Macon group wants people to ditch their car. How residents got discounts for doing so

A group of Middle Georgia residents got an early start Friday with one goal in mind: Get more people to spend the day out of their cars.

Bike Walk Macon, a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, gathered at 7:45 Friday morning for the first event of “Car Free Day,” a group hangout and breakfast at Macon Bagels.

The group sat at a row of dark wood tables that lined the restaurant wall. Fundraising chair Sophie Rosen ate her bagel sandwich while Dean Thornton talked about his sub-par experience with the lack of bike lanes in Warner Robins.

“I’ve been hit by a car twice, to keep biking there I’ve gotta be either stupid or crazy,” said Thornton.

Car Free Day is part of Bike Walk Macon’s annual Bike Walk month, in which Macon residents are encouraged to ditch the car for their daily commute in favor of buses, bikes and walking. Those who pledged to go car-free for a year earned a free coffee at Macon Bagels, along with other discounts at Bike Tech Macon, Bohemian Den, Ingleside Village Pizza and Sweet Eleanor’s.

The day was made to help build citizens’ comfort with a car-less commute, navigating bike routes and helping with Macon transit.

“Our hope is that you try it with us and then are inspired to commute that way more often,” said Executive Director Rachel Umana. “It’s hard to build habits without a boost.”

While Umana listed better health, free parking and reduced carbon emissions as benefits of going car-free, she also said planning routes can be intimidating for those looking to go car-free. This is especially true for commuters who have to move between neighborhoods or live along unsafe high-speed roads.

“We have some of the highest rates for pedestrian fatalities in the state,” said Umana. Macon’s Gray Highway is one of the deadliest pedestrian roads in the state and high-speed corridors are unsafe for bikers.

For those commuters, the Macon Transit Authority has nine fixed bus routes and paratransit. MTA offered free fares during Car Free Day to encourage more people to take the bus. Bike Walk Macon’s second event was a bus ride to Ingleside Village Pizza to reduce apprehension for those figuring out bus routes.

Macon isn’t a hard place to bike for those who live in areas with slower speed limits, but Rosen said it’s not the most friendly either. The town’s 13 miles of bike lanes are limited mostly to downtown and the two miles surrounding it, and only one lane on Walnut Street is protected.

While the lack of bike-friendly infrastructure in Macon may pose a challenge to some car-free commuters, Car Free Day is one of the events that increase the number of people walking, biking and taking transit, which Umana says strengthens the voice of those pushing for more money and more city planning to go toward transit approaches that encourage biking and walking.

“While we don’t have a completely connected system right now, we can get to that by having more people,” said Umana.