It's flat as a pancake. The weather's always nice. No place on the island is more than a 30-minute bike ride. There's even a free water shuttle to Oakland and buses and ferries to San Francisco.
If ever there were a city in the Bay Area where it should be easy to live car-free, Alameda is it. Now Alameda is promoting a "Week without Driving," an event encouraging more people to give the car-free lifestyle a whirl. From a city release:
What if, just for one week, you experienced your daily life without relying on a car? How might it change your perspective on the way our community moves? If you can drive or afford a car, you may not understand what it’s like to rely on walking, rolling, transit, and asking for rides. But for nearly a third of people living in the United States–people with disabilities, young people, seniors, and people who can’t afford cars or gas–this is their every day.
The event, which will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5, is part of a national effort organized by American Walks and Disability Rights Washington. From their website:
Week Without Driving started in Washington State in 2021 with Anna Zivarts, Director of Disability Mobility Initiative, at Rights Washington. In 2023, America Walks helped take it national. That year, 140+ groups in 41 states and D.C. joined. In 2024, it grew to over 520 groups in all 50 states and D.C.
As Zivarts told Streetsblog previously, the event is to help raise awareness about the challenges facing Americans who can't drive.
UC Berkeley and a few other cities and counties in California are also participating. The city of Alameda, meanwhile, has made great strides in incorporating sidewalk-level protected bike lanes into new developments and constructing car-free paths across the island. This event should help grow support for those efforts by encouraging people who are habituated to driving to try out the new facilities.
Bike Walk Alameda's Cyndy Johnsen posted: "Kudos to the City of Alameda for officially participating in this national event."
Alameda and the event organizers have put together a list of resources for getting around without a car, including local ferry, BART, and bus info.
