back to the owners, Curtis Sullivan and Liz DellaRocco.  As part of our Leading by Example series, getDowntown interviewed Curtis and Liz about using sustainable transportation in downtown Ann Arbor.

Curtis and Liz usually walk and carpool to work and often pick up employees along the way.  They can also be found getting to work by busing, biking, and skateboarding.  They prefer using a sustainable mode of transportation because there usually isn’t a reason to drive.  And one of the best benefits of not driving to work is avoiding all those tickets!

Curtis and Liz find that they don’t have to do much to encourage their employees to walk, bike, bus, etc because they already do it.  Vault of Midnight staff see the value in talking sustainable transportation to get to work.  I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that when you bike/walk/skateboard/bus downtown the parking is free and often more convenient than parking your car.

What could downtown Ann Arbor do to become more supportive of sustainable transportation?  According to Curtis and Liz, it would be great if the City would amend the skateboard law so people could use skateboards as a viable commuting option (currently skateboarding is illegal on some sidewalks in downtown Ann Arbor, click here to read my perspective on this issue).

When asked what they hear from their employees about commuting to downtown Ann Arbor, Curtis and Liz replied that their employees would like to see Ann Arbor amend the skateboard law, have drivers pay more attention to bikes, have improved bike facilities and institute clear rules for cycling behavior that everyone knows and understands.

Liz and Curtis love having their business downtown because it’s a great community of unique local shops. Looking to the future, Liz and Curtis would like to see local stores continue to populate downtown rather than larger big box stores.

Liz and Curtis really appreciate the programs provided by the getDowntown Program, especially the go!pass program.

Finally, when asked what advice they have for new businesses in downtown Ann Arbor, Liz and Curtis replied, “Stick to it, and be passionate—we need your unique business in Ann Arbor.”

I’ve recently been working on a blog post about Liz and Curtis over at Vault of Midnight.  One of the things I learned while researching the article is that we have a skateboard law in downtown Ann Arbor.  You might know this, but I didn’t.  Apparently skateboarders were a real issue in the 80′s and 90′s so City Council put forward a resolution banning skateboards from certain sidewalks in downtown Ann Arbor.

This issue is relevant to the work that I do because some of the employees at Vault of Midnight (and probably other downtown stores) use skateboards as a way to get to work.  So effectively if they do decide to skateboard to work and are caught on certain sidewalks (such as Main from Huron to William) they could get a ticket.  Currently this law doesn’t apply to bikes or rollerblades or other things with wheels.  However, I have been at meetings where people talk about banning bikes from downtown sidewalks as well.

I think this is a tricky issue.  In an ideal world, we’d all use the sidewalks with the same degree of care, regardless of if we were on a bike or skateboard or wheelchair.  But as I’m sure many of you know, this isn’t an ideal world and there are people who bike on sidewalks so fast they end up crashing into pedestrians.  I’m sure the same goes for skateboards, although I’ve never seen this happen.  At the same time, I’m not sure making certain types of sidewalk traffic illegal is the way to go.  When I hear people talk about banning bikes from sidewalks, I am quick to point out that if we decide to do something like this, we must also find ways to show where bikes do belong.   The same goes for skateboards and other things with wheels.  Only right now if someone wanted to skateboard to work downtown they might get a ticket for doing so.  I know this isn’t the intention of the ordinance, but it does happen.

So what’s the solution?  The folks at Vault of Midnight would like to see the skateboard law amended.  Maybe there could be a way to show you are using your skateboard to get to work?  But this still doesn’t solve the challenge of people using all sorts of wheeled things on the sidewalks in an unsafe manner.  In some ways, this is a cultural problem as well.   In the US, it seems like some people don’t really think about how their reckless behavior (be it biking too fast or driving while drunk or texting while walking)  might endanger the lives of others.   The same is true for cars as well.  And I’m not even going to start to figure out how to change the culture.

I am sure urban areas all over the country deal with this same issue.  It would be interesing to know what happens in other communities and how they address this situation.

FYI:

AATA THANKSGIVING SERVICE HOURS ANNOUNCED

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will not operate regular fixed-route bus service, A-Ride, or senior shared-ride services on Thursday, November 26, 2009 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Most regular bus, A-Ride and senior services will resume on Friday, November 27, with the following exceptions:

• There will be no service on Routes 1U, 2X, or the Route 33 EMU Shuttle.
• Service will not operate on Routes 4C or 4D trips. Routes 4A and 4B will pull into U-M Hospital and the Medford/Manchester stop.
• On Routes 4A and 4B, the only trips that will operate are those leaving the Blake Transit Center at 18 and 48 minutes past the hour and the Ypsilanti Transit Center on the hour and half hour.
• Route 36 bus service from Wolverine Tower will be reduced to service every 30 minutes at 15 and 45 past the hour.

The AATA main office and the Blake and Ypsilanti Transit Centers will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and will reopen on Friday, November 27.

Passengers may take advantage of AATA’s Holiday Ride shared-ride service on November 26 for just $5 a person.  Seniors and persons with disabilities with an AATA Senior or ADA identification card may ride for $2.50. Individuals with a go!pass may ride for $1.00.

Holiday Ride service operates only within the city limits of Ann Arbor. To schedule a Holiday Ride trip, call 734.528.5432.

Bus route and schedule information is available on AATA’s Web Site at www.TheRide.org and at 734.996.0400.

FYI this should be a really interesting conference.  I’ll be presenting at a couple of sessions.

MOVING MINDS: The Next Transportation Infrastructure

November 9 – 12, 2009

Primary Location: Michigan League, U of M Campus Ann Arbor. 911 N. University Ave. 734-764-0446.

It’s a pivotal time for transportation — in the U.S., in Southeast Michigan, and worldwide. Half the world now lives in city regions. By 2020 that figure will rise to 2/3, challenging current transportation models and policies while at the same time opening exciting new opportunities for business and innovation.

Moving Minds: The Next Transportation Infrastructure will bring top researchers together with business leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policy makers from around the world and across the U.S. to advance new thinking and to accelerate implementation of systems-based New Mobility solutions and infrastructures.

Special focus: “Moving Minds” — understanding the cultural, psychological, and aspirational underpinnings of our relationship to transportation (for both users and leaders), and responding with innovative systems, policies, and business models that address these values sustainably, equitably and compellingly. Primary Sponsor: Ford Motor Company.

Highlights:

• Llew Wells, former West Wing producer – on “moving minds”
• Scott Page, world-renowned systems scholar on diversity, resilience, and national security
• Florencia Serrania, former head of Mexico City’s transit system – on connectivity
• Amit Kapoor, Chair of India Competitiveness Institute and Harvard Business School
• Joint sessions with UM Urban Land Institute on the transport & real estate revolutions
• Naveen Lamba, IBM Global Industry Leader for Intelligent Transportation Systems
• Robin Chase, Founder & Former CEO, ZipCar
• Focused sessions on: business opportunities, pilots, research, and capacity building

The SMART Summit provides a platform for collaboration among leaders from private sector, public sector, non-governmental organizations and academia, who undertake pilot projects, research, education, and global learning exchange on a range of pressing issues and opportunities related to the future of transportation in city regions around the world. For background on SMART: http://um-smart.org

Video footage of last year’s summit:    http://um-smart.org/resources/conference/video.html

2009 SMART Moving Minds Summit:    http://um-smart.org/resources/conference09/overview.html

After working downtown for many years, you get used to common sights and sounds. Things like the white twinkle lights glowing from the trees on Main Street in the winter, the sidewalks filling with café tables in the spring, and the return of the LINK in the fall after its summer hiatus. Not this year.

After five years, the AATA and DDA suspended funding for the Link. The DDA Board voted back in July to suspend funding because they felt that the LINK was not doing what they had intended. The topic of the LINK has been re-visited in subsequent DDA Transportation Advisory Committee Meetings: whether to fund again or not. The issue is complex, as the LINK has become many things to many people, and it leads to the ultimate question: what makes a successful downtown bus circulator?

What other communities have a service similar to the LINK? One example of many is Boulder Colorado’s The Hop. Boulder is a similarly sized community and a college town, which makes it a worthy comparison. I have also been to Boulder and ridden The Hop so I have first hand experience with its ease of use. The City of Boulder attributes the success of The Hop to convenience. The trips are frequent (7-10 minutes) and thus the riders don’t need to consult a schedule. In addition, the buses are fun (they play XM radio to riders and plus they’re named the Hop…how cute is that?) and are affordable (just $2.00 per ride or free if you have a pass that’s similar to our go!pass.)

As a long-time downtown worker, and a former LINK rider, I can say that the LINK was successful by many of the same standards and our bus was free. However, the schedule was not often regular or clear. It changed from year to year, and didn’t run during the summer months. If a bus came every 7-10 minutes throughout the day, even summers (and maybe Saturdays!) I would expect ridership would increase.

What did you like about the LINK? Are you going to miss it when the wind starts to blow and the snow drifts and you’ve got to walk all the way to State Street or Main Street loaded down with a laptop and a briefcase? Tell us what you think and we’ll keep you posted as this issue is discussed.

(Special thanks to Amber Miller of the DDA for her analysis of downtown circulators)