[sustran] Re: Local cycling environment indicators: More on . . .

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

Eric Britton (Fr) wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Bradshaw [mailto:c_bradshaw at rogers.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 4:30 PM
>
> Eric,
>
> [...]
>   
>> 3.       Transit system coverage: If you mean public transport in Paris it
>> certainly is a 5! But like I said, public transport is a competitor to
>> cycling so should you give it a 5 in this context as adding to
>> bikeability?
>>     
>
> The No. Am. penchant for putting racks on buses can be replaced by providing
> bikes at destinations, meaning that there might be an increased demand for
> bike parking at bus stops at the other end of the bike trips.
>   
TWO things:

1 - A little philosophy. In the perfect holistic and sustainable urban 
mobility chain, there is no competition between cycling and public 
transport. Of course looking at it one way it is clear that there is, as 
someone may ask themselves "Should I take the bus or the bike...?" but 
then again they could continue with "...or walk, or work at home?". So 
then, from another point of view, we have the PT operators saying to 
themselves "Our competition is fast Internet connections!" This is 
nonsense. And made worse by the fact that PT operators could not say 
that in public. In regards to bicycles, there is lots of talk of 
complementariness - i.e. using personal or shared bikes as feeders and 
parking them - AND competition - i.e. just using the one or the other... 
so, that begs the question for advocates of New Mobility (or Reducing 
the Need for Mobility by Planning for Proximity) of the best way to 
frame this, the most useful perspective.

One of perhaps many useful perspectives is that of the municipal 
powers-that-be which create contractual conditions for their PT 
operators, whether or not they own them. One of the conditions would be 
- and I suppose is in some cities already - that the business of all 
transportation modes is to work together to create the greatest result 
for sustainability. Looking at this way, there is no competition. If 
people take a bike instead of the bus, then the bus operator must be 
happy, because, after all, the cyclist is happy. As long as the PT is 
the best that local can buy and the bikes yield to pedestrians, both 
means are superwonderful. But of course this is not so simple, it is 
nuanced, and facilitated by things like citywide mobility smartcards 
which can be used for everything from PT to bikeparking to a discount on 
bike parts. This means users of sustainable transport are buying into 
the complete system, not just this OR that. And it benefits everyone 
(whether they know it or not...).

***

2 - The North American "penchant for putting racks on buses" - if anyone 
is not familiar with this incredibly successful programme please see 
here: 
<http://www.thunderheadalliance.org/site/images/uploads/Bikes_on_Buses_Facts_Sheet.doc> 
PLUS an extensive list of operators which use front bike racks – and 
indeed lots of information about the whole intermodal picture in the 
U.S. – is at <http://www.bikemap.com/bikesontransit> PLUS 
<http://www.sportworks.com> OR come to my workshop at VeloCity - is not 
replaceable by having bikes at destinations. Sure, the systems can 
complement each other, and bikes on buses has a more minor role, but 
there are many situations where personal bikes cannot be replaced by 
shared bikes or bikeparking. One of the most significant is taking a 
bike from A to B to C. Where B = public transport and A to B and B to C 
are long journeys, and C is where the "sustainable transport customer" 
is a bit of any out of the way place where they are going to be for some 
hours, overnight, etc. While they could use their own bike to get from A 
to B and park it, to get from B to C using a shared bike is a problem 
because it would be out of the mix for a long time at location C, and 
also the customer would be paying for nothing. There are partial 
solutions for this - e.g. self-contained shared bikes used in Deutsche 
Bahn Call-a-Bike 
<http://www.callabike-interaktiv.de/kundenbuchung/process.php?proc=english&f=500&key=1e8bae36142a269f28d20215ce06dd49...00000>- 
but the bikes used are VERY expensive and are limited to a certain part 
of town.

- T


-- 
--------------------------------------------

Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

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