In August 2009 the AATA began offering a new service, the A2 Express. It is comprised of the Canton-to-Ann Arbor Canton Express, and the Chelsea-to-Ann Arbor Chelsea Express. Making commuting into Ann Arbor easy and green for downtown employees is what we’re all about at getDowntown, so I sat down with a Canton Express commuter, Rosanne Frank of Miller Canfield, to get a better understanding of how this bus route works!

gDt: Why did you decide to try commuting by bus?
Rosanne Frank: I saw the flier [for the A2 Express] at our office and the times fit my work schedule, so I tried it. There was a two-week free trial in September that worked great for me, so I started commuting daily by bus in October.

gDt:How has the cost of the A2 Express Commuter Pass balanced out against the price you were paying to commute by car?
RF: I drive a Ford Explorer which doesn’t have the best mileage. It gets 17 mpg. And when you drive in from Canton, which was approximately 25 miles, which could be 3 gallons a day. That could end up being $40 or more in gas a week. I pay $62.50 for the Commuter Pass [as a go!pass holder] once a month. Plus I don’t have to pay for parking for my car at the Ann & Ashley structure.

gDt: How does the A2 Express work?
RF: I start my day at 7:17 am at Independence Park and the bus driver is extremely punctual. I get dropped off between 7:55 and 8:00 a.m. one block from my office. Before when I drove it’d take 25-30 minutes to commute by myself, but then sometimes I would get caught in traffic. I’m able to catch the bus home at 5:08pm. I work an 8-5 day, so I end up putting in an extra half hour each day on this schedule. Because I put in extra time during the week, my bosses let me leave on the 3:35 pm bus one day per week
I’m happy that I take the bus. If I know in advance that I am going to have a busy schedule at work I can take an earlier bus. If I need to get home early for some emergency, there is an emergency cab that is offered, so I know that I have a way to get back to Canton.

gDt: What in particular do you like about the A2 Express?
RF: The buses are comfortable and the drivers are great. The drivers also know where each rider’s stop is so if we don’t need to stop, he doesn’t. The buses are on time too, very punctual.

gDt: What do you do to pass the time on your ride?
RF: Listen to my iPod, sometimes I sleep. A lot of people read and some other riders are coworkers so they ride in together.

gDt: Had you only been a car commuter before?
RF: Yes.

gDt: Have you tried to convince any of your other coworkers to commute by methods other than the car?
RF: I have. My other coworkers’ schedules are too irregular for the bus to work for them. I’m glad that Miller Canfield is a part of the go!pass program, and that they allow me to work within the bus schedule and are flexible so I can take advantage of the A2 Express.

Thank you to Rosanne for her time! If you have any questions about the A2 Express, visit www.a2express.org or call 734-996-0400. If you are a go!pass holder and would like to purchase the discounted tickets, please contact the getDowntown Program at 734-214-0100.

In case you missed them, here were the top 10 getDowntown blog posts of 2008.

above: The elevators at the First National Building where Dunrie works.

Here’s another Curb Your Car Month post from a citizen. This one’s from Dunrie Greiling of Pure Visibility.

I curbed my (elevator) car in May

So, I’m loving Curb Your Car month. It makes me proud to live in a city where there are other folks who value walking, biking, busing, and carpooling to work enough to make a month-long-celebration of it!

I already walk to work. I’ve walked to work since I moved to Ann Arbor, in 1993. My first home here in Ann Arbor was a shared house on South Ashley, I walked from there to the Kraus Natural Science Building, where I was a graduate student in Biology. In 2000, I finished my doctorate and got a job at spatial analysis software company BioMedware on North State Street. I was living in a different apartment (this time on North First) by then, but still walking to work. Later that year, my husband and I bought a home on South First, and since then, I’ve used walkability as a criterion in my job hunts. Since BioMedware, I’ve had 3 jobs, I’m now working at the internet marketing company Pure Visibility, and I’m happy to report there are lots of great companies within walking distance of my home.

So, when it came time for Curb Your Car month, I wasn’t sure how to “up the ante”. I mean, giving up my car in May wasn’t really a commitment, as I hadn’t commuted by automobile since living in New Jersey in 1993!

Last August, Pure Visibility moved into the First National Building – into the 5th Floor, with spectacular views of Ann Arbor (come up and visit!). Since then, I’d been taking the elevator from the ground floor to our floor. I gained a few pounds, and I wanted them to come off. I also started measuring my daily footsteps with a pedometer, and tracking my walks on Ann Arbor’s WalkerTracker mini-site for pedometer enthusiasts. I began to covet those steps, and I wanted to up my daily exercise to work off the winter weight.

So, I decided to make this month curb my (elevator) car month.

Each morning, I walk past the waiting elevators and into the stairwell. I walk up the 82 steps from the first to the fifth floor, and I arrive, slightly winded and proud, at the 5th Floor to start my workday. Each evening ends going down the same way, and on a good day I get another round trip or two during the day.

What are you going to curb for curb your car month?

Dunrie Greiling
Carless posts on my blog, Scientific Ink

Five Reasons Your Organization Should Sign-up for the Commuter Challenge: 

1. You can earn points and win prizes for you and your organization.  Check out all of the goodies here: http://www.getdowntown.org/programs/commuter/prizes.html

2. The Commuter Challenge gives you a chance to try something new like biking or carpooling to work.

3. You might just get more exercise, save more money and have more fun!

4. You can set an example for others at your workplace.  Become an Ambassador by clicking here: http://www.getdowntown.org/programs/commuter/Ambassador.html

5. You can show the world that the organization you work for is earth-friendly and fun!

So what are you waiting for?  Sign up for the Commuter Challenge today: http://www.getdowntown.org/programs/commuter/

Here’s a typical downtown Ann Arbor scenario: you are a business paying hundreds (perhaps thousands) of dollars a month for parking spaces for your employees. You are concerned that the employees who walk, bike, and bus to work think this is unfair because they aren’t getting the same benefit.

And to top it all off, you’d like to encourage more of your employees to use alternative transportation.

What do you do?

Well, Inner Circle Media (go!pass participant and Ann Arbor Chamber member) found a great solution that saves them money and encourages their employees to use alternative transportation:

They hand out a parking stipend to their employees instead of just paying for parking.

getDowntown is proud to present Inner Circle Media with a Commuter-Friendly Business Award for coming up with a creative way to encourage their employees to walk, bike, bus and carpool to work.

I asked Catherine Hayes, from Inner Circle to describe their innovative idea:

1. What did you do about parking before you created the parking stipend idea?

We paid for parking spots for 2 of our 4 employees, and we were also on the waiting list for more parking spots from the City (for over a year). This wasn’t a very equitable solution, and was also incredibly expensive at $300/mo for only 2 spots.

2. When did you come up with the parking stipend idea?

This past fall.

3. Why did you come up with this idea?

We were trying to figure out an option that could be applied equally across all employees, regardless of whether they drive (one of our employees doesn’t have a car). We also wanted to figure out a way to save money and encourage alternative modes of transportation.

4. How does the parking stipend work?

We give everyone $50 with their first paycheck of the month. They can use this to pay for their own parking spot (city lots or private spots), parking structure fees or whatever they want. The idea is to use it for parking or transportation-related costs; however, if they already use the bus or another free or low-cost mode of transportation, then they can use the $50 for whatever they want.

5. What sort of successes have you had using a parking stipend (e.g. have you saved money, gotten people to take other modes of transit to get to work, etc.)?

We’re definitely saving money (we now spend $200/mo on a stipend for 4 employees, whereas previously we spent $300/mo on only 2 parking spots used by 2 employees), but more importantly for us we’re encouraging everyone to think about alternate modes of transportation. Out of the 6 people in our company, we’re currently only bringing 2 cars downtown at any given time. One of our employees uses a combination of bus and walking. Another uses the Park and Ride at Pioneer. And the other 2 share a privately-owned parking spot about 3 blocks from the office, and then carpool to work.

Carrie and I (the co-owners) also carpool to work, and frequently Carrie walks and I take the bus. The two of us share a parking spot that comes with the office in the alley behind us.

6. What do your employees think about this program?

So far they think it’s good. We discussed it with everyone before implementing to make sure there weren’t any big issues or concerns.

Meredith Lovelace, another Inner Circle employee, has this to say:
From an employee perspective, I think the stipend is an excellent idea–it spurred me to carpool, therefore one less car downtown, and it encourages us to take the bus more frequently.

7. What recommendations to you have for other companies thinking about doing this?

I would definitely recommend discussing the idea with your employees first to make sure everyone is on board and really understands the benefits for the business, community and environment. From an administrative perspective, it’s easy to implement and saves the hassle of managing multiple parking spots.

Do you want to be recognized as a Commuter-Friendly Business? Email nancy@annarborchamber.org and tell us what you are doing to encourage employees to use alternative transportation and you just might be our next awardee. You must be a downtown Ann Arbor business to be eligible for this award.

Past Commuter-Friendly Business Award Winners

□ Pure Visibility

This last Friday, I had the pleasure of microcoworking with the gang from Pure Visibility as well as some folks from Vague Innovation, and a freelance writer named Kim. This is a weekly event where people get together to work, chat and hang out.

So the reason I went to visit Pure Visibility is because of their extreme dedication to being a commuter friendly business. Here’s what they do:

• They actually have two company cars that their employees can use during the day so they don’t have to drive to work. This has been a great way to encourage employees to take the bus and walk because they know they have a guaranteed ride when they need one.
• They are avid go!pass users. Especially Ed Vielmetti, local blogger extraordinaire, who sang the praises of the AATA’s RideTrak software, which allows him to know exactly when a bus will be at his stop, so he doesn’t’ have to wait in the cold (to use online, simply click on the RideTrak Link above and select your route to find out where the bus is).
• Manager Catherine Juon encourages her employees to choose alternatives to driving in their cars alone. As a result of management support, many employees walk, bike and bus because they want to and see the benefits of their choice.

I thought it was cool that Ed is actually so well known in this community that sometimes when he walks to work someone will drive by and pick him up. I think that’s pretty cool.

Of course, I couldn’t talk to a group of engaged commuters without discussing some of the issues people have with commuting to the downtown.

It’s hard to take a bus or walk or bike when you live in Chelsea or Webster Township (as some employees do). And yes, at this point, that’s a definite problem. But that’s why I need to hear from you so the getDowntown Program can continue to advocate for the type of commuting options that would work best for you.

Many in the coworking group were excited about the rail possibilities and were hoping some other alternatives would come around soon. I also spoke to the group about MichiVan, who runs a vanpool program in the Metro Detroit area. If you want to learn more about vanpooling, a real possibility for commuters who live far from downtown, please attend our upcoming Vanpool presentation in December.

We also talked a bit about bike commuting and how individuals do not always feel safe biking to work. I hope getDowntown can work with the Washtenaw Biking Walking Coalition to provide a safer biking experience for others.

And a visit to a bunch of great tech people would not be complete without talking about some tech stuff. So before I left for the day, Ed got getDowntown on twitter and added a getDowntown group to my Facebook page. I was also instructed to blog more and post events on Upcoming. Will do!

I had a great time visiting with all of the people at Pure Visibility, Vague Innovation and others. I applaud PV for being so dedicated to giving their employees the options they deserve.