Beyond the Auto

Planners also are taking cues from the popularity of light rail as they revamp less expensive—but also less popular—bus systems. To make a bus feel as easy to use as light rail, new buses often have at-grade loading, with low floors instead of steps. And by creating bus stations with ticketing systems similar to those at subway stations, riders can pay before they hop on, instead of waiting behind a line of boarding passengers to do so.

Human-powered transit can be even more efficient and effective. For residents who live close enough to their destination, cycling is often the quickest way to travel. If people feel safe hopping onto two wheels, they will, says Twin Cities-based urban planner Greta Alquist ’07. “Separate space within the streets—actual physical buffers that prevent vehicles from crossing into bike lanes—are common in many European cities, and they’re starting to show up in other places, too, like Portland,” she says. Green bike lanes, recently added to Minneapolis roads near downtown and the University of Minnesota campus, provide visual cues for drivers and cyclists. The citycrossing Midtown Greenway bike trail attracts thousands of cycling commuters daily.

Trends suggest that these infrastructure-based efforts to encourage alternative transportation are working. In the Twin Cities, for example, a 2011 study found that bicycling among residents had increased 52 percent in just four years.

Car- and bike-sharing services are also gathering steam in many cities. They open up opportunities for people who want to take public transit, but don’t want to be tied to it if something comes up. A worker who takes a bus downtown to work, for example, might grab a shared bike to meet a friend for lunch six blocks away, or reserve a shared car for a meeting across town.

The Twin Cities has been a hotspot for such options, with growing numbers of car-sharing services including HourCar, which has a hub near Macalester’s campus. Since launching in 2010, Nice Ride has become the largest bike-sharing program in the nation, with 1,200 bikes—including more than a dozen bikes at the Grand Avenue hub near Macalester. In St. Paul alone, there are nearly two dozen Nice Ride bike hubs. Users have hopped on more than 300,000 times since the program began two years ago.

While urban planners are excited about the opportunities that more robust transit options present, few think we’ll give up our cars entirely.

That’s not even the point, says Erickson. “If you’re going to Home Depot, I wouldn’t suggest taking a bicycle,” she says. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one. You need different tools for different trips. We want people to have more tools in their toolbox.” The idea is not to remove people’s choices, but rather to give them additional choices they might actually prefer.

A Push for Change

A strong infrastructure is a starting point to shifting our transit choices from cars to alternatives, but it’s often not enough. Although many people insist they can’t accomplish their daily tasks without a car, the numbers suggest otherwise. According to a 2009 study by the League of American Bicyclists, nearly half the trips Americans take each day are less than three miles, and about a third are less than one mile. Yet nearly three-quarters of those trips—eminently bikeable, if not walkable—are made by car.

Finding ways to get people to replace just one of those trips represents a tantalizing opportunity, says Alquist. “That one trip can be a gateway drug. They do it and think, ‘Not only was that closer than I realized and easier than I thought, but I also got 10 minutes of exercise,’” she says. “It starts getting people thinking about other places they could bike.”

Getting people to take that first step, however, is often more complex than it seems. Prodding people out of their deeply ingrained habits requires more than just education about where to catch the train or find a bike trail; it requires a dip into the field of behavioral psychology.

Feeling competent is a basic psychological need, says Christie Manning, a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies. Doing something new, like biking to work for the first time, can feel stressful enough to deter people who might otherwise be open to making a change. For some, just the right nudge can help them reconsider a long-established car habit. “Maybe your company introduces a subsidized bus pass,” she says. “Maybe, if you move into a new neighborhood, the welcome kit includes a free bus ticket or a reflective ankle band to prevent your work pants from getting caught in the bike chain. The more you reduce the barriers to people trying something different, the more open they’ll be to trying it.”

At the same time, urban planners are looking at ways to discourage driving. Of course, gridlock and gas prices are already helping do this, says James Andrew ’99, a planner for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a flattening out of vehicle miles traveled,” he says, noting that’s both a Minnesota and national trend. “With the economy still sputtering, a two- or threecar household is becoming less tenable.”