Undriving and Undriver Licensing

New Patterns established as a result of Undriving program:

• The biggest thing is being much more willing to bike in the rain – got good rain gear and got over the idea that it was too uncomfortable.

• I am now busing to work everyday. We leave our car parked for five days a week. It’s fun on days when I have activities after work to bus to them, and then listen to everyone complaining about traffic and parking.

• Being able to access Internet on bus to Eastside helped form a time-saving pattern.

• Taking the bus is more relaxing and easier than I expected.

• When my husband and I both walk to the store we can actually carry quite a bit in our backpacks. And we get to walk the dog at the same time!

• It’s nice having my car become more of a stranger. I only drove when I had a passenger. Motorcycling is like skiing during an errand, which means I don’t need to drive for recreation – I incorporated it into my day.

• No more driving my daughter to school – it’s only 1/3 of a mile!)

• Biggest benefit is more time with my kid. Living the example I’d like her to see.

• Felt like we were given permission to raise the issue with others.

• I like to encourage others to re-think their car-loving ways. You really can run errands, go to work, get around town much better (quicker, happier, healthier) on a bike than in a dinosaur machine (fossil-fuel guzzling car).

• My five-year-old wears his Undriver License on his backpack everywhere he goes.  He likes to tell people he’s reducing global warming!

• Before I received my Undriver’s license, my children and I often walked to the store, the park, the beach and nearby restaurants. I didn’t make the time, however, to walk the kids to their preschool classes. It seemed like it was too far, or we just ran out of time. I decided to take the pledge and I adjusted our schedule to allow time to get to and from classes. We love it! A 5 minute driving trip (one way) turned into a 30 minute walk (one way)–but the benefits are tremendous. Less time in the car, buckling into and out of car seats. We use less gas and enjoy the benefits of exercise. We take time to stop and smell the flowers, marveling at the gardens in the neighborhood. The girls are learning to identify many species of plants, as well as birds.

We got this message from an enthusiastic Undriver who got licensed at Sustainable West Seattle’s Festival:

Hey all,

I’m writing to report what a success Undriving has been for me! It is so helpful to have made the pledge to walk all places possible in my West Seattle neighborhood. Each day, I consider where I can walk instead of drive, and push myself to walk just a little further.

This recent gorgeous Saturday, I found myself walking to my Yoga class at the gym (about an hour there and back). It felt so good in so many ways and complimented my workout beautifully. I LOVE UNDRIVING!

I’ve even extended undriving into other neighborhoods. For instance, while visiting my Family in Ballard a couple of weeks ago, I got the whole fam (me, Mom and Bro) to walk for groceries and produce instead of drive as we always Have. It’s 8 blocks at most! Wow…the places we drive!

My 11 year old brother enjoyed being our strong helper carrying our goods back to the house. My Mom and I enjoyed the time and talk as a family.

Thanks for the motivation and the foundation on which to build new and healthy habits for me and this awesome planet.

I hope everyone else is getting as much out of Undriving!

Good luck, and keep up the good work. We and the Earth are worth it!

Sincerely,
Amelia

Margaret Kitchell got her Undriver License at Focus the Nation at the UW on January 31.  She participated in our follow-up survey, and was chosen at random to receive our prize, a $100 gift certificate to Enlighten! 

Margaret reported that she established a new pattern from her Undriving pledge:

“I already walk and use the bus a lot. However, I was in the habit of driving at night, thinking it would save me time. Because of the program I had additional reasons to take the bus at night, and found the buses were frequent and convenient, and I could use the time on the bus to prepare for the meeting, or visit afterwards, so my time was used better.” -Margaret Kitchell

An Undriver licensed at the Sustainable Ballard Festival last October sent us this report - thanks, Scott!

“I really never drive any more, my feet and the bus are my best friends! At this point I am trying to encourage my friends who have cars to make walks when they are doable. -Scott Davis

P.S. thanks for the undriving license”

This just in from Angela, an Undriving team member who helped with the Undriver Licensing Station at Focus the Nation:I was on the 44 this morning and a man I noticed came up to me and said: “so, if I did not fulfill my pledge, do I need to give my undrivers license back?” I said:“no, that is not necessary” (with a smile)  I just told him, “things happen and come up in life and he can just try again this month”  He is one of those people I see on the bus all the time, and he is at all the “events.”  We proceed to have a spotty conversation and then it was off to work …  :-) 

The “official” Ballard blogger on the PI, Peggy Sturdivant, wrote a nice story on her reasons for undriving.

Check it out!

I typically ride my bike to work (Fremont to Magnolia) and thought I would hang it up for the season… until a friend of mine said I should sign up as an undriver and put the pedal to the metal for another month. So, after signing up with the pledge to continue to ride my bike or take the bus if it was too rainy, I sit here today suffering from a cold and blogging on my experience…

I did not succeed as I had envisioned. Instead of riding every day, I rode about half as much. I never took the bus on the alternating days, but instead drove in. I do not feel bad about not riding the bus– the tickets went to very good use to a friend whose car broke down. He liked taking the bus so well that he will not be purchasing another car anytime soon, but will continue to take the bus for his daily work commute and Flexcar for his other outings.

So, in conclusion, this program has altered the plan of two people’s commuting options– which makes me feel not so bad for driving into work with my cold.

I need to begin by saying that Undriving is much harder than I had imagined. I already bike/bus to both work and school on a daily basis, so I had already picked the low hanging fruit before making my Undriving pledge. I pledged to Undrive to the grocery store and to social events, and did not realize how much I would struggle to achieve that seeminlgy simple goal. I ran in to difficulties the first Saturday of October, when my wife and I had tickets to see Widespread Panic at the Paramount, and we also wanted to make it to my little brother’s show at Showbox SoDo at 11 PM the same night. Undriving would have been a logistical nightmare, and despite having a fun night, I came home disappointed that I had broken my pledge only one week into the month. Stacy and I realized that even though I had broken my pledge, I had actively tried to find a way not to drive, and it made me think differently about arranging social events in the future so that I could feasibly Undrive. So I plan to take this failure and turn it into an opportunity by analyzing how I plan my time and trying to set up my life to minimize (if not eliminate) the need for driving. I know that with a little creativity and foresight I can make this happen.
-Craig

I had just a GREAT first week: I rode the bus 4/5 days and felt so much more relaxed. Every morning, I said to the driver, “thanks for driving me to work!”More later,Diane

…I already blew it. As a happily car-free Ballardian for the past three years, I’d planned to pledge to not ride in a car at all this month. I thought this would be a great opportunity to encourage friends to undrive too, by suggesting we bike-pool, bus-pool, or walk to activities together, instead of me snagging a ride. However, toward the end of last week I realized I would need to (gulp) rent a car (something I do about once a year) to get to a family wedding in Leavenworth this weekend. So that pledge might need to be for November…..

I picked up the car this morning, and quickly lapsed back into being a driver. When it was time to go to work (2 miles away, a nice quick bike ride usually), I found myself feeling lazy about getting the bike out of the garage; I took the car instead, because it was there. On my way home, I did something I’d never done before - I drove to downtown Ballard, to get something at Second Ascent. As I was getting out of the car I thought, hmm, a sandwich from the Other Coast would be good - but then I thought, naw, that’s too far to walk. (Huh? When I’m on foot or on my bike, a block or two is nothing, and it’s usually on my way anyway.) Here I was, reverting to my former driverly mindset, after just a few hours of car access.

While I am looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow at the wedding, I am also looking forward to putting those car keys in the drop box Sunday night. It’s easier for me to see more options when I have one less. -Julia