FYI from the Main Street Area Association:

Early Bird Parking Program Beginning September 1st
$5.00 Parking in the Fourth and William Parking Structure

Republic Parking and the Downtown Development Authority are pleased to introduce a new pilot program for Early Bird parking. The parking structure at the corner of Fourth and William will have a special parking rate available beginning September 1st. The program requirements are as follows:

1. Monday through Friday – not valid on Saturday (Sunday parking is FREE!!)
2. Enter the parking garage before 9am.
3. Exit the parking garage the same day between 3 and 6pm.
4. Park on the roof top of the garage.
5. Obtain the special rate coupon from the roof top attendant as you exit between 3 and 6pm.
6. Surrender coupon and parking ticket to cashier and pay only $5.00.

For those of you who work in the Kerrytown area of Ann Arbor,  you might have noticed some new signs going up.

These are residential parking signs and they mean that only people with residental parking permits can park at those spaces for more than 2 hours 8am-6pm Monday-Saturday.  The residential parking district will go into effect on Sunday, August 15, 2010.

Click here for information on Residential Parking Permits from the City of Ann Arbor.

So if you used to park in these spaces (On State, Ann, Thayer, Kingsley, etc).  You might need to find another option.  Click here for a map of the parking spaces being impacted by this change.

Of course, getDowntown is more than happy to help you explore your other options, many of which are free.

If you have a question about your downtown commuting options, please let us know by clicking here.

Recently, A2Politico posted a blog post after I met with Ms. Lesko (the blog’s author).

Today, ArborBlahg presents a different take on the subject.

Check out the posts here and here.

This last week has been really eye-opening for me.  I’ve been starting to promote our Commuter Challenge to downtown Ann Arbor businesses.

In brief, the Commuter Challenge is an online competition during the month of May where people walk, bike, bus, carpool, etc. and win prizes for doing so.  It’s basically a way to try a different commuting option and get rewarded for doing so.  And you get to see how you compare to orgs of similar size.

But when I tell people about the Challenge and encourage them to sign up, I hear this:

“You’ll never get our employees to give up their cars”

“I’m the only one here who really bikes to work so it’s probably not for us”

And I kind of go, huh? Because the Challenge isn’t asking anyone to make a major life change.  All it is is a chance to try something new.  Even just once.  And it’s fun and free.

But it’s so much more than that.

The Challenge is about FREEDOM.  The freedom you get when you’ve tried getting on the bus just once so if something were ever to happen to your car, you’d still be able to get to work.  The freedom to choose to get some exercise on the way to work because you’ve figured out that you could ride your bike.  The freedom to know you’re not stranded without your car.

The Challenge is INDEPENDENCE: When you get to know the bus system, or have found some carpool buddies at work, you are less dependent on just one way of getting to work.   So now you have more options on the table.  And isn’t independence about not being so tied down to any one thing?  Trying a different way to get to work makes you much more independent, even if you just try it once and go back to driving every day.

And finally, the Challenge is like HALLOWEEN.  So on Halloween we all try something new (we dress up like a witch, or a vampire, or whatever) and we get rewarded for doing so.  For one night we do a little something different and it’s fun and we have a good time.  The Challenge gives you a whole month to try something a little different, you get rewarded, and it’s a good time.

These are my reasons to encourage you to sign up for the Commuter Challenge.  It’s fun, it’s free and it’s got freedom and independence written all over it.

AnnArbor.Com has two articles on cycling in the Ann Arbor Community that might interest you:

• Plans in the works for a new Saline to Ann Arbor Bike Path: If you live in Saline and would bike to work if it didn’t feel so dangerous, you may be in luck.  There are plans to build a pedestrian and bike path that would span Textile and Lohr roads from Saline to Ann Arbor, “nearly” connecting the two cities.  Read more here.
• Bicyclists and Drivers sharing the road: In many parts of Ann Arbor, bikes and cars share the road together.  As the weather warms up, expect to see a lot more cyclists out there.  Semper Cop Rich Kinsey lays out some rules of the road that both parties should follow.  Read more here.

Mike is the type of person you might not typically think of as a sustainable commuter. He’s the President and COO of a growing company. He’s a dad. And he has a free parking spot in the back of his building.

But don’t let those details fool you. From my interview with Mike it’s clear that commuting sustainably fits perfectly into his life and has some unexpected benefits. Mike Felkey works at Intersect Digital, a small web development firm with some big clients. Intersect has worked with such companies as Subaru and Saatchi & Saatchi. The company’s headquarters is in downtown Ann Arbor (on First Street) and they also have a location in New York (who doesn’t, really). Depending on the amount of work available, Intersect employs anywhere from 17 to 60 employees. Currently, business is on the upswing.

The first clue into Mike’s interest in sustainable commuting comes when we talk about the company’s culture. Intersect is very supportive of telecommuting for its employees. Since many of the company’s employees live in places like Southfield and Novi and since many of them are working mothers, this benefit really helps cut down on a stressful commute. As far as Mike’s concerned, as long as employees get the work done, it doesn’t matter where they do it. We then chatted a bit about Daniel Pink’s new book, Drive, which describes how the businesses of the future are finding ways to motivate their employees through giving them freedom rather than imposing tons of rules. And according to Mike, this philosophy really pays off.

So what about the employees who do commute to work? Since Intersect offers the go!pass to employees, some of them happily take the bus. Other employees walk or ride their bikes. As far as Mike goes, he likes to walk, bike or take the bus to work. His commute isn’t super short either. If he chooses to walk, it can take him about 40 minutes.

So what’s Mike’s motivation for walking, biking or busing to work? He’s got a free space out back, and could probably get to work by car in less than 40 minutes. A big benefit Mike sees in leaving his car at home is that walking, biking and busing are all great for his health. He gets to build some exercise into his day, which might otherwise be a challenge to find the time for. Now that there are Zipcars downtown (a couple just a block from him office), Mike can bike, walk or bus to work even when he needs to go to a meeting out of town.

As we start to chat a little about Mike’s kids (his son goes to Tappan and his daughter goes to Burn’s Park Elementary), I find out another great benefit of Mike’s commute. Both of his kids have grown up watching Mike walk to work and now they want to walk to school. With all of the current news about childhood obesity, the example that Mike is setting for his kids is really inspiring.

When I asked Mike what he might like to see improved about transportation in our community, he lists fixing the lights so they are more in sync, improving the parking downtown, and adding more bike lanes to make cycling safer. We also talked a little but about the possibility of light rail, which is a topic he’s really interested in. Mike even said he’d contemplate giving up his car if there were light rail, especially since there are Zipcars available.

Mike’s biking, walking and busing ways are not unique among leaders in downtown Ann Arbor. Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations, frequently bikes to work. Grace Singleton, Managing Partner at Zingerman’s Deli, is also a bike commuter. Bonnie Valentine of the Whole Brain Group often takes the bus to work. Curtis Sullivan and Liz DellaRocco, owners of Vault of Midnight walk and carpool to work.

Any downtown commuter can join this great list of leaders. All you have to do is hop on a bus, grab your bike, or strap on your walking shoes. If you work downtown and would like some help figuring out which commuting option is best for you, getDowntown can help! Simply give us a call, check out our website or send us an email for personal commuting assistance.

In the race for energy efficiency between mass transit and single occupancy vehicles, who’s currently on the winning side?  The Straight Dope tackles this question in characteristically logical style.

The only thing I regret about this article is that he doesn’t look at bikes and traveling by foot as viable transportation option (although he does mention them in passing at the end of the article).

Old way: Owning a car.
New way: Sharing 20 cars.

Old way: Driving to work, hunting for parking, paying for parking, whew. . .
New way: Relaxing on the bus, free parking, whoohoo!

Try something new: become a Zipcar Ann Arbor member today.

Special new member promotion: Free Water Bottle

Become a Zipcar Ann Arbor Member between now and March 2010 and you’ll get a free Zipcar water bottle! These are large metal water bottles that will have you sipping in style. Offer only valid if you become a member of Zipcar Ann Arbor at zipcar.com/annarbor.

To get your free water bottle, become a Zipcar member at www.zipcar.com/annarbor and email us at info@getdowntown.org to let us know why you signed up.

The beginning of a New Year is a great time to say goodbye to old ways of doing things and hello to new ideas and approaches.  For many people, owning one or even two cars just doesn’t make sense anymore, especially living in such a pedestrian-friendly place as Ann Arbor.

So why not look at the advantages of a new concept—carsharing?  Carsharing allows you to have a car when you need one without having to pay the expense when you don’t.  The most popular carsharing business in the country is Zipcar.  Currently,  Zipcar has more than 20 cars in Ann Arbor, with 6 in downtown Ann Arbor and the rest on the University of Michigan campus.  In addition, Zipcar has cars in cities all over the country.

What do people use Zipcars for?  Zipcar members use cars for going shopping, attending meetings, popping over to events in other towns and much more.  One couple even used a Zipcar to drive to their honeymoon after getting married!

To use a Zipcar, you just become a member at zipcar.com/annarbor (if you are affiliated with the UM, go to zipcar.com/umich).  When you become a member, you’ll get a special credit-card sized zipcard in the mail.  Then, all you have to do is go on the Zipcar website, reserve a car when you want to use it, go to the car and tap your zipcard on the windshield.

When the doors open, hop inside, grab the keys (they are already in the car) and go about your business.  Need gas?  Every Zipcar has a gascard inside that you can use at any gas station to fill up the tank.  Hourly rates for Zipcars are as low as $8 an hour, and that includes the gas and 180 free miles!

Here are just a few reasons to become a member of Zipcar Ann Arbor

If you’re ready to try something new, visit zipcar.com/annarbor and sign up to be a Zipcar member today!

Attention Current Zipcar Members:

Help us think up more Old Way/New Way concepts.  We’ll be tweeting Old Way/New Way ideas (and putting them on our getDowntown Facebook page) throughout the month of January.   Share your ideas by tweeting, commenting on our page and posting to our blog.

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?