A Week Without Driving

As some of you may have noticed, this week several organizations in Ottawa have been promoting a week without driving. That is, not sitting behind the wheel yourself, but everything else is OK: bus, walk, LRT, bicycle, wheelchair, taxi and yes, even being driven by a family member. The point is basically to experience not being able to grab the keys and hop in a car.

I wanted to participate in the week without driving (#WeekwithoutDriving) because I was impressed with a talk I attended last year by Anna Zivarts, author of ‘When driving is not an option’. Anna, who can’t drive herself for eyesight reasons (Nystagmus) if I can call it that in broad strokes, advocates for transportation options for those who can’t drive: “because the majority of involuntary nondrivers are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly, they are largely invisible.” 

This is a fun-with-a-serious-undertone challenge. Many of you probably don’t drive a car very often anyway, like myself. I do many trips by bike because I don’t like to sit behind cars that don’t move and I can’t change my route, because I am stuck. In the busier times of the day cycling is not even that much slower, as Councillor Devine learned this week the hard way: cycling home would have been only 14 minutes slower than his 49 minute rush hour car drive. It is about 17 km for him to get home from city hall. But Week Without Driving is not about speed or distance or exercise or nature, is about using other methods of transportation. I, obviously, took my bicycle.

Week Without Driving is an educational campaign that focuses on reflection, knowledge and understanding. The challenge provides an opportunity for decision makers and individuals to experience and empathize with the experiences of approximately one-third of Americans who do not drive.

So how did it go in the week without driving? Very good actually. Karen and I did some trips, I did a number of errands and had coffee downtown. Let’s see how it went.

Saturday

The week without driving officially started last Monday. I had to move up my week a bit though for commitments in this weekend. So I started last Saturday by dropping by at Arlington Woods to admire the new community roof structure built from trees that came down during the 2018 Derecho. Yes, that was already seven years ago. I bumped in mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper who is doing the rounds in the suburbs. He had just arrived from Orleans and was cycling too. Ward councillor Sean Devine was there too and so Jeff wanted a selfie with us. 

We then went via Bruce Pit, the Queensway Carleton hospital area and Holly Acres (when is that ever finished there?) back home, totalling around 30 km. Nearly the entire route is on pathways.

Sunday

Today the weather was gorgeous. We wanted to do a nice bike ride and picked a route that would be mostly on pathways in and out of Gatineau Park in Quebec. Starting south of the Farm, we cycled along the canal and Queen Elizabeth Drive to the Alexandra bridge, from there east along the river to Jacques Cartier Park and along the Gatineau River, passing underneath highway 5 past the always empty storm pond towards Gatineau Park. In the park, we took the nr. 5, which I hardly even recognised because we only go there in winter usually, down to the Gamelin entrance where we had to follow a detour (on pathways too) to get to the Chief William Commanda bridge and the Trillium pathway. 47 km total.

Monday

Time for an errand. I was mostly at home today but wanted to drop off a DVD at the Emerald Plaza library branch (2.5 km): ‘the Crime is Mine’, a 2023 enjoyable French crime/comedy (98% on Rotten Tomatoes – the DVD has lots of behind the scenes material). Then I dropped by at Value Village for a fleece, but no luck. There were three brand new Abercrombie & Finch lumberjack shirts too, but as is so often the case with me, the sleeves were too short.

Tuesday

More errands. Back in the summer, I was cycling in our very quiet neighbourhood, when I startled a flock of three Northern Flickers when I simply cycled by. Sadly, one flew into a tiny window that was reflecting the nearby tree (reflection is a major cause of bird deaths in an urban environment). I jumped off my bike, searched frantically through the neighbour’s outside blue box for a container and brought the Flicker home to keep it in a dark place and to connect with Safe Wings Ottawa. But unfortunately, it died in my hands at home. A very sad moment. 

But Safe Wings still wants the dead birds for a showcase they do early spring, so I followed the instructions, froze the Flicker and finally found time to drop it off at a volunteer near Hunt Club Road, 7.5 km from home or about half an hour on the bicycle. I figured out a route via a bike lane in my hood, then the multi use pathways on Hogs Back Road and in Mooney’s Bay Park, a shortcut through the parking lot of Riverside United Church and a kilometer on a less pleasant but not terribly uncomfortable (off peak) McCarthy Rd.

In the afternoon I had to return an item to Home Depot. Luckily it just fitted in my pannier so on the bike I went for 4.5 km (15 minutes) via residential roads and the massive Algonquin College parking lot, which was almost full. On the way back I dropped by at Loblaws for burger buns and found six buns at 50% off. Total cost $1.50 or 25 cents a bun. They might be a day old, but I put them briefly on the BBQ anyway.

Don’t rely on social media alone for your cycling information

Traditional media in Ottawa rarely report on cycling anymore. But there is a lot happening. Stuff is being built, advocacy events are being organised. Have a new post delivered right in your inbox by subscribing below. It is free. Because it is so easy to end up in a negative echo chamber.

Wednesday

This morning I cycled into downtown for a coffee and a $4 hazelnut cookie with a friend, my predecessor as president of Bike Ottawa, at the Ottawa Bike Café on Sparks Street to talk about several current cycling projects.

It takes about 40 minutes of cycling to get to Sparks Street for me. It was 11C/52F when I left and I initially regretted wearing shorts, but after a kilometer I was fine. On Laurier Ave, a by-law officer was handing out a fine to a gentleman who had parked his minivan in the bike lane. I had to cycle around the van and heard the by-law officer pointing out to the driver: “See, this is exactly what I mean”. In the afternoon I had to do some grocery shopping. The store is barely one kilometer away.

Thursday

This morning I had the wonderful Robyn Bresnahan over for tea and home made Dutch speculaas cookies. I was so honoured. She wanted to interview me for her CBC Podcast This is Ottawa.

Every second Thursday is CSA (community-supported agriculture) vegetable box pick up for us at the Rochon vegetable stand on the parking lot next to Kunstadt in the Glebe. I biked through the Farm, past Dow’s Lake and via Commissioners Park into Madawaska Drive and from there into the Glebe via the bike lane on Glebe Ave. That is about 7 km one way, a 30 minutes bike ride. I took an extra Ortlieb pannier with me for the fall harvest. I had ordered the Ortlieb panniers from a company in the Netherlands in the fall of 2019, but due to Covid I could only pick them up at my family in 2022!

Friday

All errands were done, the weather was gorgeous once again with a high of 24C/75F, so I stayed at home and worked on a presentation for the upcoming “Bikes means Business” one day conference in Almonte on October 17. Also I ate a lot more of the speculaas.

I looked at how much I roughly biked and was surprised to see that all those trips, short and longer, added up to about 150 kilometer. That is the equivalent of cycling from home, via Carleton Place and Smith Falls on the Cataraqui trail to Kingston. It looks like I also lost two pounds. Contrary to what many people think, living in Ottawa’s older inner suburbs doesn’t mean you are 100% dependent on a car. Ask me again in February 🥶❄️☃️. It is about choices and priorities and a stage in life in my case. I can make those choices, but not everyone can. If I was not able to bike, it would be a lot harder to get around. BRT on Baseline would likely be my lifeline.

So this was my #WeekWithoutDriving in the Ottawa inner suburbs, recently referred to as the Bungalow Belt. To be honest, had it been a dreary, rainy week, I would have bundled a number of trips into one; it never rains a whole week. But distances, and some more time and the gorgeous weather made this a really nice Week Without Driving for cycling. Seven days of sunshine: Ottawa, Canada’s San Diego.

Diversion: some less cycling focused stuff I write

• 
  A stone frigate in downtown Ottawa?
  Reading Time: 5 minutesYou may have noticed an historic house boarded up across from city hall on the south side on Lisgar. It has an interesting story: it was a a so called ‘stone frigate’.
• 
  Gravel roads may return to suburban Ottawa
  Reading Time: 2 minutesIn its quest to find savings, our city is looking into more gravel roads, even in suburbs. Here is the article I saw today.
• 
  Merivale Road Food Map 2025
  Reading Time: 5 minutesHere is the annual overview of the Merivale Food scene, already in its third year. More Indian food, more grocery stores and a few name changes. Check out the map with all the possible places to eat or take out food on the stretch of Merivale Road, Clyde and a bit of Baseline.
• 
  My First Time in a Kayak on the Ottawa River
  Reading Time: 7 minutesLast week, Maria, the owner of Escape Tours, invited me for a short kayak trip on the Ottawa River. Here are our experiences.
• 
  Are Dutch Bikes Still Dutch?
  Reading Time: 4 minutesOn August 4, 2024 the Bicycle Craft Brewery in Ottawa hosts a Bikes + Beer pop up in Ottawa featuring sales of used Dutch bikes. But what makes a Dutch bike Dutch nowadays?
• 
  NCC mulls replacement for Rideau Canal Skateway. “QED likely”: spokesperson
  Reading Time: 4 minutesThis morning’s local newspaper reports on the NCC mulling the Queen Elizabeth Drive as an alternative for the Rideau Canal Skateway after several disappointing skate seasons. Even the mayor might be on board. Here is the entire article.

Don’t rely on social media alone for your cycling information

Traditional media in Ottawa rarely report on cycling anymore. But there is a lot happening. Stuff is being built, advocacy events are being organised. Have a new post delivered right in your inbox by subscribing below. It is free. Because it is so easy to end up in a negative echo chamber.