Tag Archives: carfree

View of downtown Minneapolis from a parking lot

Fixing Inequitable Commuter Benefits

Last week, an extensive discussion of parking garages and parking as an employee benefit occurred here at streets.mn. As I read the discussion, one thing really stood out to me: Commuter benefits are wildly inequitable, and companies are given more incentive to provide parking than any other possible benefit. Beyond issues like the Fed garage, the issue […]

heritage landing parking ramp

Riding the Bus to the Fed Costs Less Than Half as Driving. So Why is the Fed Building Parking?

Recently, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis proposed the building of an 800-stall parking ramp on land that it bought in April of 2018. The land is currently a 300-stall parking lot that is adjacent to the Fed campus. As my colleague Alex Schieferdecker discussed in his article on Tuesday, the proposed “Heritage Landing Parking Ramp” would […]

Car-Free Day Car-toons

Saturday, September 22 is World Car-Free Day! OurStreets Minneapolis, The Minneapolis Downtown Council and a few local groups are celebrating it on Friday, September 21st. In honor of this blessed event, I’m posting a few car-toons. The U.S.A. (including Minnesota) remain “The Land of the Cars!” Here’s a new American flag proposal so outsiders will […]

Transithalfmile

How You, and All of Us, Can Escape Car Dependency

I’m coming up on my two-year anniversary of being car-free in Minneapolis. But it didn’t happen at the snap of my fingers. Selling my car was the last step in a gradual, deliberate process that involved becoming aware and making decisions based on how I move around the city (and the world), and no small […]

Groceries

Grocery Shopping by Bike

A cargo bike helps. So do panniers and patience, because you’ll need to shop more often. But you can buy groceries without a car.

My First Bikepacking Trip! Part 3 of 3

Start at the beginning, with My First Bikepacking Trip! Part 1 of 3 (which also has the map of our route), and then read the middle, My First Bikepacking Trip! Part 2 of 3, before this one.  We woke up at sunrise with trumpeter swans and many nice songbirds greeting the morning. We needed to be on the […]

Biking Like a Kid Again

In my youth, after leaving the omnipresent gaze of supervising adults, but before having regular access to a car, I explored the world on a red single speed bike called the Hawthorne. When I found it, the Hawthorne had been stripped down, abandoned, and thrown into the creek near my home. It had no fenders, […]