Reinventing Transport

Metro Manila depends on informal, lightly-regulated public transport which now faces a catastrophe as a result of this pandemic. The Mobility Coalition, an alliance of eight Metro Manila transport advocacy groups, has ideas on what to do. I spoke with Robie Siy who is active in the Mobility Coalition and who writes the weekly Mobility Matters column for the Manila Times.   [Scroll to the end for more details on Robie, Mobility Matters and the Mobility Alliance.] Scroll down for highlights of our conversation or listen with the player below. Click here to learn how to subscribe to this podcast.

Stefan Bakker sees a big future for electric vehicles with two wheels.  I asked Stefan to join me for this month's Reinventing Transport, after reading his  “Electric Two-Wheelers, Sustainable Mobility and the City” . Learn more about Stefan Bakker via LinkedIn or ResearchGate.   Electric two-wheelers, such as e-bikes, get less attention than electric cars or even electric buses. But two-wheeled electric vehicles are increasing in numbers faster and are already making more of a difference to carbon emissions than their larger cousins. Why are their numbers surging? How much potential is there? Which kinds will take off, the lighter/slower or the heavier/faster? (Do you see the double meaning in the title?) What benefits and risks/costs do they have? What policies are appropriate? Stefan and I tackled these questions and more. Here are highlights from the conversation. Stefan was prompted to write about electric two-wheelers after several years working i...

Shared-space design for streets and intersections deliberately creates a sense of uncertainty about who should proceed first. Such uncertainty is not a bug, it is a feature, as they say. In a well designed scheme, the results are said to be almost magical. The removal of clear-cut rules and signs and traffic lights prompts caution, low speeds and a negotiated approach to right-of-way instead of a rules-based approach. But there may be a problem.  Some of the most vulnerable users of streets don't seem to like shared space. It makes them feel ... vulnerable . In a comment on my post on Shared Space designs in Japan, David Hembrow (author of   a view from the cycle path blog) points out the Dutch cycling advocacy groups are not too keen on Shared Space: "Don't get too excited about Shared Space. I've yet to meet anyone here in the Netherlands who is enthusiastic about it. In fact, there is much criticism of it due to it having lead to a reduction in safety, ...

'Who should be liable in road crashes involving bicycles?'. That's the question I posed over at Cycling in Singapore blog this morning. In many low-income or middle-income countries the road culture norms dictate that 'might makes right'. Small vehicles learn to get out of the way of the larger ones and the largest vehicles tend to barge their way through (more carefully perhaps than it seems at first glance... but they do seem to expect others to make way). However, in several European countries and in Japan, large road users are expected to exercise a strong duty of care for the more vulnerable ones.  So in the Netherlands for example, it will almost always be the motorist who is held primarily responsible in a crash with a bicyclist, even if the motorists broke no road rules. Does that seem crazy to you? Bicycles and scooters in Shanghai. It probably does seem strange if you live in the UK, the US or in almost any Commonwealth country, such as Singap...

After decades of mostly ignoring bicycles, Singapore's authorities have recently become more positive. "Bicycle paths" are appearing but we may need more help to get them right. An example in Sembawang. A painted line separates pedestrians from bicycle users. The change in attitude is very welcome. But some of us here are worried about the designs of these paths. The photo below illustrates one problem. 'Dismount and push' sign where the bicycle path meets the entrance to a parking area in the housing estate. My recent post at Cycling in Singapore looks at the bike paths in one such town (Sembawang). Be aware that most bicycle use in Singapore is at very low speed, is for short trips, and takes place on the footways, which are usually much narrower than the paths shown here. Conflict between bicycles and pedestrians is an emotive issue often raised in newspaper letters and online forums. Riding on sidewalks/footpaths is illegal but ubiquitous. The...

Singapore's bicycle community has noticed that last week's agreement on the Malayan Railways (KTM) corridor could create a wonderful bikeway opportunity. So far, this angle has had no media attention. More on this at the end but first I want to reflect on the wider issues in the agreement. A few years back, in my geographer days, I wrote about the surface links between Singapore and Malaysia. These are both international transport and urban transport at the same time. After a long saga, the two countries have finally reached an agreement on several important cross-border transport issues.  At the time I studied this about 5 years ago, it was an intriguing tale and a case of remarkably problematic cross-border cooperation. I am glad that win-win resolutions look like emerging.  My 2006 paper on this ( pdf ; publisher site ) discussed three main aspects and the latest announcement relates to all three (as well as several other issues, such as cross-border taxis,...

You probably know that the Netherlands has lots of cycling. They sure do! An amazing 27% of ALL trips* in this rich country in 2005 were by bicycle. Riding in the Netherlands is also remarkably safe. Safety in numbers (from "Cycling in the Netherlands", p.13) So what is their secret? How did the Netherlands get to be such a cycling paradise? There are several rather unhelpful theories. "It is a flat country": No doubt this helps. But there are plenty other comparable flat places with much less cycling. "The Dutch have a long-standing 'bicycle culture'": Certainly they do. But is this a cause or an effect? So did many other countries at some point in the 20th century. Yet most of them somehow lost their 'bicycle cultures'. "They have good weather for cycling": I hear this when I talk about cycling in hot and sticky Singapore. But I suspect this theory is only popular among people who have never spent any time in a damp and windy D...

Well almost ... especially if you are interested in Bus Rapid Transit or Non-Motorised Vehicle/Bicycle planning for cities in developing countries. For a long time I have had a lot of respect for the work of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) which works on almost every continent to promote and provide technical assistance on 'sustainable and equitable transportation'. I just noticed that ITDP's Information Center has been expanded and improved since the last time I looked. It contains a wealth of reports and resources in a number of languages. Just about every report ITDP has ever done seems to be there now. Some recent highlights include: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Planning Guide Nonmotorized Transport (NMT) Training Course Reasons Not to Construct Bikelanes on Sidewalks (in Spanish)

[Update: Looking for more parking policy information?   Try Reinventing Parking. ] Shibuya in Tokyo. 'Bicycle pollution'? You may be familiar with the argument that car-sharing helps reduce pressure on parking space. You may also be aware of the meteoric rise of interest in bicycle sharing schemes, with Barcelona's Bicing and Paris' Velib the most famous. This article from Japan connects bicycle sharing, which is on the rise there too, with parking issues. But the parking problems addressed are with BICYCLE parking not car parking. Cycle-sharing schemes reduce parking violations, raise profits The Yomiuri Shimbun (May. 19, 2008) OSAKA--While bicycle-sharing schemes are becoming common in urban areas as more importance is placed on the environmental and health benefits of cycling, such schemes are also seen as an effective countermeasure for the illegal parking of bicycles. At a condominium in Konohana Ward, Osaka, which was completed in October, each of the...