By Veronica Jarvis

The place do you search for transportation info? Google? A maps app? How would you get there should you couldn’t drive? How have you learnt which transit system operates through which area? How a lot is the fare? Are there bike lanes and sidewalks in your route? 

I’ve been a transportation planner for 3 years, however these questions have plagued me for for much longer. I bear in mind studying to make use of the bus as a center schooler and questioning why the schedules didn’t align between the 2 bus programs. I bear in mind biking to high school in highschool and faculty, in locations with no bike lanes and poor lighting. Seeing vehicles parked on sidewalks or a scarcity of sidewalks, so the most secure possibility for an individual utilizing a wheelchair is the bike lane or avenue. Working as a Transportation Demand Administration (TDM) planner most just lately, my eyes have been widened to the inequities constructed into our streets. That is my second 12 months collaborating within the Week With out Driving, and it received’t be my final. 

In my day job, I acknowledge the responsibility I’ve to plan transportation programs for ALL street customers; the older residents in my space who’re transitioning away from driving or select to not, the individuals with disabilities who rely closely on transit and sidewalks, the kids in my neighborhood who stroll and roll to high school, the individuals in our neighborhood who can’t afford to drive and depend on our fare-free transit system. And everybody who needs to dwell in a walkable neighborhood the place they really feel secure getting round. Numerous these journeys don’t occur in a automobile. 

Transportation demand administration feels like jargon, but it surely encompasses lots of the transportation modes all of us depend on. TDM is using methods to tell and encourage vacationers to maximise the effectivity of our transportation programs. I present info on transit, biking, strolling, sharing a journey and every thing in between, to take advantage of our present infrastructure. So…what does that appear to be?

• I share the superior assets produced by my group like our Thurston County Bike Map, or our Right here to There web site to tell residents of the various choices for getting round our neighborhood, together with by way of Intercity Transit and ruralTRANSIT.  
• I encourage individuals to get entangled with transportation planning within the area by weighing in on paperwork like our Regional Trails Plan or our Human Companies Transportation Plan.
• I share info and make shows about easy methods to get to round our area with out a automobile, together with detailed plans on attending to the airport, Seattle, and Portland by bus or practice. 
• I handle our native Commute Journey Discount program, coordinating with worksites in our area on offering choices for his or her workers to get to work in a sustainable method. 

One in all my foremost objectives for the Week With out Driving is to get individuals in my neighborhood, together with transportation leaders, out experiencing our transportation system with out driving. How can anybody make transportation system selections should you don’t think about it by means of all of the modes? Final 12 months I led a bus tour down considered one of our busiest corridors. It had frequent service however crossing the five-lane crosswalk to and from the bus was intimidating to all of us. This 12 months, the transportation leaders in my space will be part of me on a bus journey to our native mall, a future web site of extra transit-oriented growth. What challenges will we face this time? We received’t know till we expertise it. And I can assure we’ll come again with new concepts on easy methods to make the journey higher for all customers. I’d encourage everybody to present the Week With out Driving a attempt, so you possibly can see every journey you’re taking by means of a brand new lens. 

Veronica Jarvis, TDM-CP is the Senior TDM Planner with Thurston Regional Planning Council in Olympia Washington.