Advocates suggest that those who typically drive try out an alternative sometime this week to commemorate the Week Without Driving: even just one day where you take transit, bike, or walk to work.
Mary Lou Burke, the chair of Tidewater Transit Advocacy, says it can be eye opening to take the bus. “It takes four hours to get from Chesapeake to Hampton one way, just to give you an idea.”
She says the quality of the ride varies a lot across Hampton Roads: riders of HRT in Norfolk can experience 15-minute frequencies, light rail, and bus schedules that run early and late. The public transit experience is much less extensive in other areas, like Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, due to bus schedules that end at 7pm, or buses only coming once an hour.
There are plenty of people who don’t drive because of poverty, for health reasons, because they’re elderly, or because they are too young to hold a license. If you decide to try it, Burke says to bring a book, water, and maybe even a snack.
She also says it's worthwhile to download a transit app to figure out how to use the system. “If they can commit to one day, just to see what it's like, how does that limit your options? Does it make you pick what you're doing more carefully? Does it limit where you can go?" she says.
Participants can also try alternate modes, like biking or walking. Even one trip can give you a new view on your own neighborhood, says Brittany Sherrod, the Outreach Coordinator for the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation. Whether you’re biking or walking, or riding the bus, she says, “You get to see things! You get to see art, whether it's on purpose or not. You get to see doggies and flowers and plants growing out of the cracks where they don't belong. You get to see cute porches. You get to see potholes.”
Sherrod encourages participants to ride, walk, or cycle to an event this weekend to experience life outside of a car.
The Week Without Driving goes from October 1-8.
