Debra Franklin gets her passengers rockin’, ridin’, and rollin’ on her routes
One in a series of Open Streets 704 profiles on Charlotte’s bike and pedestrian advocates.
Debra Franklin is always on the move.
And we don’t mean from desk to desk. We mean that if you put a GPS tracker on Debra, you could follow her to work in the morning and around the city all day. After she finishes her day shift, she keeps moving well after 5 p.m., too — helping others to get moving the way she does.
What keeps her so busy? Debra, a CATS bus driver for the city of Charlotte, is also an advocate for biking and walking around the city whose bus routes she knows so well. As the Executive Director of Bike Routes 4 Fitness, her two “jobs” may seem an ironic conflict to some, but to Debra, they go together perfectly.
“Bus passengers talk about getting around, how hard it is when they have to work and have no transportation, or their car breaks down,” she says. She notes that sometimes even getting to a bus stop can be an obstacle. “I want it to be safe,” she says.
Debra’s own childhood was filled with the freedom of working because of her bike. “My life was built on a bicycle,” she recalls. Her wheels allowed her to earn money babysitting, and with a paper route. She understands how, as workers grow up and start to drive, they leave their bikes behind — but they don’t have to.
She started Bike Routes 4 Fitness to show her passengers that they can commute on two wheels and get fit, while also helping the environment by keeping cars off the road. “Bicycling is cool now,” she says. She came up with the idea of creating bike and pedestrian routes around the city based on bus routes. The bike routes would give her passengers another way to get to work, or at least another way to light rail stations or bus stops that may be far from their homes. Buses accommodate two bikes at a time, and light rail also allows bikes on board. Debra calls it, “the first mile and final mile” to work and home.
She also understands that commuting steals a lot of time from a worker’s day, often taking away time from fitness activities. Bike Routes 4 Fitness creates an opportunity for biking or walking that helps them stay healthy.
“Let’s get to work, but let’s be fit,” she says. It’s Debra’s goal to pass this philosophy onto her passengers, but she also realizes the dangers of being a pedestrian or cyclist in a car-centered city and wants to make it safer. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right,” she says. “Let’s train.”
Debra took Smart Cycling classes, and then became a League Cycling Instructor for the League of American Bicyclists. Being an LCI offers insurance, which she knows is a real necessity, while she teaches rules of the road. She shows others how to adopt a fit lifestyle while commuting, like she adopted for herself nearly two years ago with exciting results.
In January 2017, Debra decided to change her life of driving a bus all day and sleeping through the weekends to “rest up” for her work week. She wondered how others had the energy to go places and do fun things on their days off. She started riding her bike to work and back home.
In just a year and a half, she lost 30 pounds and lowered her blood pressure to healthier levels. “No more medications!” she exclaims with a laugh. Recent blood work also showed lower cholesterol levels and a far lower risk for diabetes, which had been at borderline levels. She lives what she preaches to her bus passengers.
“There are instant results!” she says. “They’ll feel better, sleep better, and have more confidence. People will notice!” She gushes about opportunities to walk or bike to work or at lunch because of better pedestrian paths and greenways, and outdoor-centered activities like Open Streets 704.
“We used to call them block parties,” she laughs. “Open Streets 704 connects the blocks so neighborhoods can be connected to each other!” She is especially excited about the fall route connecting Historic West End to uptown and South End on September 30th, and the culture it will share between neighborhoods.
“Open Streets opens up social capital for everyone — for all people, all ages — We are ONE, Charlotte!” she says, excited about the opportunity to walk, bike, and roll through an afternoon of activities on car(e) free streets.
“Let’s do it!” she says with an enthusiastic punch. “Everyone should be at Open Streets 704!”
