Cycling is art!

Just a beautiful feel good video I found on Youtube:

Overview of bicycle marketing campaign 2011

A cool video that gives an impression of the elements of the Radlhauptstadt campaign of the City of Munich. This campaign focuses on social marketing to increase mainstream cycling and should be an example for many other cities around the world. The video is in German (and has no subtitles yet), but most images speak for themselves.

My personal favourite marketing instrument: the fashion show at 4:20!

David Hembrow stopped blogging: read his statement!

very sad, but very true...

http://hembrow.eu/blog/

Thanks David for all your valuable insights and efforts! Many have benefited from it, you deserve better for that...

Why are you (not) on a bike?

Do you think you make a rational choice when choosing transport modes? Think again: a brilliant talk by Dan Ariely. Send this to anybody in your environment who does think he makes the best choice possible....

Emotional marketing of Public Transport

I know that you expect to read about urban cycling here. But as you might have noticed, Münchenierung focusses a lot on emotional marketing as a way forward towards sustainable urban mobility. The marketing campaign below shows that what car manufacturers can do, can also be used against them! All the emotional markers are there, plus new ones (especially social interaction, which is not really a value of car driving, now is it ). Well, I hope you like it (via Dimitri Milakis);

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Using the automobile in more creative ways!

Since we all now that the new era of the bicyclce is slowly arriving in our cities and regions, we need to find ways to re-use the mobility vehicle of the past era (also referred to as the Bull in Society's China Schop). Luckily, we can use the automobile in more creative ways!

Interesting scientific conference: Mobil.TÜM

The Technical University Munich is hosting their annual mobility conference. As always, a great number of well known international speakers will come to Munich to discuss their views on urban mobility and on the latest scientific discoveries. Really enjoyable to catch up with so many great minds! See you there? Click on the images to see them bigger (and to be able to actually read them)..

 

Cycling culture: it are the people, stupid!

Brilliant piece from Japan on why there is a cycle culture, following a structured logic. A diversity of variables, but most importantly are the people themselves and their behaviour. What does that mean for Munich?

Directly taken from Tokyo by Bike.

What Makes Japan a Great Cycling Nation?

Mikael Coville-Anderson, of Copenhagenize fame, ranks Japan as the world's third greatest cycling nation behind the Netherlands and Denmark. But just what is it about Japan that makes cycling an attractive transport option to millions of people every day?

Cities
Japanese cities are amongst the largest and most populated in the world, but most residential neighbourhoods have their own unique small town feel.  In terms of services, Japanese neighbourhoods are largely self contained.  Residents have to cycle no more than 5 to 10 minutes to reach supermarkets, kindergartens, schools, doctors, dentists, in fact most necessities for everyday living are just a short ride away. Without the need to travel excessive distances for daily life’s basics, a bicycle makes perfect sense.

Public Transport
Japanese cities are crisscrossed with a fast clean and efficient train and subway system, not to mention and reliable cheap bus services. So efficient is the public transport system that it is often faster and more convenient to take the train than to travel by car.  While bicycle commuters did increase after the March 11 earthquake crippled Tokyo's rail system, few people are willing to cycle more than one or two stations from their home.  Many use their bicycles to compliment public transport, cycling from their home to the station.

Cars
Owning a car in Tokyo is inconvenient and expensive.  Before purchasing a car the buyer is required to provide proof they have secured an appropriate parking spot.  As most city dwellers have no garage hiring a parking space can be an expensive exercise, and that parking space may be many minutes walk from home. For people working in the city, commuting to work by car is not an option as some inner city parking spaces can cost more per month than a small apartment in the suburbs.  Throw insurance and maintenance costs in with all that and riding a bicycle makes a lot of sense.

Bicycles
Forget expensive road, hybrid and mountain bikes, the majority of Japanese ride mama-chari, they're the family station wagon of Japan.  Mama-chari cheap, and come equipped with dynamo lights, horseshoe locks and sturdy rear wheel kickstands right out of the box.  While baskets on the front and racks on the back are standard the options for carrying cargo and children with the addition of accessories are limitless. Carrying two (or more) children by bicycle is not an uncommon sight. Although heavy and somewhat clunky the mama-chari is perfectly suited to the Japanese city environment, and to the tasks that millions use them for in daily life.

Laws
Japanese cycling laws are largely unenforced until such time that there is an accident.  This makes for an incredibly free and liberating cycling experience.  I attribute a lot of the popularity of the bicycle in Japan to the ability to cycle wherever and however you like.  Confident in traffic? Ride on the road. Have child passengers? Stick to the sidewalk. Roads congested? Jump on the sidewalk and vice versa.  As long as you are riding safely and with respect for others it doesn't matter how many of Japan's cycling laws (or as I like to call them "guidelines") you're breaking, just don't get into an accident.

Infrastructure
Japan has terrible bicycle infrastructure yet millions of people cycle every single day.  Most suburban Japanese streets often do not have a sidewalks so pedestrians, bicycles and car are comfortable sharing the same space. Bicycle lanes are practically non existent, when there is often not enough space for even a sidewalk, how can we expect bicycle lanes? Finding a (legal) place to park is often quite difficult, so parking illegally with everyone else is the accepted norm. Despite this few people are calling for improved cycling infrastructure, and cycling is booming.

People
A big factor in making cycling work in Japan is the Japanese people themselves. For the most part incredibly patient and polite they're tolerant of the people around them.  You can't live in a city with 12.9 million others without exercising some degree of tolerance and patience.  Pedestrians, cyclists and cars often share the same space and that can not work unless a drivers and cyclists are prepared to travel at walking pace until a pedestrian can get out of their way.

Japanese people also have what is termed the "gaman spirit", which loosely translated is the "just get on with it" along with a "shoganai", or " what are you going to do?" attitude.  So when it comes to cycling to the station in the dead of winter just get on with it, because what else can you do?

There are many factors that go into making cycling the best form of local transport in Japanese cities. Partly infrastructure, partly urban design and partly the police turning a blind eye to cycling offences when no damage is being done.  But I believe it is the attitude of the Japanese people, the politeness they display to each other on the road that really makes a difference.

Cycling in Japan really is a polite form of anarchy.  People ignoring the rules, cycling and parking wherever they like, yet doing their best to impact as little on others as they can.  Can we replicate this success overseas?

Bicycle- vs car manufacturing

This graph is provided by the European Cycling Federation and shows how strange our political fixation on cars was, is, and is increasingly becoming...

You know you have a bicycle culture, when...

Another one in the series: you know you have a bicycle culture, when...

You might not believe it, but the guy in this videoclip is a popular musician at the moment in the Netherlands. You can see that a Dutch rapper does not use a big car to show off his status, but can do with a bike! And his friends as well!

Never mind the text. It is not worth translating. The only thing you need to know: "Spring maar achterop bij, achterop mijn fiets" means "Hop on my bike"... (youtube link)

How fast things can change (for good or bad)

Munich is proudly presenting their tripling of cycling rates (from 6% to 18%) in recent years! Partly due to policy (hard and soft), partly due to different lifestyles and shifting personal mobility choices... We should however be aware that constant dedication is needed from all parties involved to keep up this positive trend.

We all know that China is changing in rapid, unprecedented speed. This photo series show how China is also messing things up on a massive scale. Please look and see how rapidly mainstream cycling can decline in favour of less sustainable transportation modes... Click on the image to proceed to the relevant China Underground website.

The Reverse Traffic Pyramid

The Bicycle Innovation Lab closed 2011 by introducing the Reverse Traffic Pyramid. How far up the scheme are you and your city?

Cycling vs. Obesity: what will be the German future?

Germany is right between the US and the Dutch. Up to decision makers to make a choice in which direction they rather move. More here.

Raising Awareness as policy instrument

All they did in Malmö was asking people to reflect on their own behavior. What marvelling effects! Something to add to the Münchenierung mix?

Sometimes, emotional marketing is done best by a visitor. External views remember you what is special about all the things you take for granted. See here an example of Amsterdam and the bicycle.

Interview with Transport Mayor of Munich

Understanding the strength of #Münchenierung through 11 short questions and answers: how to get from 6% to 18% modal share for cycling? It is not (only) the infrastructure, stupid! Most is in focussing on re-establishing public space and about communication. Many other cities could and should take notes here.

Part 1: The reason to promote cycling over car and public transport

Part 2: The main goals of the bicycle campaign

Is Munich the new Amsterdam?

A message from the European Cyclists' Federation shows the respect they have for Munichs strategy to increase urban cycling. It is becoming a more and more well known fact that Munich is the leader in combining infrastructure with behavioural nudging, communication, and marketing efforts (known as the #Münchenierung mix). Through this, Munich achieved a threefold increase in cycling for the costs of building 1 kilometer of freeway! For those not aware of how this is done and what it means, check the video we made about the Radlhauptstadt campaign some time ago.

This leads to a remarkable effectiveness score: tripling the number of cyclists with almost no monetary costs (compared to other strategies).You can read the integral text of what the ECF thinks of it and what other cities can learn after the break.

Tomorrow good cycling conditions!

(via Fietsberaad)
‘Tomorrow good cycling weather!’ Employers might consider sending such an e-mail message to their employees to promote commuting by bicycle. This is one of the recommendations from the Ph.D. thesis of Eva Heinen from TU Delft about commuting by bicycle.

Her doctoral research focussed on the motives of commuters to use or disregard their bicycles. It is not only the weather that affects the daily decision to cycle or not to cycle, but also intermediate stops between home and place of employment, transportation of materials, being dressed in a suit and working at multiple locations, according to Heinen.  A decision in favour of the bicycle is only partly affected by ‘hard’ issues like cost, distance and household characteristics. These do not explain why people in comparable situations come to different decisions about commuting by bicycle or not.

Heinen states that individual considerations and convictions affect the decision to cycle to a major degree. ‘For instance immediate benefits, (environmental) awareness and safety. Standards in the social environment are important as well.’ ‘The attitude of the employer and colleague expectations play a role as well’, according to Heinen. ‘Chances for people to cycle increase when the place of employment possesses an indoor bicycle parking facility or a changing room. Not only due to the facility itself, but also due to the positive attitude this demonstrates towards cycling.’

Heinen emphasises that different groups of cyclists base their decisions on different factors. ‘When promoting cycling these different groups may be motivated in different ways. I have distinguished three possible changes: from non-cyclists to cyclists, from occasional to frequent cyclists and from part-time to full-time cyclists.’
Heinen’s thesis lists a number of possibilities to promote commuting by bicycle. ‘When an employer limits the provisions for other modes of transport, he will promote bicycle use. Employers might therefore take the negative effects on cycling into account when promoting public transport or private cars.’

But in order to change cycling behaviour Heinen feels that not only bicycle-friendly facilities and infrastructure are necessary, but individual convictions and social standards should support cycling as well. A well-respected person may serve as role model and stimulus for others.

"Every morning, I go to work with my bike"

Another beautiful bicycle video

A video to bring across the message of the Holstee Manifesto: a call to action to live a life full of intention, creativity, passion, and community. And obviously, it uses cyclist to bring this mesage across. Leaving us with another beautiful bicycle video to watch and share! Again, the message of the emotional marketing is clear. Just as cars, bikes are perfectly acceptable modes of transport for successful and happy people. However, unlike driving a car, the bicycle caters for social interaction and fosters communities. That is something you do not (and will not) see in your car commercials... (via People for Bikes)

The LifeCycle Film came about as a desire to bring the energy and passion behind the Manifesto to life through something we love--biking. As we seek to live mindful lifestyles that leave a positive impact on the people and world around us, biking has become a passion that is much more than a transportation alternative. It is a way of fully experiencing the city we love and all of its details. This Film is a celebration. It is a celebration of gatherings, of diversity, of life, and of the beauty of shared experience. We hope you enjoy.

Stepping up ambition: bicycle street is a first step...

...and not the last! It should never be our final goal to create bicycle streets here and there. We need to see them as stepping stones to our wider ambitions. Let's celebrate that more and more cities are developing bicycle streets (where the role of the car is back to what it should be: a guest that has to adapt to others).

Below, find some ideas for new road signs that can help us in thinking more ambitious. For almost no costs (compare with infra) a very strong message can be send to those that enter our cities, neighborhoods, regions and/or countries. They are based on the Dutch sign for Fietsstraten that was elected as the best out of a series. Feel free to use and improve them!

Compulsory helmets: NEIN, danke...

In the emerging discussion about making helmets compulsory for cyclists in Germany, this blog has a clear standpoint. I was planning to write all arguments down this weekend: It is an extreme and classic form of ignoring the bull in society's china shop as so well explained by Mikael on the Copenhagenize website. The effects on emerging bicycle cultures such as Munich can possibly be devastating (exactly as some big industries would like to see). It doesn't increase safety, but makes a perfectly healthy mode of transport look unsafe in favour of the others. Luckily, somebody else made a thorough analysis of why we shouldn't want to go along with this: Please read Paul Jakma and raise your awareness on the issue.Helmplicht? Nein, danke...

Maybe we should have people were compulsory wigs or look compulsory as human as possible. That actually IS improving safe behaviour of car drivers (aka the ones that actually kill and endanger others).

[INSTANT UPDATE] Stev Hughes take on Health and Safety fits in nicely here. Enjoy:

Munich students show they have brains: they cycle!

A recent research under the students on the Munich Universities on their mobility choices shows some remarkable results. A general message that comes across is that the 'peak-car' hypothesis (great books that I recommend are After the Car and Carjacked) that is gaining popularity under scientists is very much supported: the new generation of decision makes and leading people are not seeing the car as something to aspire to any more. Instead they are making the logical choice to use the bicycle within the city! An inspiring element of Münchenierung, so please take note...

Based on: Munich student have tight thighs because of cycling (via)
This study (mid Juli, computer based questionnaire among 200 students; average age: 24) shows that 44% of the academic students use the bicycle as a transport means on a daily basis (or as much as possible). An astonishing 74% state to use the bicycle on a regular basis. And that considering the fact that 90% of them have a drivers license. One in two male students and two thirds of female students even own a car or have one available for them. Most of them (57%) only use it very little.

Important to notice that it is culture rather than infrastructure that seems to be a leading reason: Only 16% of the cycling students considers the traffic situation 'very good', within 69% percent stating it as "good". This means that every one of three cycling students consider the traffic situation "under par". Female cyclists consider it worse than their male peers. 87% think that the city should do more to increase the safety of cycling: more infrastructure is requested by 91%, better quality by 82%. Another 65% want more parking facilities and 62% root for more capacity to take the bicycle on Public Transport.

to be continued...hopefully (-_-)

Another infographic from Bicycle Land

This time by the Lonely Planet (via wel ingelichte kringen). Again, can you spot the difference with Germany?

Amsterdam infographic: how does Munich compare?

Who can add information about Munich compared to aspects in this infographic? via @KimHarding and Easyjet.

History of Dutch cycling: Protest & Infrastructure

How the Dutch arrived in a short term to their current bicycle infrastructure. A story about the role of active people, of dedicated planners and strong politicians. The problems were recent and not unique, the solutions shouldn't be that either.