I’ve actually started beginning all my presentations by asking people to think about who they know in their own social circles who can’t drive. It personalizes the issue and preempts some of this backlash I’ve received in the past – because generally, people do know people in their lives who can’t drive.
I think the first time I did this was a huge webinar when I was asked to talk to the Federal Highway Administration. I was like, “Oh, dear, this is going to be hard – these are all highway-building people.” I had them put in the chat who they knew that doesn’t drive, and there was a stream of answers. And then I was like, “OK, there are people that you love and care for who don’t drive. Now I’m going to talk about how we can design transportation systems that work for all these people.”
YCC: Why is it a problem that the people planning and building our transportation system assume everyone drives? What is the logical outcome of that assumption?
Zivarts: Well, we leave people out, right? I think there’s an assumption that, “Fine, there are people who don’t drive, but they can get rides” – because most of our communities are so car-dependent that, for most non-drivers, that’s how we get around. We end up relying on either our social networks or social services for rides.
But that always comes with strings attached: Someone has to sort of validate your choice every time you want to go somewhere. And even if you have a loving, caring partner who has all the time in the world to drive you where you want to go, the way you interact with the world is going to be filtered through that, right?
But there are lots of situations where people don’t have a loving, caring partner who’s able to give them rides. Say people need to get out of their household for safety reasons, or for health care reasons, and that option isn’t available.
And beyond those two extremes, there’s all the in-between – like wanting to go hang out with a friend but feeling like it’s too much of a favor to ask someone for a ride because that’s seen as not critical. There are lost opportunities for engagement, social cohesion, and community building, which has mental health implications.
And then there are lost opportunities to get to jobs.
YCC: So how do we get to a system that works better for non-drivers?
Zivarts: The first thing is visibility. We need to help non-drivers understand, “You are not alone.” There are a lot of us, and we need to be more visible.
It also needs to be possible to imagine communities without cars. We lived that way before cars were invented, and there are places where it’s doable today, which I wish more people could experience. I spent 15 years in New York City, and it was so normalized not to own a car – that was really nice for me. My disability was much less of a thing there. But we also need to create systems that work for non-drivers in rural areas, not just in big, expensive cities.
Those are complicated questions, and they’re connected to land use, housing, and housing affordability as well. So we need to be very intentional about addressing these issues.
It really is about, at a systemic level, what can we do to make it easier for people to get where they need to go and not have to drive there.
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