Tomorrow is National Dump the Pump Day. National Dump the Pump Day encourages people to ride public transportation (instead of driving) and save money.
There are lot’s of reasons to think about using transit, including:
After a long winter of boots and windshield scraping, it’s finally time to do more walking, busing and biking… and what a great way to kick it off with the Commuter Challenge!
I try to use sustainable commuting throughout the year but now that spring is here, one can really enjoy the outdoors on their way to work. Whether going for a walk while listening to my headphones, riding my bike or relaxing on the bus as the breeze flows through my hair – I feel great knowing that I am not only enjoying my surroundings and getting exercise but also helping the environment and utilizing our city transit system. And I don’t have to worry about parking or gas money!
The Commuter Challenge is a great way to let everyone know that there is no minimum requirement for going green… everyone can do it and there are many benefits to doing so! So get out there and celebrate summer, sustainable commuting and the Commuter Challenge!
The following post was submitted by Commuter Challenge Ambassador Christine T.
The AATA announced that it plans to continue the A2Express Bus service to Chelsea that began two year’s ago. The service starts at Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea with stops in downtown Ann Arbor and onto the Uof M campus. People who use A2 Express really love it.
In order to lower the cost for a monthly pass, the AATA is going to be running the service in house rather that contracting it out. This will allow them to offer monthly passes for $99/month rather than the current price of $125/month.
As we have been doing in the past, the getDowntown Program will pay 1/2 the cost of a monthly pass for this service for employees with a go!pass. That means you could ride the A2Express for just $50/month, which is about $2.50 a day. We can offer this price because of a generous grant from the Ann Arbor DDA.
For more information on A2 Express or the go!pass discount for this service, please contact getDowntown.
What do we all need more of in our lives, yet is incredibly hard to find more of? Time and money. We’ve talked to a few people that have found that by taking the bus they’ve each saved time and money.
Saving Money
Sherry Miller from Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone PLC says that the bus saves her money and the ride is relaxing…
“I believe that utilizing the AATA transit system is a great way to save a ridiculous amount of money that it would cost me to park my car in a structure to work downtown. Also, I find that riding the bus in to the station from the Park & Ride in the morning is relaxing and non-stressful. I’d recommend it to anybody. I love my go!pass!â€
Renee Twining, an Administrative Assistant at the University of Michigan Hospital, says that by parking at the Miller Park & Ride and taking the bus each day she saves money. To buy a pass at the Hospital’s parking lot would be “minimum $600/year to just get close to hospital and then you have to take a commuter bus†to make the final leg of the journey.
Saving Time
Chris DeVries of the University of Michigan CBDSM says that the combination of taking the bus and walking into his office is a great energizing activity each day…
“Since my commute is long (45 miles one way), I have been using the Park & Ride lots, AATA, and walking to get to work. Riding the bus allows me to read the newspaper or a book before and after work – taking my mind off work for a few minutes. The walking also gets my blood flowing in the morning, so I am ready to go when I get in the office.â€
Renee Twining said that she gets to read and enjoy her coffee on the ride in.“I LOVE taking the bus! Relaxing, and I always make it to work on time.â€
According to Eileen Chaivre, an Administrative Support Specialist at the City of Ann Arbor, “By the time I walk to the Ann Ashley parking structure, get to my car and get out of the structure, I am passing Pioneer High at the same time or only a few minutes before the bus would be dropping me offâ€.
Think about your commute and how changing a few habits could result in time and money saved each day. If you take Miller Road or Main Street into downtown each morning, why not park at a Park & Ride Lot and have the bus take you in? If you’re looking for more information on how to use the Park & Ride lots, or want to know what Lot would be best for you, give us a call at 734-214-0100 or visit http://getdowntown.org/bus/park_ride.html
What if you are a manager of a busy downtown restaurant? You have a team of great employees, and you want to provide additional benefits to them, but that doesn’t mean you have to give each of them a bonus.
Providing go!passes is one way to do this but you already know about the unlimited bus rides the go!pass gives your employees. Maybe you’ve told your employees about the discounts you can get with a go!pass (10% off your coffee at Sweetwater’s or 20% off of an item at Ten Thousand Villages), but have you shared with them the discounted rate for the Night Ride ($1 with a go!pass)?
Do your employees know?
I spoke with Lisa Schramm of the Fleetwood Diner, as well as Carole Woods of Zingerman’s, and they both told me that the Night Ride has been a useful service for their employees. Each of them took the extra step to publicize the Night Ride discount to your employees. Lisa said that she made a poster with the information on it, and Carole gave the information to a creative employee who made a clever, eye-catching poster and hung it on the inside of the employee’s bathroom stalls – where it was sure to get a little undivided attention.
A little creativity and an extra step, and let your employees know about all of the benefits that the go!pass has to offer.
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
| Old Car Way | New Zipcar Way |
| Paying for a car (including gas, insurance etc) that spends most of the day sitting in your driveway or garage | Becoming a Zipcar member for around $50/yr and having access to 20+ cars for as little as $8/hr |
| Driving downtown and paying for parking because you think you might need your car during the day. | Walking, biking or busing downtown because you know you’ll have a Zipcar available if you need a car. Did I mention that parking for Zipcar is free? |
| Having to clean and maintain your own car. | Having someone else clean and maintain the Zipcars. |
| Worrying that your car is getting a little old and that it might break down. | Enjoying a variety of new cars, from a Mini Cooper to a Ford Escape, that are part of the Zipcar fleet. |
| Feeling guilty about your car’s impact on the environment. | Feeling great because you are sharing a car with others and thus reducing your carbon footprint. |
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.
Let’s say you have a nice bike and you’d like a safe and secure place to put it while you are working downtown. Let’s say you want a nice dry place for your bike that guarentees it will stay out of the elements during the day.  Well, you are in luck because the getDowntown Program has a bunch of bike lockers located all throughout downtown that you can use to store your bike while you work.
Check out the bike locker section of our website for more details. Bike lockers are located in most of the parking structures downtown (including a new location at the Forest Parking Structure in the South U area). They cost $60/year. You get your own key and your own locker space. You’ve got to work downtown to get one. If this sounds good to you, contact getDowntown and we can do the rest.
When it comes to encouraging people to bike, bus, walk or carpool, no one sets a better example than your boss. That’s why the getDowntown Program is taking a moment to highlight some downtown business managers who demonstrate a commitment to using sustainable transportation and encourage their employees to do the same. These interviews provide insight into why these leaders use sustainable transportation, how it benefits their employees and much more.
Our first interview is with Bonnie Valentine, Business Lead, the Whole Brain Group. The Whole Brain Group is a small women-owned business that provides custom web-based software for a variety of clients from academic institutions to hospitals. The Whole Brain Group is based in downtown Ann Arbor.
Now, on with the interview . . .
getDowntown (gDt): Do you try to walk, bike, bus, carpool etc to work?
Bonnie Valentine (BV): My primary methods of transportation are a combination of walking and the bus. However, once I reach my downtown office I’ll carpool with co-workers to meetings or events outside of downtown limits.
gDt: Why is sustainable commuting important to you?
BV: My reasons for walking and using the bus to commute are many. Most important to me is reducing my carbon footprint and setting an example to others that an automobile isn’t necessarily the answer for
transportation.
gDt:Â What do you do to encourage others at your workplace to try biking, busing, walking, etc?
BV: Continue talking about my personal experiences from meeting other’s during my commute. Remind them of my dollar savings from reducing the need of a second family car, insurance, gas, less parking tickets and monthly parking expense. Lead by example in working from home - telecommuting – a couple days of week.
gDt: Have all of the different transportation options there are to get to downtown benefited your employees and/or your business? If so, how so? If not, why not?
BV: The bus has assisted our employees getting to and from the Ann Arbor Office on 5th Avenue/Washington. In the past we had an employee that commuted from Chelsea using the Chelsea Express Bus. Many employees
telecommute – one employee from New York – and we use conference phone, online tools (documents, chat, presentation) not only with employees, but clients on our national roster saving cost on air transportation.
gDt: What would be the single best thing that downtown Ann Arbor could do to make it easier for people to get downtown by biking, walking, busing, etc.?
BV: It would be great if the downtown A2 would create a partnership with a local gym facility for biking commuters requiring a shower and clothing change. Possibly a discount or flash your pass to gain
access to showers and lockers at YMCA, UM, or other gyms. My co-workers and I have biked in the past. Our main hang up for not continuing via bike transportation is due to our offices not having showers. It is hard to sit across from a client after an aerobic work- out.
gDt: What do you hear from your employees about what they would like to see related to commuting to work in downtown Ann Arbor?
BV: The Zipcar fleet was a nice addition, but the main issue continues to be parking downtown. We can walk to a meeting location faster than signing up for Zipcar and then finding and paying for parking for
shuttling between client meetings.
gDt: What is the best thing about having your business downtown?
BV: The best thing about having a downtown office is the close proximity to clients and networking events. In addition, our office is the central meeting point for all employees. We have employees from Yspilanti, Ann Arbor, and Dexter.
gDt: What would you like to see happen downtown in the next 10 years?
In the next ten years, I’d like to see a mass transit plan implemented with connections from downtown to access outside the City Limits of Ann Arbor. Including transportation hooks to move people across the townships of Ann Arbor into the current bus routes of downtown Ann Arbor. Increase bus access moving across town on the edges of city limits via bus services without going downtown through the bus depot i.e. North Campus Plymouth Road to Arborland.
Possibly, have the AATA and AAPS work together to provide adequate transportation services to middle and high school (not elementary school) students access to school via public transportation methods. Finally, I’d like delivery
vehicles which idle in the downtown streets and alleys be electric or a form of non-petro fuel to further reduce pollution and carbon.
gDt: What is one thing the getDowntown Program could do to help your employees with getting to work by busing, biking, walking etc?
BV: The getDowntown May Commuter Challenge is a great motivator to get employees using different methods of transportation. Usually habits are formed after the 30 days that create lasting effects. Maybe add
another Commuter Challenge against another town similar in size.
gDt: Any advice or words of wisdom for new businesses moving into downtown Ann Arbor?
BV: Words of advice for new businesses moving into downtown A2 are to consider incentives for employees to commute. New employees generally look to receive compensation for having to pay for their parking downtown. The employer can offer an incentive to employees who commute to by providing them a stipend for curbing their car.  Employers can offer telecommuting on certain days of the week.
FYI, I’ll be doing a presentation Friday at the Workantile Exchange (118 S. Main Street) from 11:30-1:00pm. I’ll be telling you how not to be a slave to your car.
A little teaser:
In an uncertain world, only 1 thing is certain: you need to be prepared for uncertainty!
Come to this talk and you’ll learn how to be prepared for when gas prices go up to $8.00. Or when your car breaks down. Or when a blizzard buries your Pruis in 10 feet of snow.
Should be fun.
The bottom line: If you have a go!pass, you can now get $5 off any fall ’09 session class at the Ann Arbor School of Yoga. Read on for details, or just go and get your discount!
When it comes to exercise, I can be a little lazy. You see, I used to take a yoga class on Packard. It would take me about 15 minutes to bike to that class after work and then 25 minutes to get home after the class.  This trek got a little less pleasant as fall became winter and I was biking in the snow.
Then I discovered the Ann Arbor School of Yoga, located on Huron Street right across from the Ann Arbor YMCA.
Now I can easily bike to my Yoga class after work and then get home in less that 10 minutes.
If you work downtown and are time conscious like me, but also want to do something great for your body, I highly recommend checking out the Ann Arbor School of Yoga (AASY).
To help sweeten the deal, AASY Instructor Laurie Blakeney is offering all current go!pass holders $5 off any fall session class. Just tell her you have a go!pass for the discount.
This fall, Laurie is offering a variety of classes from early morning, to lunch time, to evening. Click here for the schedule.
If you want to check out a free class, come to an Open House either Wednesday, Sept 9th or Thursday Sept 10th from 5:30-7:30pm.
