by No Comments

Reflecting on the 2025 Week Without Driving

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2025 Week Without Driving! Disability Rights Washington first launched this campaign in 2021 as a way to highlight the barriers faced by those without access to a car. By 2023, the challenge had expanded nationwide, encouraging individuals across the country to rethink their reliance on automobiles.

While we think highlighting barriers is important, we also wanted to inspire Monroe County residents to explore their mobility options beyond the car to see how “one less car trip” can be easier than most people imagine at first. As Simeon Banister mentioned in his reel on our Magic Bus day, the best way to improve our public transit is for people to “use public transit!”

We are thrilled to share that 44 participants logged a stunning 616 non-car trips for a total of 1,970. 41 non-driving miles!

Thank you to EJ Bradford for your photo submissions and detailed reflection of the week! We have included your response along with many of the comments we received from our participants below.

Biking Comments

I biked to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner and wondered why more people didn’t do the same…With the right planning, it’s actually easy, fun, AND it helps you to avoid buying unnecessary impulse purchases because you will only buy what you can carry back on your ride home!

Biked to RIT, the scariest part was being on the road on Monroe Ave in the city. Drivers aren’t cognizant or expecting cyclists on that road and many drive recklessly.

BIG shoutout to panniers. And dressing in layers. And then shedding layers and putting them in your panniers!

Home Depot on Portland Ave. was very tricky, but I managed it!

Traveling with a bike trailer is no joke! Luckily I spent the majority of my trailer laden route on the Genesee river trail. I don’t often have a need to take that trail so it’s nice not to have to feel like your competing with cars especially when carrying cargo.

I’ve decided that 104 is the devil for bikes.  The closer you get, the less bike friendly.

Took the Auburn Trail from cobbs hill to Pittsford Plaza. Not my first time on the trail, but first time using it as a way to get to those stores. Always surprises me how close they are.

Walking Comments

Lee Road should at least have a sidewalk north of Lexington to the City line with Greece where the shoulder starts. You can see a dirt path worn in and can see it on Google maps from this year. Lots of shift workers walking to and from work here.

Mixed use buildings are the way to go! Two of the five places I went were such in the same building as another one of my destinations so I didn’t even count miles for the few feet I walked.

I will carry a bookbag next. I carried shoulder bags, and it wore me out.

I love walking to my yoga class as it helps me transition from my work day to a more meditative and expansive mindset. Plus I often run into people I know, which gives me joy!

I had a lot of meetings in the downtown area today. I was surprised how quickly I was able to get there. The tricky part is all the construction going on in the downtown area but still in all a very pleasant walk time today.

Bus Comments

I was so excited to see how easy it was to get a bus to get my errands downtown done! I plan on using the same route to get to The Little this weekend! 

Well, went to MCC as usual (6, then the 13 buses). After that, took the 17 the entire route to the library for the transportation hearing (it was pretty decent, though I was the only one along with another participant), then I took a short walk to the center to then take the 6 back home.

Bus service to RIT is hot garbage, but taking the RTS 14 most of the way and biking the rest is surprisingly easy!

I head to MCC in the morning, walking to a nearby bus stop along N. Goodman. I take the 6, then the 13 (this route gets PACKED, I’m shocked it doesn’t run every 15 minutes). After my classes today, since I am NOT waiting almost an hour for the 6 (my class ends before 7 pm), I took the 41, up until the Culver Waring intersection, where I then walked a decent amount home.

Unfortunately the bus routes for me to get to most destinations I frequent are incredibly long and inconvenient because there are no direct routes. You have to go all the way to the transit center first before you can go out to a different destination. Routes need to be added that circle around the city instead of just spokes going out from the center.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t manage to get to and from work without my car. I made a few short trips by walking, and I wanted to try taking the bus to work, but my 10 minute commute would take over an hour on the bus! I realized that if I didn’t have a car, I wouldn’t be able to work at my current job. 

 I was frustrated because I had a convention center trip, which is easy by bus, but because my wife had to go to a construction site, I had both kids in the AM and I was short on time so even though its just one bus, I could not make it happen. I think I just need to spend more time planning and change the pace of life.

E-Bikes/E-Scooters

I took my e-bike to work today.  My son had a soccer game so I left work and headed to his game.  Unfortunately, I had to go up Culver and cross over 104 to get to east ridge road. Then I had to take a left on East ridge.  That whole area is not bike friendly but good news, I didn’t get yelled at by a car driver that I should be on the sidewalk.

Took an e scooter for the first time today! It was a little scary– they go so fast! But my legs were tired from an earlier bike ride so it was definitely a good alternative!

Reflections from EJ Bradford

Dressing in packable layers and having a way to store them was the biggest “tip” or “trick” I had this week. When the weather was predicted to be a low of 48/50 in the morning and then 75/80 in the afternoon, that was a big challenge for bike commuting. However, that made the bus much more appealing of a solution for me and was great when facing decision fatigue/paralysis with trying to find comfortable outfits to wear for theses commutes in highly variable temperatures.

I’m a fairly confident bike commuter, however I was shocked at how frequently the bike lane and shoulder was completely blocked by cars/construction/and signage this week. I saw plenty of “no parking” signs but it was clearly unenforced. This was both surprising and the trickiest for me this week. My bike commute is about 9.9 miles in one direction, so it’s longer than the average, but I have some very good bike lanes and options to use the Canal and Pittsford Rail Trail- I challenged myself to try new routes this week and was shocked at the lack of infrastructure.

I have walked from my office to the bus-stop that takes me direct to my neighborhood (the 41) it is about a 3 mile walk, mostly on sidewalks and fairly quiet neighborhoods. The amount of “car-centric” drivers who are shocked by this amount of walking saddens me. People are very comfortable walking that amount in parks, walking tracks, even doing laps in the mall. The social stigma of going on an hour long walk to an actual destination with a purpose in mind is a major challenge I have faced as a non-driver.

Thank you again to all of our participants!

Our local Week Without Driving initiative inspired wide local news coverage: