By Ruth Rosas
Week With out Driving has grown from an initiative getting elected officers from Washington state to take part to now having worldwide contributors. Lately, we related with Wendy Nash from Get Round Caboolture: Extra transport choices, much less trouble. Wendy determined to carry Week With out Driving to Queensland Australia, and we sat down together with her to talk about what impressed her, the challenges of organizing in a peri-urban neighborhood and the way she’s utilizing the Week With out Driving to spark change in an Australian context and why it’s so vital to nondrivers all over the place.
A Dialog with Wendy Nash
Ruth Rosas (RR): Wendy, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us! To start out, might you inform us your identify, the place you’re from, and what your group does?
Wendy Nash (WN): My identify’s Wendy Nash, and I at present reside in Caboolture, which is true on the city fringe of Brisbane, in Queensland, on the east coast of Australia. I wasn’t raised right here, I’ve lived in Europe and in Sydney, so after I moved to Caboolture, I used to be actually shocked by the bus service. It’s a 10-minute drive to some locations, however 40 minutes by bus, and I simply questioned, ‘What do individuals who can’t drive do?’ That’s why I began this work, to focus on the challenges nondrivers face and to discover methods to make issues safer and extra accessible.
RR: What position do you assume neighborhood performs in making alternate options to driving extra accessible?
WN: I believe we vastly underestimate the affect of the neighborhood on council and State authorities. In the event you’re one particular person, you have got one vote, and in Australia voting is obligatory, however when you have got a bunch of 10 individuals, that’s 10 votes, which could unfold to 100. You’ve got extra scope for affect than you think about. The secret is to return throughout as pleasant and unified—mums, incapacity teams, girls of their fifties, retirees, whomever. In the event you carry totally different voices collectively, you possibly can push for safer streets and higher transport as a result of elected officers begin paying consideration.
RR: Week With out Driving began in Washington State. How did you hear about it?
WN: It was Anna Zivarts’s e book, When Driving is Not an Choice, and a publish on LinkedIn that actually caught my consideration. I believed, ‘That’s what we want right here.’ Many individuals don’t understand how difficult it’s when you possibly can’t drive. In the event you lose your license otherwise you by no means had one, you all of a sudden see how onerous it may be to navigate each day life. That’s what impressed me to start out Australia’s model of the Week With out Driving.
Week With out Driving in Australia
RR: What was it like internet hosting a Week With out Driving in Australia?
WN: We had our official launch, and one among our State MPs deliberate a day with out driving. He missed his bus instantly, which meant he needed to stroll again, after which schedule additional time to stroll to appointments or carpool. He informed me later it took approach longer than he thought. It was inconvenient, however he additionally loved having time to mirror. By the tip of the day, he actually acquired it, and it modified his perspective on how a lot we want higher public transport.
RR: You talked about individuals’s sturdy reactions to limiting driving. What’s been your neighborhood’s response?
WN: I’ve had some damaging responses. Driving can really feel virtually like an habit, you are taking it away and folks get upset. However others discovered it actually attention-grabbing. I had somebody come as much as me and say, ‘I heard about your Week With out Driving… what an ideal concept!’ I believe it helps when individuals perceive that 3 or 4 in each 10 individuals may be nondrivers, whether or not they’re children, older adults, or simply can’t afford it. Realizing it’s not only a fringe difficulty makes them extra supportive.
RR: What’s your imaginative and prescient for increasing Week With out Driving in your area?
WN: I wish to see a number of small neighborhood teams throughout Queensland do it collectively. Queensland is big—concerning the dimension of Alaska—so that you want native hubs, not only one huge occasion. I additionally inform individuals: you don’t must do the entire week. In the event you simply spend a day strolling round your neighborhood, noticing sidewalks or how lengthy you need to wait to cross close to a college, that’s progress. In the event you don’t do something, nothing modifications. However by doing even somewhat, you contribute to a much bigger shift.
RR: Any final recommendation for somebody contemplating Week With out Driving for the primary time?
WN: Don’t really feel pressured to surrender driving for the total week. Give attention to consciousness, perhaps you trip the bus as soon as or stroll a number of blocks you normally drive. Discover the velocity of visitors, what number of protected crossings you have got, or the noise degree. Even signing up and reflecting in your neighborhood could make an enormous distinction. When individuals present up, it sends a message that nondriver points matter.
If you want to be taught extra about Wendy’s work, maintain an eye fixed out for her podcast, Streets & Folks, the place she hosts inspiring conversations with friends from everywhere in the world on accessible transit, decrease velocity limits, community-led change, all aimed toward reimagining mobility in ways in which profit everybody. It’s also possible to discover Get Round Caboolture on Fb the place she shares inspiring updates concerning the optimistic modifications occurring worldwide. The web page is non-public to keep up a targeted, uplifting, and spam-free atmosphere, in addition to LinkedIn!
Wendy’s phrases remind us how highly effective change usually begins with a small shift in perspective and mindset. By harnessing the collective energy of teams, momentarily experiencing firsthand each day journey as a nondriver, and recognizing that numerous people from youngsters to older adults can’t drive, we will start to rework our streets into safer, extra accessible areas for everybody.
