Bike Helmets - Do you really need to wear them?

I’ll be honest - wearing a bike helmet is not the most exciting accessory to wear; however it’s probably the most important one. While it may be annoying, it saves lives, right?! Seriously, it really does. And although I’ve never been in a serious bike accident, I wear my helmet every time I ride, even if it’s a really short ride.

I recently learned that I should replace my helmet every three years even if I wasn’t involved in any bike accidents. Did you know that? I had no idea. Naturally, this led me to visit Macomb Bike & Fitness for some bike helmet shopping (especially since I had a gift certificate).

Jim, who works at the bike shop, helped me select my new helmet and offered some advice: 1) It’s important to have a helmet that fits your head. 2) Make sure the color of the helmet is a lighter or brighter color so people will see you when you’re riding.

I also learned from Jim the proper way to wear a helmet. The straps should be joined just under each ear at the jawbone and the buckle or clasp should fit snugly under your chin. The helmet should fit flat on your head about two-fingers width above your eyebrows. If that’s hard to understand, check out this video made by the City of Chicago for a quick demonstration. You can also check out the dorky pictures of me trying to demonstrate this below.

Incorrect Bike Helmet!

Correct Bike Helmet!

In addition to having a bike helmet, I also learned that practicing safe-riding skills is just as important as riding with a helmet. Check out this pretty comprehensive guide by the League of Michigan Bicyclists, “What Every Michigan Bicyclist Must Know.” Basically, be alert and follow the rules of the road! 

Lastly, I know I mentioned earlier that the bike helmet is not my favorite accessory; however check out this new invisible helmet that was invented. It looks promising (when the price decreases).

Crash Course in Metro-Detroit Transit

How do you use and support public transportation to move around metro-Detroit? Well, grab a snack and get comfy while you read this "crash course" on transit in the region.

SMART
As you know, we live in the Royal Oak area and work in Detroit, so it is convenient for us to bike to Woodward or the Royal Oak Transit Center to hop on any of the SMART Woodward buses to head south at $2 per ride. The 450 and 460 have multiple stops and bike racks. As do the 445 and the 475, which are “Limited” buses - that means less stops and quicker travel time. SMART services Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties.

Julie gets on the bus!

Unfortunately, a big challenge with SMART buses is that they ONLY travel in and out of Detroit during “peak” hours. What are peak hours? In the morning from 6 to 9am and in the evening from 3 to 6pm. As you can imagine, this greatly complicates happy hour for us. What happens if you need to get to Detroit during an off-peak time? You can take SMART south to the last stop on Woodward, which is at the State Fairgrounds. From there, you can pick up a DDOT bus and head south. Vice versa for heading north during an off peak time. (Special note - the buses are not linked very well so expect a 30 minute wait at the Fairgrounds. Check out a previous post where we we learned about this first hand.)

DDOT
The Detroit Department of Transportation services buses that run only in the city at the cost of $1.50 per ride for adults (slightly cheaper than SMART). We usually take the 53 bus up and down Woodward. It has bike racks (important note - not all buses have racks for bikes - boo!).

DDOT does have a unique “Text My Bus” campaign. That’s right - all you have to do is text 50464 the cross streets and you receive a fairly quick text back with times that the bus will arrive. Unfortunately, as we have learned by experience, the buses don’t have any tracking mechanism to provide accurate information of when it will actually arrive at the stop. Missed opportunity, right?! So for now, you get a text with the time that bus is *supposed* to arrive according to the bus schedule, which often is not the case.

People Mover
We don’t really use the People Mover but wanted to make sure to include it, as it is indeed referred to as public transit in the Motor City. Its three mile track circles downtown for just $0.75 per ride. For fun, check out this video as “Zelda and the Unibrows” test whether it’s faster to walk or take the People Mover. While it’s not the most appealing form of transit, it is helpful - especially during the cold winter months when you’re traveling downtown and just want to stay warm (however, moving the body and walking usually keeps you warm, too).

M-1 Rail
Another three miles of tracks are being built along Woodward Avenue to create a new form of transit, the M-1 Rail. What sets this rail project apart from the People Mover is that it’s linear and on the street with other traffic. The hope is that it will be the start of something bigger that hopefully in the future extends all the way north to Pontiac. Unfortunately, there are a number of concerns regarding this project including connectivity, bike accessibility on Woodward, and placement of the tracks on the sides rather than the middle (check out this video that explains why it might be better to have rail in the middle lane).

RTA
Why can't all the public transit options work together? Well, about a year ago, the Michigan State Legislature created the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority (RTA). One of the focal points is to facilitate that communication. However, it's been almost a year and we're not quite sure what is happening. We had it in our schedule to attend their board meeting earlier this week, but it was cancelled. We did recently learn that there is discussion of one single transit pass that could be used universally with SMART, DDOT, People Mover, and M-1. It's a start but we expect more as this region desperately needs a public transportation system that works!!!. (Stay tuned for future updates as Julie is on the RTA Citizen Advisory Council.)

Okay... this concludes your crash course on public transit in metro-Detroit. Are you still awake?! Keep a look out for future 2 Women 4 Wheels events inviting you to ride the bus with us! In the meantime, join us for our launch party with Urbane Media on Thursday, November 21 from 6 to 8pm.

Attention 2 Women 4 Wheels Fans! We've got some exciting news!!!

Put the kickstand down. Grab your seat on the bus. 2 Women 4 Wheels has exciting news to share! After almost three years of “walking and rolling” in the metro-Detroit area, we are happy to partner with Urbane Media to share our “real world” adventures in biking and busing. What does it mean? With the additional support, we will be able to share more adventures in a pretty regular way by providing new blog posts every few days instead of every few weeks. It doesn’t stop there, either. You will also see more cross-postings from our blog and Urbane Media’s blog PLUS there’s going to be a pretty kick ass launch party on Thursday, November 21 (stay tuned for more details). Keep your eyes open for #transitkardashians, as it might become a new and appropriate hash tag. HAHA!

Cheers!

On a more serious note, we've never been more excited to write about transit than now. As you know, this is a critical time for our region as the “Regional Transit Authority (RTA)” begins to take shape. Unfortunately, you also know the evolution of public transportation.is not one of the Motor City’s finest moments. Keeping our eyes and ears wide open will be important if this is to be the time in our region’s history that we see change. Fortunately, 2 Women 4 Wheels has representation on the RTA’s Citizen Advisory Council (shout out to Julie!). In the next few months, we will do our best to keep you informed on what’s happening and what you can do to support this effort.

We also hope to inspire you to take a transit adventure of your own! While it’s important to have an RTA, we also need to see improvements to the service. However, we won’t see improvements until demand for public transit increases. That means we need you to ride the bus. And before you tell yourself it’s too hard, check out some of our previous blog posts. Taking the bus and riding your bike can be fun! In fact, one of the reasons we started riding the bus was to enjoy our happy hours together without the worry of driving (some of those drink specials are too good to pass up!). Stay tuned for some 2 Women 4 Wheels organized bus pub crawls, scavenger hunts, and much more!  We’re going to do our best to show how much fun you can have!   

Adventures with the Sunday SMART bus schedule

As a part of the Royal Oak Jaycees, I had the opportunity to run a project that we termed the "SMART Bus Pub Crawl" just this past Sunday. Awesome, right!? A huge shout-out to Beth & Fred at SMART for supplying us with service maps, some really cool new SMART bike maps, SMART pens & digital screen cleaners. So great!

Here's our group reading their maps like champs outside Woodward Avenue Brewers (aka the WAB) in Ferndale:

We started our trip on the southbound Woodward 460 leaving at 13 & Woodward at 1:05pm heading to downtown Ferndale. A fellow bus rider was at the stop, enjoying some Sunday funday Natty Light, and calling me 'cowgirl'. Perfection. And welcome to the our transit world, pals! 

On our trip to downtown Royal Oak from the WAB to Blackfinn, Google Maps transit told me that the Woodward 450 would take us through downtown Royal Oak. I know that's the case after a certain time during the weekday evenings, so I didn't even question it. As the bus driver didn't take the turn down Washington and continued down Woodward, it was very clear that this wasn't the case for Sunday afternoons. I went to ask the bus driver what the deal was and he laughed loudly & heartily. "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at Google Maps. I get these questions EVERY single Sunday" and proceeded in showing me the schedule. So, we had an unscheduled 10 minute walk into downtown Royal Oak from 11 mile & Woodward. Transit lessons on a beautiful fall day. Otherwise, the buses ran pretty much on schedule, a great time was had by all, and people were hopefully encouraged to explore our region via public transit! 

But the question at hand: what's the answer for better transit communication in the age of smartphones? Apps? A required check-in of any schedule changes with Google Maps? Schedules via text? Pocket-sized paper schedules based on the routes? We definitely need some improvements to this area - especially given the  widespread miscommunication around the weekend schedules.  Thoughts or other ideas that have worked well in other areas?

Where Do You Purchase A Bus Pass?

It's difficult to get a bus pass. I've come to this conclusion after almost a year of not having a bus pass and instead using many dollar bills and quarters to pay for my metro Detroit transit travels.  

Let me explain.  It started at the Rosa Parks Transit Center located in a very prominent facility in downtown Detroit.  I had used up my bus pass earlier this year and on my way to the SMART bus stop I decided to stop at the transit center to get a new SMART bus pass.  Unfortunately, they didn't sell SMART bus passes because only DDOT buses use that stop. (I still think that since it's the most prominent location for transit in the city, they should sell SMART bus passes, too.)  Strike one.

Then, after a few weeks of using dollar bills to pay for my bus rides, I took the afternoon off to run errands.  Naturally, my first stop was the Royal Oak Transit Center.  Unfortunately, the attendant was on lunch break, which meant no bus pass for me.  Strike two.  (Let me point out that in other cities, they have a machine that is available at all times of the day for people to purchase transit passes.  AHHH!!!  Does metro Detroit have one of these machines?)

Finally, yesterday, I scored a bus pass with ten minutes to spare.  Where?  At the SMART Transit Center in the Buhl Building in downtown Detroit.  Ten minutes to spare you ask?  Well, they close at 5pm.  It's hard to read the sign in the picture to the right but they are only open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30am to 5pm.  When are people that work during the day supposed to purchase a bus pass?  This leads me to my original conclusion - it's difficult to get a bus pass!

What makes it even more difficult?  In all of Oakland County, there are only 8 locations, where one can purchase a bus pass; 2 in Macomb County and 10 in Wayne County!  Check it out for yourself.  Oh, and it gets better...  there are 23 cities that are serviced by SMART in Oakland County, which makes me think there would be more than 8 locations to get bus passes.  There are 26 cities serviced by SMART in Macomb County and another 26 cities in Wayne County.  With 75 cities being serviced by SMART, one would think that there would be at least 75 locations to get a bus pass.  Nope... just 20 in all of metro Detroit.  Does anyone else see this as a problem?  (SMART - Please consider contacting post offices, public libraries, and grocery stores to sell bus passes.)

What about the internet you ask?  Well...yes, you can order a bus pass from SMART's website but you have to pay $2 to have it mailed to you.  That's the cost of a bus ride!

So it's back to dollar bills and quarters... yes, you can use them but from my year of using dollar bills that had just enough of a curled edge that the meter didn't like, I choose a bus pass (when I can leave work early enough to purchase one).  See happy me with a bus pass to the left.  Thanks, Julie, for taking these great photos!

This is Melissa, your investigative reporter with 2 Women, 4 Wheels spinning off!  Happy riding and bus pass searching!

Today, it was ALL about the people.

It's amazing how you can go for about 1 million bus rides and nothing happens and then today.
I was on the 4:45pm SMART 460 heading to Royal Oak from downtown. The 4:30pm SMART 450 apparently had not shown up before the 460 so there were a lot of people at all the stops.

The people on this bus:

1. The women next to me who continued to text someone labeled in her phone as 'Baby Daddy' and took a call from someone that she simply said "lose my number, b****" to before hanging up. BOOM.

2. The biker puts his bike on the bike rack with the light flashing (BEEN THERE) and got on the bus with a very very large Big Gulp-like bottle hanging around his neck? The physics of this was amazing. No spills! I can barely carry a Nalgene with a solid lid on it without dumping water all over my bag. An inspiration.

3. A guy that just graduated from Everett with his degree in Medical Assisting. Like on the bus in a cap & gown = yay! This attracted Big Gulp biker man to get up from his seat to extend his congrats and the following line of questioning/information (in pretty much this order):
a. "Where are you gonna work?"
b. "I have a lady doctor and I really like her. I bet lady doctors are really good to work for."
c. "My brother died in a drunk driving accident. It was sad but I think he was happy. You see, he was the drunk driver and he loved to drink."
d. "Have you ever been to New York City? I loved it there. Lived there for years."

4. A woman that was VERY upset she couldn't get off the bus until Highland Park.The bus dropped her off about 25 blocks north (this was explained by a fellow bus rider that apparently knows Woodward literally by the block - he rattled off that stat in seconds - amazing) of her work and she was going to be late. It was so frustrating to see our limited public transit system work against someone that had a clear obligation - and, more basically, a hard time walking. Does anyone out there know why SMART doesn't drop off between downtown and Highland Park going north (and vice versa going south)? This is something I've just learned from riding these routes but haven't ever seen this officially anywhere.

5. A man that had a very difficult time moving (as well as a large rolling suitcase) got on the bus and about 3 different fellow bus riders rushed to his aid/moved so he could sit/have space. The bus community <3

6. When I finally made it to Royal Oak, I was at the bike rack unlocking my bike. There's a guy that rides around Royal Oak in a large shiny blue adult tricycle with a large basket on the back - I've always thought that bike was super sweet. He was right by the bike rack where my bike was parked and he says "you know, I see you all biking all over with these huge bags and I get worried about your back. Do you know you can get saddle bags and baskets that you can use to carry your stuff while biking?". The biking community. <3

Inner peace via public transit?

Even though we haven't been the best blog-posters, you must know that we have still been dedicated bus/biking on a very, very regular basis. The summer breeze rustling through our biking skirts/appropriate biking shorts (we are LADIES, thank you very much) has been amazing. The days that we had to drive (boo), traffic wasn't terrible.

UNTIL POST-LABOR DAY. 

Traffic mania. Lane closures. Cops actually patrolling downtown and pulling people over for going over the posted 55. 55!? I've been driving I-75 downtown for 10+ years and who knew? And then it started happening again. ROAD RAGE. 

Don't these people have any place to go? Why are we stopped? Where did all these people come from? Why are we in gridlock? WHY is it taking me one hour to go 13 miles??! And now I'm late for work. ARGH. Rush rush rush. 

And then: a bus day. Zen. Even when the bus is a little late or packed with people, I can just watch the world go by. Get lost in my thoughts. Oh hey - why is the bus driver stopping? Oh there's a lane closure? Oh ok. Back to browsing Twitter. Reading. Listening to music. Waving at the guy at the corner of Woodward and the Davidson with the sign that says 'you are special!' (I'm blanking on the exact words but it's similar - if anyone knows who I'm talking about, please feel free to share), all while he points and waves and smiles at drivers going by.  Is this a yoga class!? And now I'm 5 minutes early for work - time to grab a chai on the way in. Ahhhhhh. Starting the workday calm & happy. Thankful that the bus drivers will do the tough driving work. 

I know people get their stressors from different areas of life (and I'm maybe more road rage-y than the average commuter) but how would our work/school days be different if we, in SE Michigan, could commute using reliable public transit? Or will commuting, in no matter what form, always be stressful? Does the idea of using public transit bring out your inner Buddha...or badass?

#morelove #detroit #transit