Want to provide some feedback to TheRide (Ann Arbor Transportation Authority) about what the future of transit should look like in Washtenaw County?

TheRide is setting up meetings all across the county this fall to get your thoughts.

Click here to check out the Public Outreach meeting schedule.

At a recent Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) Board Meeting, I was able to hear a presentation on the AATA’s new Transit Master Plan process.

And before you go looking for the plan with all it’s components on the new Moving You Forward website, let me emphasize that what was presented was a process, not a plan?

Why?

Because what the AATA wants to do (with the help of several consultants) is engage the community on several different levels:

1. First, the AATA wants to find out what Washtenaw County citizens need and want for the County for the next 5, 15, and 30 years.  Do we want a thriving economy?  Do we want to attract more young professionals?  Do we want more focus on the environment?  Do we just want to party?

2. These needs will then be looked at in terms of what types of transportation could help meet the needs.  If we want a thriving economy, does that mean we focus on trolleys or bus rapid transit?  Or better bike lanes?

3. Finally, all of these different types of technologies will be mapped on some different scenarios to determine how they would all fit into a particular plan.

I like this approach because it reminds me what a marketing professional once instructed me to do: You see, when you want to make a pie, you don’t just make a little dough, but you make enough so that you can make sure you’ll be able to cover the whole pie.  And then you cut that dough down until you have just what you need.  So the AATA is going to use the public’s input to make a lot of dough and then work through the process of cutting that input down into something that looks and tastes delicious.

The whole Moving You Forward process has already begun, with the head of the AATA Michael Ford, meeting with many members of the community.  There will also be lots of time for public input beginning later in the year.

If you are at all interested in seeing a plan for transit for this community (including how biking and walking fit into the picture) I encourage you to check out Movingyouforward.org and be a part of the discussion.

This just in:

From 1990 to 2009, the number of trips taken on foot more than doubled from 18 billion to 42.5 billion. Similarly, the number of bike trips increased from 1.7 billion to 4 billion. (from Ray LaHood’s Blog)

That’s according to a recent Federal Highway Administration Study. And in other good news, at the same time as walking and biking trips has increased, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed is decreasing.

While all of this is great news, it’s clear we still have a ways to go to make it both practical and safe for people to bike and walk to their destinations.  But these numbers are encouraging!

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:

• Saving money
• Get work done while getting to work
• Meet new people
• Connect with neighbors
• Help the environment

To learn more about the benefits of transit and why you might want to Dump the Pump (even for a day!).  Click here.

FYI:

A local ride to remember those who have been killed on public roadways will be held tonight.  Gather at Wheeler Park 6:30pm for a 7 mile ride.

For more information, click here.

The following post was originally sent to getDowntown as a comment about the Commuter Challenge.  I asked if I could post it on our blog to see what others had to say.  Please read on and provide your own comments in the comments section.

I’m writing because I think that marketing alternative modes of transportation to commuters is great, but I would love to see [getDowntown] focus more energy on driver education to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. This week – and the irony of it being the first week of the Commuter Challenge is not lost on me – two cyclists whom I know personally were hit by cars in Ann Arbor. They’re both okay, but one spent several hours in the emergency room, and both bikes were damaged. One driver didn’t even realize she’d hit a cyclist at first – it was a classic right hook accident – while the other appeared to strike the cyclist on purpose.

If we’re going to encourage more people to bike and walk in Ann Arbor we need to make this a safer place to do so. As it stands, the more pedestrians and cyclists we have on the streets, the more people we’re going to have being hit by cars. It’s terrible.

I understand that your job is to make it look like Ann Arbor is a wonderful place for alternative transportation so that more people will use alternative transportation, but we have a really long way to go, and unfortunately, the behavior we need to change is from the people who drive and will keep driving. We need a real share the road campaign, we need brief, pithy instructions for how to pass a cyclist safely, we need police who don’t assume when a cyclist gets hit by a car that it was the cyclist’s fault, we need to tell people to look before they open their car doors, we need big, constant reminders that bikes have a right to be in the road – even in the middle of the road – and while we’re at it, we need drivers to understand that if a pedestrian is in a mid-block crosswalk it’s the law to stop and let the pedestrian cross the street.

I’m sorry, this has become a bit of a rant. Between my two struck cyclists and spending 30 minutes in the rain this morning waiting for an extremely late bus, I’m feeling like a very challenged commuter today. Last year I didn’t participate in the Commuter Challenge because my commute is “alternative” 365 days a year so I thought it was silly to count it, and I also didn’t want to give fodder to the people who say Ann Arbor is a great place for non-car commuting because I don’t think it is. This year I am participating, because I care even more about advocacy for non-car commuting and I thought maybe I should work from within the establishment instead of just whining about it from the outside. So here I am. Sending you a long-winded message to say “Please do more about safety for pedestrians and cyclists. We need it badly.”

FYI:

Dear Friends,

As you know, City Council requested that the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority (DDA) develop a public parking plan. We have begun a series of outreach methods to inform this plan, and as part of this, we will be holding several focus group meetings to hear from community representatives.

All are welcome to attend. We have scheduled two meetings at different times, in an effort to meet a variety of schedules.

When: Monday, March 8th

4:30pm – 6:00pm
7:00pm-8:30pm

Where: DDA Board Room, 150 S. Fifth Ave Suite 301, Ann Arbor MI, 48104

At these sessions, I will give a brief overview of our assignment and what we’ve done so far. Most of the meeting will be designed to hear your thoughts, ideas, concerns, and recommendations.

To give us a sense of how many we can expect, please RSVP by clicking this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ParkingPlanRSVP. We greatly appreciate you taking the time.

Many thanks,

Susan Pollay

Executive Director | Ann Arbor DDA

(734) 994-6697

Treehugger recently posted an interesting set of ideas for how to make your City more bike and ped friendly.

Their suggestions (in sum):

1. Take away right on red turns for cars
2. Install more red light enforcement cameras
3. Have more parties (e.g. excuses to close the roads)
4. Rein in distracted driving (e.g. drivers with cell phones)
5. Support limited speed limits to 20 mph
6. Go on a Tweed Ride (you’ll have to read the post to see what this is)
7. Look to New York City for inspiration

The interesting part about many of these ideas is that Ann Arbor is already doing many of them.  The idea of no turn on red was suggested in the Ann Arbor Non-motorized plan.  We have lots of parties downtown (Art Fair, Green Fair, the Car Show, etc), which I think definitely makes it more pedestrian friendly.  Downtown people can’t really go more than 20 mph and I know the City as a whole has struggled with speed limits.  We might not have a Tweed Ride but we do have the Ride Around Town (RAT–thanks WBWC!).  Especially downtown, I think we are moving in the right direction on many of these items.

What do you think is missing from this list?  What else could we do downtown and elsewhere to create a better environment for peds and cyclists in Ann Arbor?

FYI:

Want to get together with like minded folks to talk about issues related to biking and walking?  The WBWC is planning to have periodic social gatherings in various places and times to let people get together to talk about issues that concern them and help them find ways to work to improve those conditions if so inclined.

Or just show up to talk about issues of the day, such as sidewalk snow clearing, street maintenance, best routes for commuting from point A to B, recommendations for equipment, the list of possibilities is endless!  We will have at least one WBWC board member in attendance to help answer questions or provide information on projects we are working on.

To start off these meetings, we will have an informal gathering this Friday afternoon at 6pm at the Full Moon bar.  It is a smoke free location with inexpensive food, lots of beer selections, and quiet enough in the early evening to have decent conversations without yelling.  Look for the bike helmets and reflective vests.
Some of us should be there until at least 7:30pm, longer if good discussion is happening!

Full Moon is on Main Street between Liberty and Washington, used to be called the Monkey Bar.

We will try to give more notice before future get-togethers, we would like to have these happen every few weeks if people enjoy them.

Pete (WBWC Board Member)

FYI:

In June 2010, the second US Social Forum (USSF) will take place in Detroit MI. The purpose of this forum is to have an open space where folks who believe another world is possible can come together for political dialogue and relationship building – and to see the transformation of that alternative world in action.