Active commute

After a long period of absence from posting to this blog I have decided this year to once again take up the baton. So here goes to the first post of the year - happy 2014 to all.

Our sedentary lifestyles are packed full of activities and responsibilities. For many the only time available during the week for getting some exercise is the commute. For those not living within walking or cycling distance to work it can seem unrealistic to use the commute to get that exercise. But some are using active transport as a portion of their commute trip. This may include:

• driving to a free parking area close to a bikeway into the city (the park-and-ride adjacent to Anzac Park in Toowong is an example of this)
• Cycling or walking past your local bus stop to high frequency public transport (more prevalent for rail than bus)
• Climbing off the bus early and walking the rest of the way to work.  

Wellington currently have a campaign to encourage commuters to do the be active as part of their daily commute - including the strategies above. Are we as planners and engineers considering these opportunities when we plan active transport facilities, information or campaigns for commuters?

BMW Guggenheim Lab

Rachel Smith was telling me about an exciting project she has the privaledge of being involved in - the BMW Guggenheim Lab. They have a web site, blog and twitter feed.  Here is what it is all about in her own words:

"Rachel was nominated by Enrique Penalosa the former Mayor of Bogota and international urbanist and selected by the advisory committee and curators of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York. 

The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile laboratory travelling to 9 cities over 6 years led by international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents in urbanism, architecture, technology and sustainability. The Lab addresses issues of contemporary urban life through programs and public discourse. Its goal is the exploration of new ideas, experimentation, and ultimately the creation of forward-thinking solutions for city life. 

The Lab, designed by Tokyo-based architects Atelier Bow-Wow, is a combination think tank, public forum, and community centre. The theme for Cycle 1: Berlin, New York and Mumbai is ‘Confronting comfort’ aiming to make urban places more responsive to inhabitants needs. Cycle 1 will conclude with an exhibition presented at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2013. 

Rachel’s theme for Lab is ‘Dynamic Connections’ which explores many topics including urban transformation, e-mobility and car sharing, open source crowd sourced transport cartography, place making and collaborative consumption. In addition to developing 11 themes of urban public programming Rachel is working with her three lab team members on an ‘urban installation’ to be launched in Berlin on 23 May 2012. 

The BMW Guggenheim Lab Berlin Team comprises of

• José Gómez-Márquez, program director for the Innovations in International Health Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
• Professor Carlo Ratti, architect and engineer who practices in Italy and directs the SENSEable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
• Dr Corinne Rose a Berlin-based artist who works with photography and video and teaches at the Bern University of the Arts
• Rachel Smith, principal transport planner with AECOM, based in Brisbane, Australia

Dutch Cycling Embassy

Cycling For Everyone from Dutch Cycling Embassy on Vimeo.

Rachel Smith pointed me towards this fantastic little video about the Dutch Cycling Embassy. It is an initiative of the government in the Netherlands to provide access to their extensive network of cycling resources, research, expertise and experience.

Bicycle portraits

I have previously posted about the South African Bicycle Portraits project of Stan Engelbrecht and Nick Grobler. Well here is an update on the project - a beautiful video portrait of Robert Swartz and his bicycle.

Bicycle Portraits - Robert Swartz from Bicycle Portraits on Vimeo.

Read more about the project here and see more of their videos here.

This sort of project is so vital for bringing cycling to the attention of those at the top of the economic food chain. There is so much more that is needed to make cycling more affordable and safer in Africa.

Bicycle oposition

The roll out of improved facilities for cycling receives its fair share of negative press. Retrofitting bicycle facilities in our busy cities will result in pain because, for the most part, it means you have to take space from one mode and give it to the other.

Is it inevitable that improving safe cycle routes will result in articles like these against cycling?

• Daily Telegraph bemoaning cycle lanes as an Orwellian plot
  
• Daily Telegraph again bemoaning lawless cyclists
• Daily Telegraph once again against the roll out of cycleways in Sydney
• Daily Telegraph about bike lanes and bus stops
• Sydney Morning Herald on a class action against cycle lanes in the inner city
• The Age on the Melbourne Bike Hire scheme

There are many articles in support of cycling but this clearly illustrates the conflict caused by reallocating space to cyclists. Or is it just the line of a particular editor?

It does raise the question as to how we communicate with the public and how we deal with the pain that reallocating space will result in. Brisbane has largely taken the easy path in the inner city by largely using Bicycle Awareness Zones instead of Sydney's network of separated cycle paths. Brisbane may have avoided the negative backlash but will the BAZ signs make life better for cyclists in the CBD?

Australian vision for Active Transport

A partnership of five groups from the health, transport and local government sector have launched a policy framework for supporting Active transport. The five groups are: The Australian Local Government Association, Bus Industry Confederation, Cycling Promotion Fund, the National Heart Foundation of Australia and the International Association of Public Transport.

The policy framework sets out a 9-point plan for supporting an increase in walkning, cycling and public transport. These are:

1. Develop an integrated national active transport strategy that embraces policy and planning for the major components: walking; cycling; and public transport.
2. Develop clear and realistic targets for activetransport and physical activity outcomes.
3. Provide local government authorities with substantial, sustained and targeted funding for active transport.
4. Support the development and widespread application of Healthy Spaces and Places planning principles.
5. Encourage active domestic tourism by funding major regional projects such as rail trails, cycleroutes and hiking tracks.
6. Promote a safe environment for people who choose to walk, cycle or take public transport and review jurisdictional approaches to the legislative protection of vulnerable road users.
7. Fund social marketing programs to promote the many benefits of walking and cycling for people of all ages.
8. Support cycle training and pedestrian education in schools.
9. Provide incentives for employers to encourage employees to walk, cycle or take public transport to work.
   

The details of the policy framework can be found here.

Australia's cycling culture

The media has been awash recently with articles calling for a change in cycling culture from the sports and performance focused riding culture to a more relaxed, European culture. Something like the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog, Auckland Cycle Chic or Cycle Chic Sundays love to celebrate. The first 2 blogs blog have a whole lot of Australian cycle chic - including the recent 'no helmet' demonstration on the Melbourne Bike share scheme.The Sydney Morning Herald's article talks about how upright bikes are the norm in Europe unlike here where sports bicycles - mountain bikes and racers - are far more prevalent. Our helmet laws got a lot of attention and were targeted as the 'source of all evil'.

Then The Age reported on the slow uptake on the bike-share scheme in Melbourne, putting most of the blame on the need to wear helmets and downplaying the impact of winter.

A key aspect that is not emphasised enough though is that, for most of us cyclists, a helmet is a good idea. Our road and pathway infrastructure and the sprawl of our cities is more conducive to higher risk cycling, where helmet use is a good idea. For example, I am fortunate enough to cycle to the city on a high standard, off-road cycle path - but I cycle 8km so I need to travel at a decent pace. I have had one accident on the cycle path thanks to my speed and have witnessed a few near misses between cyclists thanks to narrow, congested pathways. If I didn't have a helmet I would have had a serious head injury. Those who brave the roads are in even more danger. In trawling for a photo of the Australian city commuter style I happened on a poem that illustrates the point (From Canada though). The writer alters Tennyson's famous poem to be the 'Charge of the Cycle Commuter'.

Maybe once we have a more comprehensive network of safe cycle routes and calmed streets through our cities there may be cause to consider whether some relaxation of the law may be appropriate where the infrastructure supports safer cycling.

Update

Thanks to Mike Rubbo for his comment and this link to his great, in-depth blog on the slow uptake in the Melbourne Bike Share scheme. Will the reaction be similarly muted with Brisbane's CityCycle scheme to be commissioned later this year? I, and many others, hope not - but the truth be told, with the helmet police waiting to fine casual users, it will not be used. Because bike-share relies on impulsive, unplanned use by people who would not normally cycle - and hence don't have a helmet handy.

I still believe we need to make our streets safer to support bike share, and a massive roll out of cyclists on bike-share bikes will help achieve that. Unfortunately they will not use it en-masse if there is a requirement to wear a helmet - because it is no longer convenient.

I don't think there should be an exemption just for the bike share, as Mike suggests, it should be based on area (speed restricted roads in CBD) and/or infrastructure type (off-road cycleway/pathway) - but an exemption is needed or bike share will fail in Australia. That would be very sad, to be the only two failed bike share schemes worldwide. I hope Mike, myself and the other 'doomsday prophets' are proved wrong. But to do so, Brisbane and Melbourne will need to be a bit more innovative in making helmets conveniently accessible.

City bikeway network supported

The Daily Telegraph reports that 84% of inner city and 75% of all Sydney residents support the development of a comprehensive cycleway network in the city - according to a survey of 500 residents of inner Sydney suburbs. Half of Sydney residents believe cycling can help ease congestion and 73% of those between 18 and 35 would consider riding a bike if there was a safe and convenient network of cycle routes.

The web site Sydney Cycleways, developed by the City of Sydney provides five reasons why cycleways are good for the city and gives some policy and strategy on these. The five reasons are:

• to ease congestion
• for improved health
• to create a liveable city
• to support the economy
• to improve safety
  

Bicycle portraits

I have blogged previously about my work in South Africa supporting cycling. It was hard work because there was very little understanding in the planning and engineering industry of the needs of cyclists. Bicycle facilities are thus few and far between and hence there are few brave commuter cyclists out there .
But they are there, and two avid cycle activists and photographers are documenting them in a new book - Bicycle Portraits. It is a beautiful collection of portraits and stories of cyclists and their bikes. Check out the great promotional video here. I loved the music - a Zulu version of Papa was a Rolling Stone.


They are still raising the money to self-publish the book so help them out here.

California Bike

I previously mentioned the Rural Bicycle Initiative I headed up in South Africa from 1998 to 2003 when I was in the kwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport. The project involved the establishment of sustainable bicycle micro-businesses to sell and maintain bicycles in rural areas in South Africa. The concept was first trialed by Afribike in two pilot projects I had the privilege of leading.

In 2001 the Shova Kalula project of the National Department of Transport rolled out the program throughout the country with a promise to distribute 1 million subsidised bicycles by 2015. Through this we established another 10 micro-businesses in kwaZulu-Natal.

The program was hamstrung however by a reliance on donated recycled bicycles from Europe and America. Although this scheme worked reasonably well for the initial small pilot projects it fell apart for the nation wide roll out because the supply of bicycles was not reliable. So cheap mountain bikes were procured and distributed, but they were not popular. The poor standard of the components meant they were wrecks in no time. In 2006 the program started buying California Bikes, a purpose built bike designed for rural communities in Africa.
(picture from Wheels4life)
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) designed a hardy 6-speed and single speed bicycle for rural areas that is now the standard bicycle distributed under the Shova Kalula program. It has a steel frame (so that it can be welded to repair or modify), a rack and few accessories and moving parts to minimise maintenance. ITDP have some info on their program to roll out the California Bike throughout Africa.
The bicycles are used extensively for transport in these communities because there is no other option for local trips.(Photo: Maryann Shaw)
I was reminded about the program when I saw some photos of the California Bike (branded Shova Kalula under the South African program) on a friend of a friend's web site. She recently wrote an article for Mobility Magazine on an empowerment. To read the article you need to register on the site.

It is great to see the program still going after almost 10 years at one of our first sites established in kwaJobe, close to Durban. It feels good to have been a part of something great like this.

New York City news

I met Gordon Price this week. He is the Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada) and is here in Brisbane for a week. Attended a great presentation on the impending demise of motordom (car centric development) and had a look at his great selection of on-line newsletters, Price Tags. They are like study tours from the comfort of your study.

Two caught my attention: Cycling in NYC and Times Square. They give a fantastic overview of what the city is doing to support cycling and are worthwhile distributing because they are engaging and easy to read. The New York article is now out of date but it still is a good read.

(photo: NYCDOT via Streetsblog)
The news is that the Times Square experiment has now been made permanent after a report found that it was a resounding success. According to this article by Cityrealty the Mayor announced on 11 Feb 2010 that Broadway will remain a pedestrian mall through Times Square.

A report found that closing Broadway and reducing roadway capacity reduced taxi travel times through the area by 7% on average. Injuries to motorists and pedestrians are down 63% and 35% respectively. Workers in the area, visitors and businesses love it and theater goers say it improves their experience.

Transportation Alternatives

I have previously mentioned Transportation Alternatives. Here is a great video by their Executive Director, Paul Steely White. I like his conclusion 'If the greatest city in the world (New York) can make its most vulnerable road users safe, every city, I think, will want to follow suite.'
I discovered the link at the fantastic Velo Mondial blog.

Velo Mondial

In 2006 I presented two papers to the Velo Mondial conference in Cape Town on a rural bicycle initiative I lead and a ground breaking (but sub-standard by Australian standards) cycle path I fought for. The papers are under the Marketplace papers under M for Moore.
Last night I was looking for the papers (they mysteriously disappeared off my home computer) and stumbled across the Velo Mondial blog and web site. The web site is a real treasure trove of resources related to cycling and the blog has interesting parallels to many of my posts on this blog. It is predominantly focused on Europe but that is not that bad, since that is where the Western World has the highest levels of cycling.
Have a look at some of the fantastic initiatives and resources of Velo Mondial.

Cyclovia, Bogota Columbia

The city of Bogota in Columbia gives over some of the cities roads to cyclists every weekend. This film by Streetfilms gives a fantastic overview of the program. Wouldn't it be great to have a weekly event like this in an Australian city? Streetfilms have a fantastic number of videos on livable streets worldwide.

Times Square update

Here is an ironic look at the new pedestrianised Times Square. It doesn't tell you much but gives an idea of what it looks like. Notice that the kerbs have not been moved or removed. The road is still there, it is just not for cars anymore.

Outer suburbs, cycling and walking

I find it very interesting that the advertising for most of the new residential developments on the urban fringe emphasise walking and cycling in their advertising. Most of these developments have good cycling and walking networks within the developments but are too far from most employment to make cycling or walking to work viable.

This article in The Age highlights the problem in Melbourne based on a report by the Institute for Sensible Transport. Residents in wealthier inner suburbs travel as much as four times less per week by car (50km vs over 200km in outer suburbs) due to distance from employment and services and lack of public transport.

If the cycling and walking facilities in these new outer suburbs were integrated with high quality, frequent public transport services to the major centres the level of transport disadvantage in these areas can be significantly reduced. We should be building massive cycle and ride facilities at these line-haul stations and minimising the amount of park and ride provided.

Sydney Harbour Bridge picnic

On Sunday 25 October 2009 the Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed to traffic for the morning to hold a massive picnic. The event was organised by the NSW government as part of their spring festival. Just 6,000 people were chosen by lottery to join the picnic.

The ABC news site (where I got the picture) gives a short report and an excellent time lapse video showing from start to finish.

Although just a small event the message this sort of event sends out is great - the car is not king, roads can be closed for people.

Transport Alternatives

Transport Alternatives is an advocacy group for 'bicycling, walking and public transit'. They have some great resources to reference. Crashstat 2.0 is an incredible resource that provides a GIS map with data on the number and location of pedestrian and bicycle crashes resulting in injury or death. Not only that, It also gives incredible details from pedestrian and bicycle counts mid-block and at intersections throughout Manhattan. They have a comprehensive selection of cycling resources including information, cycling tips, bicycle advocacy and legal tips.

The Bicycle Blueprint for NYC is a fantastic advocacy resource. I am especially interested in the discussion on bicycle parking at rail and subway stations. The research done by PB in NSW on bicycle parking at stations looks into this in NSW. Cycling has huge potential as a mode of access to rail stations if only there were safe routes to the stations and secure parking. The space savings that could be achieved by providing bicycle parking instead of car parking at park and ride stations could do wonders for promoting transit oriented development.