WEEK WITHOUT DRIVING - JOIN THE MOVEMENT

What Happens When You Can’t Drive?

This October, Australia joins a growing global movement!

Week Without Driving Australia invites people to step out of their cars. Why? As an empathy challenge. Because for millions of people, driving is not a choice, it’s everyday life.

About this Session

We’re inviting you to step into the Week Without Driving movement as a WWD Champion.

In this session, hosts Wendy Nash (AUS) and Ruth Rosas (USA) will share the story behind the initiative, where it began, the impact it’s already having, and how it’s growing into a global movement for mobility justice and inclusion.

We’ll also explore what it means to step into the role of a WWD Champion - the representatives and connectors within their organisations who will bring this movement to life locally. Whether through your workplace, school, organisation, or community, you’ll be invited to bring Week Without Driving into your own context in Australia this October, while being supported along the way.

* Not in Australia? Join in!!! The more involved, the greater the impact!

* Please note this is not a webinar, it's an interactive session that requires active participation.

* The Session runs for 60 minutes, with an optional 30-minute networking opportunity for participants

Background

The campaign began in 2021, when Anna Zivarts at Disability Rights Washington launched Week Without Driving so that policy makers, elected leaders and transportation professionals could begin to understand the barriers non-drivers experience in accessing their communities.

Why this Matters

• How do you get to work if the bus doesn’t come?

• How do you take your child to school if there’s no footpath?

• How do you attend appointments, buy groceries, or participate in community life if transport systems weren’t designed with you in mind?

These barriers are not occasional inconveniences, they are daily realities for many.

Mobility determines access to:

• Employment

• Education

• Healthcare

• Social connection

• Independence

• Opportunity

Week Without Driving creates an opportunity to experience this reality, firsthand! Not through reports, not through statistics, but through LIVED EXPERIENCE.

The Bigger Picture: A National Invitation

We’re inviting organisations across Australia to participate in Week Without Driving (1–8 October), to experience, reflect, and share what this reveals about how our cities and communities actually work. Because when we understand the barriers people face, we can begin designing communities that really work for everyone.

Participants will commit to reducing or removing private car use during the week and documenting the experience.

Alternatives to driving may include:

• Public transport

• Walking

• Cycling

• Ride sharing

• Mobility aids

• Or recognising where no viable options exist!

The Structure: Monthly Calls & Community Connection (Optional)

To support participants, the initiative will include:

• Monthly community zoom calls

• Shared reflections

• Storytelling opportunities

• Cross-sector conversations

• Community support spaces

• Strategic Partnerships 

Who should participate?

The list below is by no means exclusive! It's a start, and we welcome everyone!

Government - Local, State and Federal

Where change can become implementation.

Disability & Lived Experience Organisations

Because meaningful change begins with lived experience shaping systems.

Active Transport & Advocacy Groups

This expands the conversation beyond cycling or transport into inclusion, access, and participation.

Community & Social Impact Organisations

This is where conversations around migration, accessibility, cognitive load, ageing, and community connection become real — not theoretical.

Corporate Leaders

Mobility shapes workforce participation, wellbeing, and social inclusion.

We especially invite organisations with Sustainability goals and Community Impact agendas

TOGETHER, WE CAN REIMAGINE MOBILITY

Week Without Driving is an opportunity to better understand how transport shapes inclusion, independence, and connection in our communities. By participating, we can help create more accessible, equitable, and liveable cities and towns for everyone!

This is a shared, hands-on journey - working together on something that matters to everyone involved, learning as we go, and making space for curiosity, creativity, and yes!, fun along the way, as we reimagine how we move through our cities together.

Experience it. Reflect on it. Help change it!

About the Hosts

Wendy Nash (Caboolture, QLD)

This initiative is brought to Australia by Wendy Nash, Founder Get Around Caboolture. 

Wendy Nash is the founder of Get Around Caboolture, a community-based NFP working to expand transport choices in Caboolture and Morayfield, on the outskirts of Brisbane.

Wendy advocates for more transport choice to foster a more connected and inclusive community. Her goal is to build empathy and drive systemic change, ensuring transport decisions consider the transport needs of all residents where 1 in 4 adults and all children can’t drive.

Connect with Wendy here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/get-around-caboolture/

Website: https://getaroundcaboolture.au/

Ruth Rosas (Chicago, USA)

Ruth Rosas (she/they) is the Director of Coalition Building at Nondrivers Alliance and has led the national organising of Week Without Driving for the past 3 years. Ruth tells stories in English and Spanish about how people move.

For over 15 years, they have worked at the intersection of mobility justice, environmental justice, public health and youth development. With the goal of creating sustainable spaces of connection, care and liberation, Ruth works to reduce car dependency and reimagine solutions that expand choice and opportunity that reflect the needs of people.

Connect with Ruth here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthrosas/

Website: https://nondrivers.org/

🌎 About Liveable Cities Collective 🌎

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We are people from diverse industries who care deeply about the future of our cities and communities. Here, purposeful conversations turn to courageous partnerships and Radical Action!