In light of the fact that more people are riding AATA buses that ever before, some of you might be wondering if the number of people putting their bikes on the buses is also increasing.

Well it is.

According to the AATA, the number of people boarding an AATA bus and putting their bikes on the bus has been increasing for the last several years.

In May 2008, there were 3,056 bus boardings with bikes.  This is up 18% from 2,593 bike boardings for May 2007.

What might account for this increase?  Well it makes sense that as more people ride the bus, more people will bring their bikes on the bus.  But I also wonder if some of the reason is that people are biking from further away to catch the bus.  Or perhaps more people are just biking in general, and that is leading to more bikes on the bus.

Another interesting stat that I just came across is how many people in the downtown report commuting by bike:

In a 2001 UM study, 2.2% of people surveyed reported commuting by bike to the downtown.
In a 2005 UM study, the percentage increased to 4.2%
And in a study conducted last year (October 2007) by getDowntown (which had similar numbers of survey respondents), the bike commuting percentage was 7.4%

So according to the data at hand, there definitely seems to be an increase in the numbers of people bike commuting, as I surmised in yesterday’s post.

There has been a lot of publicity recently about Oakland County’s decision to go with a 4-day workweek for employees.

It’s an interesting solution to increasing gas prices and is something that many workers seem interested in.

For a job like mine where I am in meetings an/or on the computer most of the day, this could be very doable. I could schedule my meetings for the days I am at work and have more time during my days off to work in the garden.

I think we might see more organizations looking towards a four day workweek as gas prices continue to increase. In Ann Arbor, we have about 90,000 people coming in from outside the City limits each day, some of them traveling as far away as Toledo, Lansing, etc.

I’d love to hear from others if they are considering this kind of idea.

All I can say is . . . wow.

We just meet the Commuter Challenge goal of logging 200,000 sustainable miles for May.

Driving 200,000 miles is the equivalent to burning 317 barrels of oil!

That’s enough energy to power 12 homes for an entire year!

Again, wow.

FYI, I got this info through this Environmental Impact Calculator

On Sunday there was an editorial in the Ann Arbor News that discussed the challenges faced by our region (and nation) as we try encourage people to drive less and bike and bus more.

The editorial describes many of the issues I face over here at the getDowntown program.  We need individuals to look at changing their habits so that demand for sustainable transportation increases.  We need regional policies and solutions that demonstrate a commitment to public transit and non-motorized transportation.

As the organizer of Curb Your Car Month, I can tell you that I am seeing both happening right now.  People are changing their habits.  $4.00 gas is a strong motivator.  An article in the New York Times illustrates that people are driving less and using public transportation more as a result of high gas prices.

And it is happening here as well.  Even before Curb Your Car Month the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority had record ridership numbers.  Even before Curb Your Car Month, more people have purchased go!passes from getDowntown than they did in the last several years.

And now as Curb Your Car Month comes to a close, I can tell you that many people have tried something new, be it biking, busing or carpooling and are seeing the benefits.  And these benefits, I believe, will extend far beyond this month.

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but limited time.  Hopefully, I can write more later, and you can, too.  I also wrote about this topic for Concentrate.  You can check out what I said here.

However, I would like to respond to the end the the News editorial, which states:

“Do we need demand before investment? Or do we build more rail systems and bus services and bike lanes, believing that people will use them if available?”

We need both.  And both are happening.  I fully believe that infrastructure sends a clear message to people saying “this is important and it matters to us.”  When there are bike lanes in the street, that let’s people know that bicyclists belong in the street.  When we create new Commuter Bus services, that means we want people to consider using other forms of transportation instead of driving their cars.

And frankly, I think it is unfair to say that because not that many people are using the Ann Arbor Chelsea Commuter Bus now it is a failure.  Initially the Link didn’t have great ridership numbers, and now it is doing very well.

Another piece of the puzzle for many people is assistance using public transportation.  It’s not always easy to figure out which bus route or bike route to take.  I hope that getDowntown can help employees when they do want to change their behavior.  All they have to do is email me!

Finally, I am extremely optimistic about the future of public transportation in this region.  I see many political, community, and business leaders pushing for rail systems and better non-motorized transportation.   I think we are well positioned to move forward in our region.  Let’s keep it moving!

That’s what I have to say on this topic.  I’d love to hear what you have to say.  Please comment or write a Letter to the Editor by emailing letters@annarbornews.com.

When gas hits $4.00 a gallon, people start to change their behavior.

And yes, it can even happen in the Motor City, as this Detroit News article reports.

According to the article:

• SMART, Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which transports riders throughout Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties, saw a 10 percent increase in customers this April compared to last, from an average daily ridership of 40,000 to 44,000. That’s the highest average since the bus system started in 1967. Year-to-date, SMART ridership is up 6.5 percent over the same period last year.

• Detroit city buses transported 7.7 percent more riders from July 2007 through March 2008 than it did the same period a year ago. Average daily ridership went from 130,000 to 140,000.

• The number boarding Amtrak trains between Pontiac, Detroit and Chicago from October 2007 to April 2008 increased 5.2 percent over the same period a year ago, to 260,000 riders.

• The number of passengers nationwide taking the 2-year-old Megabus — which has a route from Detroit to Chicago — more than doubled from 2006 to 2007, to 650,000 riders last year. The service expects to exceed that this year.

FYI, the Megabus stops at State Street in Ann Arbor. More info here.

• Carpooling also is attracting converts. The RideShare carpool program sponsored by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments had 3,456 riders in its database last year. This year, it’s grown to 3,657.

FYI the AATA just created some awesome new carpool software. More info here.

I am working on getting some stats from the AATA. I’ll post them if and when I get them.

A recent article on Entrepreneur.com discusses the increasing trend of businesses encouraging their employees to use sustainable transportation to get to work.

The article cites increasing gas prices and awareness of the realities of global warming as the top reasons behind this trend.

And the things businesses are doing to encourage sustainable transportation can be done right here in Downtown Ann Arbor:

• Pay for transit use. Many downtown businesses already do this with the go!pass
• Pay for carpool and vanpool use. Now that getDowntown is offering preferential parking for carpools and vanpools, this idea makes even more financial sense.
• Give out Bikes to employees. Not sure if any downtown business is doing this yet, but if you do, let me know.
• Offer showers and lockers for cyclists. At the very least, businesses can demonstrate they want to encourage cycling by offering free memberships to the Y, or even just learning more about resources for cyclists in our community.
• Encourage employees to live close enough to walk. Ann Arbor was recently rated the 3rd best city for walking in the whole nation. What can your business do to encourage employees to live close enough to walk to work?
• Offer employees incentives to try a sustainable commute. It’s easy to do that in downtown Ann Arbor, all you have to do is sign up your business for the Commuter Challenge. getDowntown does the rest! But if you really want to offer your own prizes and incentives, that would also be good.

So join the trend. All the other cool businesses are doing it!

A hot trip from Transit Riders United (TRU) led me to this survey being conducted by SEMCOG.

From TRU’s blog:

Every few years, SEMCOG, the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, updates their long range transportation plan to decide the region’s transportation funding priorities for the next 25 years.

According to SEMCOG, the survey findings will be considered by staff and local elected officials as they “explore transportation investment choices and establish a regional investment direction. The end result will be a long-range plan serving the needs of the region’s citizens and businesses by promoting a transportation system that is accessible, safe, and reliable.”

That means if you care about transit, including busing, rail, biking and walking, you should take this survey.  You can take the survey by clicking here. 

Want to know which parking structures have open spaces when looking for a place to park?  Brian Kerr just posted a little link that you can click on to find out.  That link will provide you with a CSV file (like an Excel File) of which spaces in downtown parking structures are open.  It’s updated every 20 minutes.

Brian provides this bit of information in response to the DDA, which lists the current number of spaces in a structure at any given time, updated every minute.

It’s also kind of interested to see when which structures are full, and when they are not.  If you’re into checking out that kind of thing . . .

The AADL now has a green living category.  I just checked it out and found a couple of books that are especially relavant to those interested in alternative commuting.  Check it out:

How to Live Well Without Owning a Car

Simple prosperity : finding real wealth in a sustainable lifestyle.  This book has a chapter called “The real wealth of neighborhoods: designing for people, not cars”

 Auto mania : cars, consumers, and the environment

Cutting your car use : save money, be healthy, be green!

Pedal power : the quiet rise of the bicycle in American public life 

Happy Reading!

There was a great piece on NPR yesterday reporting that people’s behavior is actually changing because of increasing gas prices. 

According to the piece: “Since the beginning of this year, gasoline consumption has fallen about half a percent, according to the Department of Energy.”

So what’s actually happening?  Well one of the highlights of the NPR piece was a story of two guys that are now carpooling to work together.  These guys used to both drive to work alone.  But when they saw just how expensive it was (about $6,000 a year for one of them) they decided to carpool.

This piece highlights the fact that using more sustainable modes of transportation to get to work is catching on, and people are really starting to see the benefits.  And these are real, tangible cost savings, not just a happy feeling about saving the environment, etc.

This morning, I attended a presentation by Ann Arbor City Administrator Roger Fraser.  Fraser outlined some of the important issues that will be facing our downtown in the coming years.  One of those issues is finding more sustainable commuting options for downtown workers.

And a lot is being done to move this issue forward.  The AATA is going to be introducing a new Commuter Bus Service from Chelsea to Ann Arbor.  Talks on the rail systems are moving forward, with the projected start of the east-west rail to be in 2010.  We are working on initiating a new transit service for evening workers.  AATA is creating a new online system so people can find carpool an vanpool partners much more easily.  And the list goes on and on.

And that is truly one of the great things about being an employee in downtown Ann Arbor.  We have so many sustainable and exciting ways to get to work.  We actually have more people who walk to work that people who take the bus.  And the numbers are growing.

What is most encouraging about all these developments is that people are coming to realize that using sustainable transportation is not just something “other people do”.  Using sustainable transportation is something we are all getting more used to, and as a result we are saving money, loosing weight, and reducing stress.

This year’s Curb Your Car Month is going to focus on all of the great sustainable transportation choices we have to get downtown.  I hope you take the chance to get more out of your commute this May.