Feel like a twit on a bike

TWITTER TACKLES BIKE THIEVES
29 July 2009-
One of the interesting things which makes following new media so interesting is how users find new uses for the medium which were never envisioned by the developers of the original application. Another example to appear in this northern summer is Twitter and bicycles. While it isn't safe to tweet while cycling, any more than it isn't safe to text while driving, if you happen to be unable to cycle. then perhaps tweeting is more than just OK.

Cyclists in Boston, Massachusssetts have a new weapon in their
arsenal against bike thieves - Twitter. The Stolen Bike Alert programme, run by Boston Bikes, a department of the City of Boston, sends an
alert to police, local bike shops, hospitals, schools and subscribers when a
bike is reported stolen . The alerts are sent via Twitter, Facebook or email,
instantly raising awareness of the stolen bike.
Read
more here:http://www.bikebiz.com/news/30890/Twitter-tackles-bike-thieves

Driving with blinkers

When horse drawn carriages were the preferred method of getting around town, horses which were inclined to be skittish would be fitted with blinkers, short flaps of leather which restricted the horse's peripheral vision and so decreased the likelihood of the horse rearing or bolting. It often seems to me that policy makers in transportation feel more comfortable wearing their own metaphorical blinkers.
In the current recession, there has been much talk of stimulating the national economy by improving the infrastructure. When it comes to transport infrastructure so many people think only of roads. They do not consider there are other means of land transport like rail, walking and cycling. What makes this blinkered attitude so frustrating is that cycleways and footpaths don't cost as much to build as roads. We get more bangs for our buck if we put the money into these types of infrastructure.
When we read the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development's report on transport infrastructure needs, we see not just an obsession with roading, but also with roading which will reduce congestion. The cost to the economy from road congestion is much less than the cost from road crashes caused by poorly designed roads, yet making roads safer is not the major concern of the Council. If we wanted a quick way to reduce congestion then improving cycling and walking facilities will produce a better result because cycleways are quicker and easier to build and a bicycle takes up lass space than a car.
The detractors of the National Cycleway project seem to be long on derision and short on argument. The experience of the National Cycle Network in Great Britain is that a route developed primarily for tourism and recreation soon becomes the preferred route for people commuting to work or using their bicyles for other transportation purposes like shopping.

Fashion on wheels

While traffic engineers experiment with cycle lanes and traffic calming, social researchers are suggesting that perhaps a better approach might be to ask that old question: What do women want? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-more-bicyclists-on-the-road .

In an article in The Guardian, Helen Pidd quotes some significant statistics from Sustrans that 79% of British women do not cycle at all even though 43% have access to a bike. In the article she suggests that perhaps one reason for this situation is the fact that cycling clothes make women look as if they have "been attacked by a highlighter pen". She goes on to talk about clothing designers such as Cyclodelic who have recently secured an agreement for the British retail chain, Topshop to stock their products. The implication is that looking good while cycling may encourage more women to cycle.
Certainly cycle clothing for women riders has been a significant issue in the past. Patricia Grimshaw, in her landmark book, Women's Suffrage in New Zealand, on the struggle for universal suffrage in New Zealand traces the beginning of the movement to a group of cyclists in Christchurch. lead by Kate Shepherd. The problem was that women's clothing in the late Nineteenth Century did not lend itself to cycling. Mrs Amelia Bloomer's radical proposal made in the 1850s, now the object of popular derision, did not gain the approval of the leaders of the community and so encouraged resistance by women to attitudes which restricted them and limited what they could do.
Cycling then lead to a major social reform but can it now lead to a major environmental and health reform by making cycling attractive to women? I had not heard before now that looking unfashionable was the reason most women do not cycle. Yet we have groups like Frocks on bikes who promote women riding bicycles without having to "lycra up" and a growing number of bicycle chic websites and blogs. Have we had it wrong all this time?

Meanwhile, the Beauty and the Bike project is getting girls back on bikes in the UK:http://www.bikebeauty.org/english/ . And Taiwan's "godmother of the bicycle", Bonnie Tu (executive vice-presidentand chief financial officer of Giant Bicycles), is on a mission to end maledominance in bike design: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article6946506.ece

Apathy rules OK?

"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings." Helen Keller

It seems to me to be rather obvious, that people having a common purpose would find it easy to form a common goal and work towards the achievement of that goal. Our contemporary society is full of examples of how this approach achieves success for those who adopt it, from political parties and trade unions to industry groupings, community organisations and criminal conspiracies. So why do so many good causes languish and fail to make progress? Sometimes it is the force of opposition to their goals. It would be difficult for many groups to achieve much in Zimbabwe, for example. However as the quote from Helen Keller suggests, it is as likely to be that people are unconvinced about their ability to work for change or that they are content to let other people shoulder the burden.

In Wellington, the formation of Bicycle Users Groups, (B.U.G.) seems obvious. Despite the terrain, the narrow roads and the strong winds, cycling is increasing as a recreational, sporting and commuter activity. Cyclists have nothing to lose but their fear, by agitating for improved facilities yet the work of promoting these legitimate goals is left to small. committed groups.

When we consider also that much of the activity seems to be directed at the local authorities and their endless bureaucratic processes, we can almost understand why so many cyclists do not take part. The process is slow and arcane. Setbacks are commonplace and the people who finally convert policy into action are at the best lukewarm to the intent of the policy and produce a watered down version of what was proposed.

In addition, elected politicians have a very short time scale: - the next election and a keen interest in appeasing the majority of the people who will bother to vote. Where cyclists' interests appear to come into conflict with motorists' interests, then radical and significant changes are very unlikely since these changes will be unpopular with the politicians' constituency.

B.U.G's represent an alternative approach to achieving change. When I worked and studied in Christchurch in the late 1960s and early 1970s, my employers provided simple but adequate cycle storage facilities and more staff cycled to work. This does not seem to be the case in Wellington where the environment is less friendly towards cycling. However, in spite of all this cycling is growing in Wellington and BUGs represent a means to harness the impetus of this social change and direct it to useful ends.

My proposition is that if employers provide improved facilities for cycling then even more employees will cycle. When the numbers of cyclists reach critical mass, then political candidates will see value in adopting cycle friendly policies and promoting these policies in their pitch for votes.

Unwillingly to school

Unwillingly to school; the place of cycling in the compulsory schooling sector

Shakespeare wrote about the schoolboy creeping like a snail unwillingly to school. Nowdays his caregiver's car will still be creeping towards the school gate because of the congestion created by the large scale convergence of so many cars on one place at the same time. There are many reasons why this phenomenon has developed, not the least, the fact that with all those cars arriving at school, it is unsafe for a child to walk to school!!. One consequence is the rise in childhood obesity, and one possible solution is to put children on their bikes.

What opportunities exist in our schools to promote cycling?

The new curriculum, due to be fully implemented by 2010 is a radical departure from previous curricula and reflects community concerns about the obesity epidemic and environmental sustainability. We would expect, therefore, to see within the Health and Physical Education "learning area" three "strands" of interest to committed cyclists: 1 personal health and physical development, 2 movement concepts and motor skills, 3 healthy communities and environments. This "learning area" also has two "key areas of learning" which are relevant: physical activity and outdoor education.

All of this could have been predicted and similar ideas can be found in previous curriculum statements. What is radical is the addition of a section on "Principles" which apply to the whole school curriculum. Two of the principles are community engagement and future focus. The second radical element is the section on "Values" which states (among other values) that "Students will be encouraged to value:

• community and participation for the common good
• ecological sustainability which includes care for the environment."
  

So what is new?

Physical education has been part of the school curriculum probably from the beginning of state funded education in New Zealand. The idea of "mens sana in corpore sano" is much older than the Roman who came up with that slogan, as it was an essential part of the education system of the ancient Greeks. The problem is that our contemporary society encourages low levels of physical activity and the school curriculum is failing to make an impression. I see adults who have never ridden a bicycle, nor been on a tramp in the bush, and I wonder how this could have happened in New Zealand where the opportunities for outdoor recreation seem limitless.

I am inclined to the view that the problem is partly structural so the publication of a new curriculum and the following in-service training for teachers is unlikely to make much of an impression. Simply, the schools do not have enough time in a crowded curriculum to have enough physical education to make much of an impression. Nor do they have sufficient staff to run effective programmes, let alone provide some sort of remedial programme like "reading recovery" for the student who is already seriously unfit.

So why should cyclists be interested?
The new curriculum offers an opportunity to promote cycling. This opportunity comes from two factors.

First of all, schools have to grapple with what it means to have principles and values in the curriculum. How do they incorporate these in their programmes? At this stage they are still feeling their way and are open to advice from outside groups.

In addition, schools have full programmes and teachers have to cover a lot more than what I outlined in my first paragraphs. This makes them very willing to pick up and use programmes which have already been set up for them. In March 2008, the Land Transport Safety Authority promoted Feet First Walk to School Week in pursuit of its goal to reduce congestion around schools from parents delivering their children to school by car. Schools were able to pick up a programme in a box and apply it. While we don't know how many schools took up the programme, it does show a way forward.

Schools will also need travel plans and with that, a return to the infamous bike sheds. Cycle advocates have tended, so far, to think of central and local government as policy makers worthy of our attention. The new school curriculum introduces the school trustees, another very large group of elected officials who must pay attention tothe interests of cyclists.

Because of the sheer numbers of school boards and the fact that most of us do not have the right to vote for school boards, if we are to influence school boards then it will have to be through their national organisation, the School Trustees Association (STA). Boards are easier to influence, however, because they are subject to regular inspections by the Education Review Office (ERO) which will soon be wanting to see evidence of how each school reflects the values of ecological sustainability. ERO also looks to see that schools implement all aspects of the curriculum including "healthy communities and environments." Boards of Trustees also have to pay attention to the concerns of community groups to reflect the principle of "community engagement" and the value of "community and participation".

What do we want Boards of Trustees to do?

Set up travel plans which provide for students who cycle to school.
Provide facilities like bike sheds.
Encourage teaching staff to incorporate cycling skills in their physical education programmes.

What can we do?

Work with LTSA and other government departments, to develop a cycling programme like Feet First Week and bike buses like the existing walking buses.
Work with Boards of Trustees and local district and city councils to develop safe routes to school programmes.
Develop age appropriate programmes to help inexperienced teachers to run physical education programmes with a cycling emphasis.

What outcomes can we expect?

The school curriculum has a future focus. Children who cycle to school will be fitter. There will be fewer car journeys to and from school. Students who regularly cycle to school are more likely to continue to cycle in adult life.

References

Ministry of Education, (2007) The New Zealand Curriculum, Wellington.

The New Zealand Curriculum On-line

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/

Erb, Wayne, "Clean break for school travel", New Zealand Education Gazette 4 February 2008, pages 4-5;

"Walking the talk: Feet First Week is an opportunity for schools to promote walking", New Zealand Education Gazette 4 February 2008, page 6;

"Students club together", New Zealand Education Gazette 4 February 2008, page 7;

"Moving away from congestion", New Zealand Education Gazette 4 February 2008, page 8.

www.tki.org.nz/environ_ed/

Environmental education, curriculum based learning materials.

www.roadsense.govt.nz/

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/saferoutes/

A safe routes to school programme.

www.travelwise.org.nz/

www.gw.govt.nz/section2445.cfm

Information on how to set up a travel plan.

Four wheels good: two wheels better

This blog has been set up to promote cycling as a recreational activity, a sport and as a viable transport option, to challenge the prevailing paradigm which sees motorised transport as the only viable option open to us.
I propose that the blog will also promote the use of Bicycle Users Groups (B.U.G.s) at workplaces, educational centres and other places where groups of people gather in numbers on a regular basis; clubs, gyms, congregations.
The concept of a bicycle users group comes from a New Zealand government agency, SPARC and their booklet, Cycle Friendly Employer, Tried and Tested Tips for Cyclists, by Cyclists (2003) ISBN 1-877 356-16-6