Asheville 'Strive not to Drive' starts Friday

ASHEVILLE – Smelling fresher air starts at home. And how you get from home to work. And what you do once you're at work.

The annual Strive Not to Drive campaign, which starts Friday and runs through May 21, wants us all breathing better, getting healthier and getting along better with our co-workers by ditching the pollution-spewing cars for a day.

The campaign, organized by local businesses, nonprofits, civic groups and city and county government, encourages residents to get out of their cars and seek more "active transportation" than riding alone in a car, which in turn will encourage more healthy activity and promote more sustainable transportation in the city.

Strive Not to Drive began back in 1991 as Bike to Work Day with the goal of encouraging bicycle commuting in Buncombe County. Over the years as concerns about air quality, physical inactivity, health issues and traffic congestion have grown, the event grew to encourage any form of transportation other than driving alone.

"The No. 1 thing that we want to get people to do is to become Strive Not to Drive champions at their place of work," said Mike Sule, director of Asheville on Bikes, one of the program's partners.

"Get online, register your place of business, take on the workforce challenge. We think about biking or walking or taking the bus to work, but we also want to challenge people to develop things to do in the workplace to participate in active transportation," he said.

Sule suggests holding a "walking meeting," rather than sitting around a table to talk or driving to an event site. One business is holding a meeting during a mountain bike ride. Or, if commuting or meeting by means other than a car is not practical, coworkers can get a group to walk to lunch together, and that can be the company's program participation.

"We want people becoming aware of transportation options and moving that needle a little," Sule said. "As people are participating in Strive Not To Drive, we really encourage them to promote themselves and their workplaces. Take a selfie as you're out walking or biking to work and put it up on our Facebook page."

Strive Not to Drive activities include free bus fares on Asheville Transit next Wednesday, commuter stations throughout the city with breakfast and goodies, and bike corrals at Downtown After 5 concerts, starting Friday on Lexington Avenue.

There will be two new events: The Crosstown Get Around, which replaces last year's Crosstown Rumble pitting City Council members against each other in a commuter race.

In this event on Monday, individuals including a teacher, a baker and a worker at New Belgium brewery will be challenged to take on a variety of tasks, such as returning a library book, mailing a letter at the post office, and buying a snack at Ben's Penny on Hilliard, to see how each fares getting around town.

"It's much less of a race and much more of an experience of the different modes we use — the efficiencies of walking, biking and driving," Sule said.

In the new "Walk the Talk" Walking Tour, taking the place of last year's Mayor's bike ride, transportation consultant Don Kostelec will lead a pedestrian tour to investigate successes with pedestrian projects, such as adding new sidewalks, and ongoing pedestrian challenges.

Julie Mayfield, co-director of environmental nonprofit MountainTrue, which has been part of Strive Not to Drive for several years, and also the chair of the city's Transit Committee, said the idea of Strive is to highlight the city's alternative transportation successes and encourage more, but also to have fun.

"We are hoping to encourage people to think about not only commuting, but about the way they travel. We encourage them to look for alternatives to traveling alone in a car, to look for new options and try things out and see if they can make them work for other times of the year and for the long term," Mayfield said. "We try to make it fun with free bus fare for the day and breakfast stations."

While there was a lot of investment a few years ago with stimulus funds into bicycle improvements, Mayfield said the city is continuing to work hard at alternative or multi-modal transportation pedestrians. The city just completed major sidewalk projects in Shiloh in South Asheville, Patton Avenue in West Asheville and Tunnel Road in East Asheville, and will soon start building sidewalks on busy Hendersonville Road south from downtown to Long Shoals Road.

She said the city also will vote on a capital improvement budget that includes $300,000 a year for neighborhood sidewalks.

Once safer walking corridors are complete, Mayfield said that should help boost the ever increasing bus ridership, which is up about 2.5 percent over last year. For the fiscal year of July-March, the total ridership was 1,085,837 trips.

"We have improved the system yet again," she said. "In January, we put two new routes on the ground and eliminated the C route that went from Emma through West Asheville, Biltmore Village and out to Walmart, didn't go through downtown. It was the worst performing route."

"Different people will have different motivations for taking part in Strive Not to Drive," Mayfield said.

"For some it's a chance to reduce their environmental footprint, find a healthier way to get to work," she said. "Another motivation the SNTD committee has is to get people involved in other modes of transportation to help drive demand in the city for more resources that go into infrastructure so it's safer for all of us."

Strive Not to Drive 2015 Schedule of Events

People are encouraged to make a pledge to strive not to drive and promote active transportation in their workplaces. The pledge form is at www.strivenottodrive.org.

• Friday, May 15 : SNTD kicks off at 5 p.m. with Downtown After 5 Bike Corral, which goes until 9:30 p.m. Ride your bike instead of your car downtown and "park" it at the bike corral.

• Monday, May 18: The Crosstown Get Around. Teams of individuals will choose a variety of modes — by bike, by foot and by car — and will be challenged to take on a variety of tasks, such as returning a library book, and mailing a letter at the post office, to see how each fares getting around town. Starts at 10:30 a.m. downtown at the corner of Walnut and N. Market streets (Asheville Community Theater) and ends at 11:30 a.m. in the River Arts District.

• Tuesday, May 19: "Walk the Talk" Walking Tour: to see the variety of good and bad situations for folks traveling on foot. (This event is taking the place of our mayor's bike ride.)

• Wednesday, May 20:Commuter Breakfast Stations. There will be several stations where commuters can receive a free breakfast on their way to work. Rainbow Mountain New School for Children on Haywood Road in West Asheville will host from 7-9 a.m. The round-about at Roberts and Clingman in the River Arts District will host 7-9:30 a.m., and the Transit Station on Coxe Avenue will have food for transit riders.

• Wednesday, May 20: Free bus rides all day on Asheville Transit.

• Wednesday, May 20: Bike Ride of Silence. A ride to remember those killed and honor those injured while riding their bicycle. This is an international event. Riders will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the Stanley Building, 35 Woodfin St. (Register of Deeds office). Ride will begin at 6 p.m. and riders will ride in silence through town for a fairly level slow ride of 8.5 miles. Riders will be given black ribbons to wear and are requested to burn lights while riding.

• Thursday, May 21: Transportation Story Slam. The event starts at 7 p.m. at Clingman Cafe where participants are asked to share their transport stories.

For more information or to register, visit www.strivenottodrive.org.