The year 2020 is upon us, so you’ll find a slew of articles recapping the last 10 years. I’ve read several on urban planning that highlight the dramatic role of the humble bicycle. Here’s one from Forbes:
The number of bike-sharing options in cities around the world has doubled since 2014, and the number of bicycles in operation has increased twenty-fold.
Those are big numbers. Bike share systems have doubled in just over 5 years. And the number of bicycles being used is up 20x.
Keep in mind this isn’t recreational biking. This isn’t mountain biking or road racing. Bike share is for short trips, usually just 10 or 15 minute rides at a time.
These stats are referring to bicycling as transportation.
The article continues:
From this point on, all that remains is for city halls to understand that the bicycle is the future of urban transport and provide the appropriate investment to build cycle lanes. The key to this is twofold: First, embracing the practice of taking space from cars to use it for bicycle lanes and other micro-mobility vehicles, and Second, forcing people to share the roads with aggressive cars is dangerous and enough to put anybody off but the bravest.
The article ends with a shot at traditional gas-powered cars:
The sooner we get rid of obsolete and harmful technologies, the better for everyone. A smart city is one that doesn’t poison its inhabitants.
Those are some quality one-liners. I realize the author’s talking about the machines themselves, but you could also restate this in reference to modern traffic engineering and road design.
The sooner we get rid of obsolete and harmful engineering practices, the better for everyone. A smart city is one that doesn’t design for dangerous behavior.