Comments for Undriving and Undriver Licensing

Comment on Air Cars by Pennie Brownlee

Pennie Brownlee — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:00:31 +0000

Thanks for the Beyond Tomorrow Link!

Comment on CALENDAR OF UNDRIVING EVENTS by Bill Reiswig

Bill Reiswig — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:47:25 +0000

Thank you to Sustainable Ballard and their Undriving program! They came to our 1st annual Sustainable West Seattle Festival and what an awesome job they did in getting people to engage in thinking about how they can leave the auto behind. It was definitely among the highlights of the festival, with a long line all day.

Well Done… Bill Reiswig, President, Sustainable West Seattle

Comment on RESOURCES FOR UNDRIVERS by Sustainable Ballard

Sustainable Ballard — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:34:20 +0000

GoLoco is a very convenient rideshare tool, free (the company collects a 10% transaction fee on ride costs transferred between online accounts), and works with pre-existing social networks already established with Facebook.
It helps save time, money, stress, and the environment! All payments are negotiated and made online and the program tracks the pounds of carbon each user saves. Check out their site at: http://www.goloco.org and please let us know what you think.

Comment on Great Seattle Times article by cecily flavell

cecily flavell — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:42:36 +0000

Whilst I applaud and appreciate the new ‘Undriving push’ and see daily that it is working… I also would like to request help… from people who live in condos and homes and don’t park their cars in their parking spots, due to using them as storage, or folks who park on the residential streets, to please park carefully and as close to others as possible trying to leave ‘open spots’ for visitors, care workers or family to be able to park. As Caregivers nurses and family, we are finding it impossible to park near homes with the elderly, so are the families… We used to have plenty of space… now cars are parked 24/7 and we are having to decline services.. As often we are parking two blocks away and carrying heavy cases. Also often we need to come and go to the same house during the day.. for doctor visits food runs or trucks delivering Oxygen.. This is most unfortunate..Actually we need painted zones now for ‘help spaces’ for essential services.. If you know you have elders or handicapped living next to or near you.. please be aware of their needs and ours…see if you can help. Perhaps with your Block Watch groups you can find an ‘open space’ within your block and mark it for us ???? With Sincere Thanks… Cecily Flavell Home Care worker..

Comment on UNDRIVER LICENSING STATION by Willa Scrilla

Willa Scrilla — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:20:59 +0000

I have been carpooling with all my co-workers to wrok since this event.

Thank you

Comment on Wow, this is hard! by Barbara

Barbara — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 23:47:30 +0000

I walk or bus everywhere, including grocery shopping and “walking” errands. I work from home and also work in an adjacent neighborhood so I walk my commute. We no longer have children living at home so the logistics of “walking/busing always” is easier. However, because I have been commited for many years to driving less or not at all, there are things that we don’t do–like go to Town Hall as often as we’d like or go up to the Crest Theatre. We pay more for movies which we can walk to. Because of safety issues, I will not bus downtown in the dark so that eliminates a lot of activities. If we do drive to a venue, say Town Hall, we don’t feel guilty about it because driving is not the usual means of transport. Flex car is too expensive for those of us with old fully paid for, liability only insured vehicles.

We love having those bus tickets! I gave several to our 23 year old son who is not a licensed driver and walks, buses or bikes everywhere. (He does mooch some rides with friends)

Comment on Great Seattle Times article by fulvio

fulvio — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:24:36 +0000

The article quotes King Cushman, former regional-strategy adviser for the Puget Sound Regional Council:

“I kind of have to think things are going to change — not because government is smart, but because of market forces,” he said.

And toward the end:
Cushman, who studied transportation here for more than 30 years before retiring in July, said he finds a certain irony in what’s transpired, noting that the region’s snail-like pace in making transportation decisions may actually have helped ease congestion.

“Sometimes, in spite of ourselves, we do the right thing.”

I find it interesting to see the lengths people like Cushman go to deny a positive role played by government, and to hang on to the magic belief in the “invisible hand of the market”. We invented governments in order to channel our positive impulses toward higher human potential, whereas the market is driven by the basest instincts, and furthermore, the “invisible hand” never picks up the check.

Another observation: based on the reader feedback, one would think that the readers come from either one of two completely different places - there are those who commute by bus, saving money, stress, greenhouse gases, and love it, and then there are those who find that whenever they try riding on public transportation instead of driving their commute time increases by a factor of 2, 3 or even 5 or 6. In fact, this is a pretty accurate representation of the reality of our topography and of how the transit network is set up. If your main commute takes place along a north-south corridor (especially if one of your commute endpoints is downtown Seattle), you are in luck. If you need to go along an east-west direction, or - heaven forbid - diagonally, forget it. I am lucky: riding a bus between Ballard and downtown is really easy. But about every six months I have an appointment with my dentist, whose office is on the eastside. That’s when I get to experience the pain of 2-3 hour bus trips, which have not improved at all over the last few years.

Several of the Seattle Times readers who commented on the article said they either moved home to a more convenient location, or changed jobs, or both, and now enjoy the benefits of undriving. It seems to me that “bus-friendliness” should become a much more significant factor in selecting a prospective house, apartment, condo, or workplace. There is already a “Walk Score” (see http://www.walkscore.com), which, not surprisingly, is aimed at “homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents”. We need a “Bus Score”!

Comment on Wow, this is hard! by Julia

Julia — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 17:44:04 +0000

Way to go, Craig! Your pledge got you thinking differently, and that’s what this is really all about….raising our awareness, looking for opportunities to reduce our driving, making more conscious choices (even when the choice is to drive).

Comment on The Shufflebus! by Janaia

Janaia — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:55:25 +0000

Your Shufflebus is such fun! Every community needs one for its conferences, county fairs, expos and more!
–Janaia, Peak Moment Television

Comment on RESOURCES FOR UNDRIVERS by Janine

Janine — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:28:05 +0000