[cpramsee]

This thread is great! It's just what I was looking for. I'm moving to Omaha to work as a medical resident at UNMC. SO my question is, can I live without a car if I get an apartment nearby? A friend of mine is going to Creighton---will we be able to see each other if we both have no cars?

*Ugh, and alright, if a car is really needed, where do you sign up for drivers ed? We lived in a city where you don't need a car at all...it's sad to know public transpo is bad in omaha!
Thanks!

[scottredd]

I'm late to reply to this post, and you may already have the answers you need. However, in case someone else is looking for this kind of information, I'll add my own experiences.

In July, 2008 I started riding a bicycle to work from my home near 50th and Grover to downtown. Each way is five miles, and it works well for me in combining exercise and transportation. Back then, gas was $4/gallon, and I have to pay at least $3 a day to park downtown. I estimated that I was saving about $25 a week between gas and parking. Garage parking for my office starts at about $80 a month.

I also challenged myself to run errands and shopping using my bike, which I outfitted with a rack and panniers for carrying groceries and other things.

I have the benefit of showers and a bike rack at my office, so my commuting also involves showering and changing clothes.

My 60 year old residential neighborhood is not quite Midtown, and not quite South Omaha. I have a small grocery store about 1/2 mile from my house. There's another one a little less than a mile, and nice store with health market about two miles from my house. There's also a K-Mart, Ace Hardware, Hollywood Video, multiple restaurants, hair salons, banks, dentists, doctors, optometrists, auto parts stores, all about a mile from my house. Expand that range to two miles and the offerings increase quite a bit. I also shop at Patrick's Market downtown to pick up things on my way home.

Also consider that I am less than two miles from the Keystone Trail, which opens up an enormous amount of shopping/errand destinations by way of easy access to 72nd Street near Pacific Street and 72nd Street and Dodge Street.

My house is also just a couple of blocks off the #32 bus line, so days that I can't bike it, I can bus it. The bus transit authority also added bike racks to the buses, so that I can easily go multi-modal, combining bus and bike rides. I hear they also plan to add bike racks to selected transfer centers to make it easy to lock up your bike if you want to leave it when it get on the bus.

Starting in Spring 2009, Omaha plans to start implementing a 20 mile system of bike lanes and shared streets with street markings, signs, etc. in the Downtown/Midtown areas. This 20 mile loop will help connect areas like Midtown Crossing, Aksarben Village and Downtown to the Keystone Trail.

It's starting to get cold now, but I've vowed to continue the daily commuting until there is ice on the streets. The right clothing makes riding in the cold and rain not only bearable, but comfortable. I probably wouldn't do errands or shopping in the rain, however.

All that being said, I still drive when I need to go somewhere with my family, or shop at someplace that would not be practical on my bike. However, I rarely operate my vehicle as an SOV (single occupied vehicle). I've only driven to work three times since July, and that was when I needed to run some errands by car, or take my kids to school.

As someone pointed out, Omaha is very hilly (contrary to popular belief that all of Nebraska is flat), but you will acclimate to the hills and weather. If you're not in shape at first, you will definitely build some hill climbing legs. I've lost 15 pounds since July, incidentally.

In summary, while Omaha is no Portland or New Orleans, Omaha is on track to becoming a bicycle friendly community. If you choose to live and work east of 72nd Street, or even closer to Midtown or Downtown, chances are high that you could get around by walking, cycling, or busing.

Here's a link to a google map that I made showing my interpretation of the Omaha Bikeway 20 mile bike loop: Google Maps (http://tinyurl.com/bikemap - broken link)