Alternative Transportation: Getting There the Old-Fashioned Way
By Janice F. Booth & Karen McLaughlin
There is a movement afoot in Annapolis to wrestle our lovely streets and lanes from the clutches of the automobile and return them to the friendly feet of pedestrians and cyclists. Walking or bicycling to work or school recaptures antique pleasures while protecting the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, especially our beloved Chesapeake Bay.
Some things, happily, never change: walking your dog in the park, running down a hill with a child, riding a bike along a shady street . . . simple activities enjoyed through generations, for all ages. Annapolis is celebrating 300 years of community, and looking to its future might mean taking some cues from the past.
Thirty and Counting
“One of the best things about riding my bike to work is I get to eat more for dinner when I get home,” says Dr. Martin Rosenberg, ophthalmologist and Safern resident. Rosenberg has been commuting to and from his office under his own power since 1977. Jogging to his office, then bicycling to work after knee and back surgeries precluded further jogging, he knows the pleasures and pitfalls of commuting under his own power.
Rosenberg points out some benefits of his daily commute by bicycle that he hadn’t anticipated: “After knee and back surgeries [for conditions not attributable to his commuting] bicycling has kept me limber.” Among fellow bicyclists and walkers, “I see the same people as I ride. We exchange greetings. It’s nice,” he says chuckling.
Thirty years of getting to work under his own steam has kept Rosenberg on his toes, but it has also taught him to plan ahead for any contingency. If the weather is too wet or stormy, or if he’s going to be out very late, Rosenberg leaves his bike at home and drives his Honda Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV), a little, lime-green hybrid he bought new in 2000; it gets over 75 miles per gallon.
Back to the Future
Three hundred years old and going strong, the City of Annapolis is encouraging us all, residents and visitors alike, to take back the streets and sidewalks, roll out our bicycles, dust off our “sensible shoes,” and rediscover old-fashioned ways to get to work. Danielle Matland, director of the Annapolis Department of Transportation, leads by example. “When I walk or bike to work, it’s so relaxing . . . and when I arrive, I feel refreshed.”
Matland’s department promotes public transportation and other environmentally friendly ways to get to work through the Clean Commute Annapolis campaign and the One Less Car program, which installed bike racks on city buses to encourage more residents to leave their cars at home. Last year the department also began the Free Wheelin’ program, offering free 24-hour bicycle rentals. The city judged the program, which had over 70 participants, a success, and Matland hopes to expand it this year. The Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association (ARTMA) is a clearinghouse for ride sharing, and Summer Youth Passes encourage kids to use public transportation to get to their summer jobs. “We’re really working on making the city even friendlier for walkers . . . everybody says Annapolis is such a great walking town,” says Matland.
County Council member Josh Cohen lives in West Annapolis with his wife and daughter. “We value living in a real neighborhood with character and cohesiveness that is not in the thick of the action but is close enough to downtown [a 20-minute walk] that we are not dependent on driving to get everywhere.”
Designed when most commuters were pedestrians, the city has a great foundation for walking. Consider that you could tour the city in a few hours, with only a pair of comfy shoes and perhaps some spare change in your pocket: from the capitol’s steps, over College and Weems Creeks, all the way to Bestgate Road. Eventually your walk would bring you to the Westfield Annapolis Mall, where you could catch a bus back downtown.
Amble down West Street past the stately old homes, mature elms and oaks, and rolling lawns of the Homewood community. Eventually you’ll walk past the new business jewels of Annapolis’s inner West Street crown clustered, around the Westgate traffic circle. Then continue your stroll down West Street, past the art galleries and the hip, new shops and restaurants. Pause at Church Circle, where benches everywhere invite you to people-watch.
Finish your ramble by walking down Main Street to City Dock. You’ll have a view of the Annapolis Harbor people come from around the world to enjoy—looking down Main Street, you can see all the way to the harbor and across to Eastport—our bustling city in all its tricentennial splendor.
Now you’ve gotten a taste of what the pedestrian’s commute can be—a relaxing, invigorating, interesting interlude, bookends for your busy workday.
Spread the Word!
Annapolitan Cullen Murray touts the advantages of his “apple and banana commute.” It takes Murray about five minutes to walk from his home to his office in Park Place—just enough time to eat his daily apple and banana. “When I started this walking thing five years ago my wife and I each had a car. Eventually I traded my car for a Prius hybrid. Then my wife started using the Prius, so we sold the other gas-engine car. Now, we’re down to one car that we use for bad weather, grocery shopping, and trips. The kids, Lexi and Sophie, walk to school and to their after-school activities. My wife Ailsa and I walk whenever we can. We think we’re giving the right message to our kids.”
Eastport resident Laura Eyth is another role model. She walks to work and doesn’t even own a car. “I’ve worked since I was 17-years-old. I’m almost 60 now, and I’ve never had a job where I didn’t walk to work.
“I used to live in Boston and walked across Harvard Square every day. It seemed as though more people walk in Boston and Cambridge; people were singing, chatting, used to walking. In Eastport people are rushing to get somewhere. But they do say ‘Hi.’ Everyone sees me walking every day, and they want to give me a ride. I don’t want a ride.
“Even if it’s snowing I like to walk. I plan for extra time. Once the snowstorm was so fierce it took me an hour-and-a-half to do my 15-minute walk to work,” Eyth recalls.
Alderman Sam Shropshire represents Laura Eyth and the other residents of Ward 7. “Being able to live here [Annapolis] without a car, that’s the future,” Shropshire opines. He hopes to secure the Flexcar program for Annapolis, which allows enrolled members to rent a car for flexible amounts of time and without going to a central location. Shropshire also sees streetcars and possibly a light-rail system in Annapolis’s future.
Annapolis resident Mike Young has another answer to the daily commute: his motor scooter. “I live in Chesapeake Harbor and work from my home office, but I have to run around town. My scooter’s great. It’s fast, cheap to operate (I get at least 70 mpg), and there are designated scooter spots to park . . .. I moved here from Rehoboth, and my scooter has made it easy to get to know the town.”
So instead of sitting in traffic or battling for a parking spot consider a greener alternative. Start slowly, walking or bicycling to school or work one day a week. You might rediscover the simple pleasure of window-shopping along Main Street, admiring the spring flowers in the park, and chatting with your neighbor as you pass. Sounds less stressful, doesn’t it?
We propose a simple gift for our fair city on its 300th birthday—park our cars and take to our feet for a cleaner Annapolis and healthier citizens.
Clean up your commute!
May is Clean Commute Month, highlighted by Bike to Work Day on Friday, May 16, 2008. The League of American Bicyclists promotes this national effort. For more information
click here.
Look into participating in the Annapolis Department of Transportation’s Free Wheelin’ program, which provides the use of bicycles free of charge for a 24-hour period. The program will run from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. For more information, to donate a bike, or to volunteer call the Annapolis Department of Transportation: (410) 263-7964.
Check with your employer to see whether your company offers incentives for carpooling or taking public transportation. Your employer might participate in the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Commuter Choice Maryland, a variety of programs and incentives rewarding cleaner commutes with tax incentives and other benefits. For more information
click here.
Take public transportation. “We have service to the airport, Arundel Mills, and Anne Arundel Community College— both the Arundel Mills campus and the Arnold campus,” says Danielle Matland, Annapolis Department of Transportation director, speaking about buses. Ridership of public transportation in Annapolis has doubled in the last decade and now numbers approximately one and a half million riders a year.
To learn more about the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County bus systems, including route maps, use our search bar, keyword “bus system.”