Billions for Bikes Beats Band-aid Bailouts

Shockingly enough, this is my first post dedicated to bicycles. I was rather fixated on high-speed rail for a while. Now that the people in my home state have voted to spend $10 billion on high-speed rail and there is talk of systems all over North America, it is time to focus on pedal power.

In a world shaken to the core by climate change, volatile fuel prices, rising obesity rates and a collapsing economy,  there has never been a better time for cycling. What is possible will only be limited by our vision and execution. 

Green stimulus is all the rage. People realize that this is an opportunity to transform our cities and our economy. We need to create a world where people can live great lives while using much less energy and resources. This, really is our only option.

Politicians are looking for shovel ready projects where construction can start as soon as possible. Bicycle paths and bridges are idea. Compared to other types of projects, they are simpler and have less impact on the environment and the community. Transit and rail projects are complicated and can take years to plan. Not to argue against transit and rail, we need both. It is just that cycling projects can be done now while the economy is still in the tank. This will provide people with both jobs and affordable transportation speeding the recovery. 

Be sure to push for high-quality cycling facilities that people want and will use. This tends to be paths and cycle tracks, like in Amsterdam and Copenhagen that are separated from cars. There is little evidence that even bike lanes are effective at encouraging more people to cycle. By pushing for want people actually want, you will find that politicians are likely to be more receptive in spite or even because of the additional cost. 

Don't be afraid to dream big. Politicians just aren't interested in small projects that no one will even notice. Don't forget, the goal is economic stimulus. That means big bucks. These people are used to dealing with large numbers. Don't waste their time or yours with small projects.

Unlike the automobile industry, the bicycle industry is doing just fine thank you. Sales are at record levels. Unfortunately, unlike the automobile industry, the bicycle industry has not done a very good job of fighting for funding for facilities. If auto industry had done such a poor job, we would still be riding horses and well, bicycles. Fortunately, the bike industry is starting to support advocacy groups, but much more needs to be done.

So start phoning, writing, and meeting with your elected representatives. Join and volunteer for cycling advocacy groups. Form your own. Bring your friends, family and co-workers on board. Be relentless. Don't take no for an answer. Remember, the squeaky gets the green stimulus.

More info:

Third Wave Cycling Group - My consulting firm

British Columbia Cycling Coalition - British Columbia's Cycling Advocates

Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition

Bikes Belong - Sponsored by the U.S. bicycle industry with the goal of putting more people on bicycles more often

Thunderhead Alliance - The national coalition of state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations

Sustrans - The UK's leading sustainable transport charity

Active Transportation for America - A Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking

Certainty in an Uncertain World - The Case for Accelerated Investment in Cycling

Going Backwards - Fast

I was in Europe A couple of months ago. The main excuse was to check out bike sharing systems. I didn’t let that distract me from hopping on a train at any opportunity. The training started with the Eurostar, the high-speed rail from London to Paris.

It is good to get out of here every once and a while. A change in perspective can, well, change one’s perspective. In North America, surrounded by cars and planes, we think this is just how people get around. Even worse, we think that planes and cars represent the latest and greatest and the be all and end all in transportation. Well, that was the fifties. Now, the world is passing us by while we are dreaming of a past future that never will be. Passing us by so fast that we might as well be going backwards fast.

Just how fast, check out the video.



High-speed rail is fast and getting faster. This is not your father’s train. The latest ones are hitting 350 km per hour, almost 4 times what an automobile can go. And you don’t have to stop for chips or the can. As far as planes go, by the time you schlep out to the airport, suffer through insecurity line-ups and cram onto the plane, downtown to downtown rail is competitive for trips of up to five hours. And much more civilized.

We have wasted untold billions of silver and sweat in a transportation system that was a symptom of cheap, plentiful oil and steel. Now that neither are cheap, there is no longer a need to for the automobile industry. Hybrids are not a solution, they cost several thousands more up front at a time when wages are stagnant and prices are going up. Not a transportation solution for the masses, they do allow a few to ease their consciences. The reality is that congestion is making driving slower and slower. Rising costs of everything from steel to plastic to oil make the automobile a drag on the economy.

As planting hay and building stables would have been a folly a century ago, so is constructing highways, drilling for oil, building better batteries and hoping for hydrogen today. The folly of moving backwards fast.

Countries all over the world have been investing in high-speed rail for the last 30 years. Japan, France, Spain, all have great networks. China and India are coming on fast. Californians will be voting on high-speed rail. Probably even more important decision than the presidential race. Even Alberta, the oil capital of the world, is looking at a line between Calgary and Edmonton. As dealers of addictive substances have long known, it is better to stick to selling it than using it.

The progress in China is truly staggering. They building a 12,000 km high-speed railway network would connect all provincial capitals and major cities by 2020. The first inter-city high-speed link, between Tianjin and Beijing, opened August 1st, and more than 1.8 million passengers have ridden the 350-km/h electric trains. The 120km journey used to take 70 minutes but now takes only 30. They plan on having the speed up to 380kph in a couple of years. Don’t be distracted by the reports of their love affair with the car. Sure, they are using cars but they are also making massive investments in transit and rail. The really story is that they are leapfrogging us, if indeed, they ever were really behind.

Peering from the window of the Eurostar munching on what seems like my tenth croissant, the cars on the highways are moving backwards fast.

The Relentless March of Inevitability

2010 will mark a turning point. The people of Vancouver will be able to celebrate accomplishment of Olympic proportions. The calling of our age. A legacy ensuring hope for the future. It won’t be celabrated by the lighting of a flame, the raising of a flag or the playing of a national anthem. Instead it will be marked by the routine chime of a SkyTrain door, the chirp of a pedestrian button, the squeak of a chain or a simple “No thanks, I’ll take the bus.”

Late in the morning of Thursday February 11, 2010, a coffee mug will be placed in a holder and an engine will sputter to like marking the last time ever that the majority of the people of Vancouver will take a car to work. The next day, someone will make the choice to walk, cycle, or take transit thus culminating the relentless march of inevitability that began with the defeat of the freeways in the early 70’s.

The automobile will join transit, walking and cycling as alternate transportation. A choice for some, a necessity for a few, but no longer dominant.

With streets still jammed with traffic, this may seem unlikely. However, the 2006 Census reported the total being a mere 51.5% of people drive to work. Chances are that high gas prices have already reduced that to under half. Still another 6% are passengers so a bit over half still commute by car so still over half get to work by car. Many of the steps of inevitability are already in motion. The high price of gas, the higher price of housing, climate change, the Central Valley Greenway, South East False Creek, wider sidewalks on Burrard Bridge. In the end, it will likely be the Canada Line that will make the final difference. The much maligned little mini metro that could can and will likely be the nudge that pushes the automobile over the cliff of eternal minority status.

As the auto follows the horse to pasture, we still will fondly reminisce the summer drive on the open road. On the weekend we may even take the country train to enjoy a cruise down memory lane. The new hobby horse.

Worshiped and loved. The heart and soul of the twentieth century. Or was it. In reflection, the age of the automobile will appear as the illusion it was. Never an option for the majority of the people in the world. Never the dominate form of transportation in the world.

A strange love at that. A love proclaimed but not with patience. In reality, a tool of convenience, the less time spent with the better, lest one explodes with rage with the least of unintended provocation. We deserve better love than that.

Never before in history has a creation burned so bright, rose so high so fast, burned out so fast and fell to the ground so hard. It soared but never flew. So much for hydrogen and hybrids, the hyped, hapless, hopeless harbingers of non-change. Automotive margarine. In the end, it simply just ran out of gas. It lasted only a hundred years. A mere blip in human history. Will it even be remembered in the passage of time, our age of strip malls, cul-du-sacs and drive-ins.

Vancouver is ahead but Burnaby and New West are not far behind. Vancouver will be the first city in Canada and on the west coast to relegate the automobile to minority status. We follow in the footsteps of New York City and Washington DC. One by one, the rest will fall, the bastions of Buick, Benz and BMW under the boots of the relentless march of inevitability. The driving beat marking the end of the age of the automobile.