Car-Free and Loving Life in Pittsburgh

"I don't want to drive," Rubab Jafry O'Connor says. "I don't want to sit in the car. It's a waste of time."

Born in Pakistan, she emigrated to Pittsburgh eight years ago to take a Carnegie Mellon MA in public management. Now working at Tepper, she, her husband, and her two babies live Downtown,"to be in the center of everything," she says. "So we don't have to drive around. In the suburbs, with two kids, we'd have to get in the car."

Aside from riding the bus to work at Carnegie Mellon, "I walk," O'Connor says. Grocery shopping in The Strip? She walks,all five-feet-two and 90 pounds of her, carrying the groceries around on her back. Trips to the North Shore River Trail, Aviary, Children's Museum? She walks. Dinner on the South Side? "I just love to walk," O'Connor grins. "I want to stay fit. I want to breathe fresh air. I want to see buildings. I'm a fitness freak."

Nine months pregnant with number two, she rolled number one in the stroller, and walked two hours a day. "I'm crazy," she smiles.

These days, Rubab Jafry O'Connor is hardly alone. While not every Pittsburgh pedestrian is as noticeable as the petite Pakistani with the double-truck orange stroller, more and more Pittsburghers are getting out of their cars and biking, busing, or taking the shoe-leather express about town.

"One of the things about Pittsburgh," offers Anne-Marie Lubenau, Community Design Center executive director, "is that it's much more European in character. You walk a few blocks, get coffee and a newspaper. Walk a few more blocks and do a little shopping. Walk a few more parks and be in a great park.

"Walking is very equitable," she adds. "Anyone can do it. It contributes to community spirit. You walk, you strike up a conversation."

Living in Regent Square, Lubenau finds herself walking everywhere -- to the dry cleaner, movies, coffee shops, Frick Park, and then down the trail to the Monongahela River. "It gives me a tremendous feeling of freedom. And it's less expensive than a gym."

Less Hassle
It's not the gym thing for Robb Griska -- he just doesn't want the hassle and experience of a car. Piloting his charcoal gray Vespa all around town, he lives in Friendship and works in Homewood while zipping back and forth with ease, getting 110 miles out of his 1.7-gallon tank, "I ride all year," he says.

OK, he'll fess up: Back in '03 Griska owned a car, got in a fender bender, and never fixed it. "I've had my scooter since then," he says. "That's all I need."

It took Halley Martin until '09 to go completely car-less, but she's glad she did. After realizing that she was driving some 300 miles a year, at roughly $5-6 per mile, she figured there had to be a better way.

Living in East Liberty and commuting to the Regional Enterprise Tower, Downtown, she started hopping the bus. Around the 'hood, she can walk to a slew of supermarkets -- anything, really, within three miles. "I enjoy not having a car," the Alabama native smiles, "if only because of the amount of stress I avoid by not owning a car."

Carrie Chisholm doesn't own a car, either, and doesn't miss it. Coming back from England, where she lived for four years, the West Virginia native got used to walking, biking, or taking public transit -- which is what she does here. Living in Squirrel Hill, working for Carnegie Mellon, on campus and Downtown, she walks, bikes, or buses, depending.

With her three-four-mile radius for walkability, Chisholm (whose English husband doesn't have a driver's license) says that Squirrel Hill "is a great community for us. Pretty much anything I want is within walking distance.  I see so many people walking in Squirrel Hill. I really like that feel."

It's More Fun
So does visual artist David Scalzo, who moved from Seattle to the Mexican War Streets some two-and-a-half years ago. "We love it here," he says unabashedly.

One reason is that he can walk all around the North Side, to PNC Park, the Warhol, the Crazy Mocha on Buena Vista Street. Another is that he can take his mountain bike anywhere, notably from the North Side, through Downtown, to the South Side. Hitting the river trails, shopping in the Strip, stopping to see emerging art in Lawrenceville, "I bike everywhere," Scalzo says. "While I do like the idea that I'm not contributing to pollution, it's not political for me. It's just a fun way to get around the city. I see a lot more when I'm on my bicycle."

IKM architect Jonathan Lusin joined the completely car-less club two years ago. Living on Mount Washington, "I was paying for my Acura," he recalls, "not using it, watching it eat money."

With bus, incline, and foot power, Lusin can easily get to work Downtown. For longer excursions, like shopping at the Waterfront, or visiting the 'rents in Morgantown, he favors Zip cars. It's all win-win, he says. "Once I reduced all my car costs -- ownership, gas, insurance, maintenance -- I could afford the house I just bought."

Sounds a lot like Chuck Alcorn's story. "I try to stay local and walk everywhere," says the Riverlife urban planner. "I do not own a car. It's a choice that I made."

Instead of paying his myriad monthly car bills, in '08 Alcorn decided to put the cash into his Lawrenceville house. Biking, busing, using Zip cars for runs to Home Depot, Lowe's, and other home improvement meccas, Alcorn also hoofs it whenever possible. "It's great to get to know your neighborhood," he says. "Walking helps me do that. It really gives me time to think."

Growing up as "an urban pedestrian in Spain," Maria Kyriacopoulos felt frustrated when she moved to New Castle a dozen years ago and found she had to have a car. Tiring of auto-life, she junked the jalopy and moved to the city four years ago. "I knew I wanted to live in a place where you can walk to buy groceries or go to the movies," the IKM architect recalls. "I found a house in Squirrel Hill and a job Downtown."

Busing to work, walking to restaurants and markets, taking Jackie, her lab-shepherd, for long walks in Schenley Park, she's more pro-active than ever. "Cars are such a problem," Kyriacopoulos shakes her head. "They pollute the air. They require parking areas. Their run-off pollutes streams. They are not the best solution.

"Plus," she shouts, "walking is healthy!"

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Abby Mendelson's latest book, End of the Road, a collection of short stories, is available at amazon and bn.com.


Captions: Rubab Jafrey O'Connor; Robb Griska; Carrie Chisholm; Jonathan Lusin; the Monongahela Incline; Dave Scalzo

Photographs copyright Brian Cohen