Let Them Ride Bikes! : Toy For The Wealthy Makes Cycling Safer

Vox has recently published some very good articles on how bike share programs are faring in the United States and elsewhere with some interesting findings and it provides an opportunity to reflect and consider how Taiwan's bike share systems differ from those elsewhere, and how many of those differences are structural, political and cultural.

This blogger has been, as usual, critical of Taiwan's bike share programs and trails for being either dangerous, ineffective, wasteful, ill-considered or cynically shortsighted for political stature. While they occasionally get things right, there are still few places where the bicycle is treated like traffic. Taipei has even gone out of its way to encourage sidewalk riding in conflict with pedestrians. In Taichung, where I live, within 30km of Giant, the major player in Taiwan's bike share schemes, there is almost no space allotted for the bicycles on roadways. Still, with more bikes on offer, more riders are taking to the streets. Meanwhile, Seattle, a city with a mature cycling culture, is looking at a budget shortfall for its Pronto bikeshare program.

Vox points to the disparity of income and race in the use of American bikeshare programs.

Bike share users skew significantly whiter, wealthier, and more likely to be college-educated than the overall populations of the cities they live in. That's despite the fact that nationwide, the people who bike regularly are actually disproportionately low-income and nonwhite.

It is in this light that some critics feel taxpayer money could be better spent on other needs beyond a perpetually niche toy for the wealthy. As one critic pointed out in the TiC comment section:

But this is reality, and I make do with 150cc "Grand King" motorbike. And the reality is surely that for the majority of people in Taipei and elsewhere, bicycles are toys (and often very expensive ones) rather than a serious means of transportation. And so it is hard to see why should the Taipei city government spend vast sums of taxpayer's money altering public infrastructure for the benefit of a relatively well-off minority who already have alternatives available to them.

The great thing about Taiwan, is that its urban areas are still tightly nucleated clusters with high population densities spreading upward rather than outward. There is still a little bit of the egalitarian sense of space in urban areas where neighbors at different ends of the income scale can live in relatively close quarters without the income apartheid experienced in other countries. Daily needs are still within walking distance or a short distance from home. Of course, the housing bubble compounded by income stagnation is rapidly changing this... and not for the better and younger members of the workforce are pushed further and further from their places of employment. It is far more possible to realistically integrate cycling into the urban environment if there is the political will to do so.

Currently, through my own empirical observations, the majority of You Bike/Ubike users are students skipping the bus and still too young to legally drive scooters. These systems are cheap and efficient. There are stations mounted near libraries and shopping centers and places students use.We know that fossil fuels are limited and polluting, we know in Taiwan we regularly experience weeks on end of unhealthy air pollution from stagnant air held against the high mountains, so what is keeping the rest of the population tied to their cars and scooters? Are bike lanes really just a wasteful bone throw to the wealthy boys and their toys? Does any little bit to help count?

I am inclined to believe not. Remember that automobiles were once the domain of the wealthy and now look at the networks we have provided for them. If you build and enforce lanes for bikes in the cities and integrate them into other forms of transportation, like busses, trains and other forms of mass transit, it removes the obstacles that prevent a potential user from hitting the road. Currently, it is too easy for a user to find excuses for not riding. There is no space, it is inconvenient, the MRT station is too far, there is too much traffic, there are no places to park the bike. If those obstacles are removed, it clears the way for more bicycle use. The other thing it could do, is intentionally allow less space for the automobile, providing an incentive to non-polluting transportation or mass transit and a punitive for personal engine traffic. If the roads are packed and the bike lanes are clear, the bike lanes are bound to fill up. But that would take either environmental disaster or strong political will to implement.

In another article posted by Vox, the conclusion abroad is that bike share is safer than when users commute on their personal equipment.

Bike sharing has seen explosive growth since 2007, with systems in at least 94 citiesand more than 35 million trips taken. There have been some serious injuries, yes. But — knock on wood — we've seen zero US deaths from bike sharing so far1. Contrast this with the overall estimated cycling fatality rate of 21 deaths per 100 million trips.

On Facebook several commenters were scoffing at this figure as applied to Taiwan and Taiwan's notoriously reckless or clueless drivers. Unfortunately, for statistics sake, because the bicycle is not regarded as transportation, the figures on bicycle injury and deaths on Taiwan's roads are not recorded. This may also be a defensive strategy to avoid the political ramifications of constructing bicycle space in urban areas.

Currently, Giant is being asked to build or consult on several more bicycle programs in other countries.

Ralph Jennings has been posting a lot on this issue and reports in Forbes:

In other cities with share programs, company founder King Liu tells Forbes in an interview, “riders have no feeling for their bikes. They’re old or they break down a lot. The air pressure is too low, the chain falls off or the bell doesn’t ring. But bike sharing is a trend in global cities. Traffic in the cities is increasingly bad.”
The Taipei program just breaks even and the company acknowledges it must think hard to perfect rental systems in other cities. It’s got four others in Taiwan at the moment. But whether or not it makes money, operation of a quality bike sharing program excites riders about cycling, says the company’s Chief Executive Officer Tony Lo. As a case in point, sales of Giant’s recreational bikes in Taipei have risen along with the popularity of the Taiwanese capital’s YouBike sharing program since 2012. Giant’s 6 million bikes produced last year for sales were largely for sports and leisure rather than just getting around town.

That brings me back to the trouble with Pronto.

Could it be that with such a wide-spread cycling plan and space for cyclists (3ft), enough people have their own equipment and don't need to borrow?

Paved With Good Intentions: More Trouble for Taipei Bicycle Lanes

According to this report from SETN.com, Taipei has taken two steps forward and one step back in implementing a grid of bicycle lanes throughout the city.

The project, which was initiated by Mayor Ko Wen-je, an avid cyclist and former bike commuter, sought to better incorporate the bicycle into the urban transportation network. One major problem with Taipei's YouBike program-- a system of bike rentals through the city-- is that there are realistically few dedicated places to ride. Cyclists and bicycle commuters have had to fight both traffic and pedestrians in their battle for space in Taipei.

Of all the plans proposed thus far, Mayor Ko seems to have the right idea. But as a fortune cookie warned me a long time ago, "The road to hell is paved wit good intentions." (True story...and it was then that I realized that all fortune cookies were not positively ambiguous.)

It now seems that after spending NT180 million, the contractors responsible for the bike lane construction had precious little experience in actually designing bike lanes, resulting in some potentially hazardous, expensive and avoidable boo boos.

According to the Chinese language report, the city contractors used thick construction grade paint for path markings. The paint is a known hazard to cyclists as it produces an extremely slick surface in wet weather. The contractors also used porous asphalt and left metal utility covers exposed and with wide gaps. All of which pose a potential danger to cyclists and have been designed out of existing networks in Japan and other countries.

Here's to hoping Taipei gets its bike lanes squared away to be held up as an example for the rest of Taiwan to follow.   

Pedaling From Petrol: Taiwan Facing Second Wave of Cycling?

With the presidential elections in the rearview mirror, Taiwan's central government has ended its subsidies on gasoline, resulting in a 10% rise in fuel prices around the country.

While drivers are outraged by the sudden rise in fuel prices, many local bicycle retailers are looking to benefit from the new penalties at the pump.

During a similar spike in oil prices in 2008, Taiwanese started looking to the bicycle as a means to help mitigate the higher costs of driving.

This is really what initiated the "cycling revolution" in Taiwanas orders for new bikes more than doubled.

When prices became more manageable, many riders went back to motorized transport and the bikes were mothballed. Bike shops closed as quickly as they were opened.

Sadly, this is often the state of the bicycle as transportation.

It is a response to oil prices rather than an antidote. It is not seen as a long term fix, but a temporary diversion... much like the artificial prices Taiwan has long hung on the gas pump.

Eventually these high prices will become the status quo, and with over a decade of income stagnation amid rising inflation, the high cost of regularly driving an automobile will be untenable for many in the long run.

With the millions spent on cycling for leisure and tourism, the question remains whether enough has been done in the municipalities to accommodate the bicycle as a permanent fixture.

.......

I guess it could be worse. It could be Hong Kong, where the SAR seems to have taken a more adversarial approach.

Lack Of Bike Infrastructure Builds Frustration: China Post Commentary

In today's China Post, Ian Gilchrist calls out Taipei for the city's failure to integrate cycling into the transportation grid.

Gilchrist adroitly spots some of the problems in this section of his commentary:

Politicians can point with some pride to the riverside rides which work well on weekends, but if a survey could be carried out for weekday commuting, they would almost certainly be deemed greatly under-used. And they're still far from being a sanctuary. While riding on a riverside cyclepath I was hit by a woman riding a motor-scooter who then screamed that it was my fault. The attending police officer was rather non-committal.

This blog has not been shy of highlighting many of the problems Gilchrist describes. What it really boils down to are the politics and economics of Taiwan's bicycle infrastructure.

For cities like Taipei and Taichung, the emphasis of bicycle infrastructure (or the lack thereof) is purely a profit motivated initiative. Government funds are being spent to ensure a select number of businesses can profit from bicycle infrastructure. This includes connected contractors, retailers and service providers. If bicycles were used freely around the city it would be harder to corral cyclists and direct them to those who will profit most from their presence. Leisure bike trails which have become so popular in Taipei, Taichung and Miaoli can be constructed to control and direct flows of customers to political patrons.

Some very powerful interests see more profit in this model than one that encourages making every street into a bike trail. Ever wonder why Taiwan's big bike retailers do not promote steel commuting bikes? They are not as profitable as aluminum or carbon fiber leisure and racing bikes.

The politicians are simply feeding their backers and giving the public a token symbol of "progress".

The other side of Gilchrist's frustration is that there is no political will to transform Taiwan's roadways into shared spaces for cars, scooters, bikes and pedestrians. This is not impossible, but it would take a commitment from both the central and local governments to carry out.

The cynic in me says Taiwanese drivers will not change. Then I remember when the law went into effect to mandate all scooter and motorcycle riders wear helmets. The law was first met with resistance as regular enforcement was brought to bear against violators. I recall seeing an old man with a cooking pot on his head in an attempt to both comply with... and circumvent the law. Helmet theft was rampant. You couldn't leave your helmet unattended outside without the risk of having it stolen by a rider in a pinch. Now, everyone (at least in the cities) rides with a certified helmet.

The same could be done for traffic. But it takes the political will to make it happen. So far, of the major cities in Taiwan, only the southern city of Kaohsiung has started taking the difficult steps toward crafting shared roadways. Of course, the police need to complete their transformation from a mediation force to a full police force committed to the rule of law.

Taiwan's road to becoming a bicycle paradise will be long and hard, but with a commitment to transforming Taiwan into a real bicycle island, it is not impossible. What the public doesn't need are more tourist trails that go nowhere.

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In Other News: Frontier Sports put together this great video from the Taiwan Cup.

Park & Ride: Taipei Offers More Bicycle Parking

The Taiwan News is reporting that Taipei City will begin increasing the number of bicycle parking spaces citywide.

One goal is to increase parking capacity near public transport hubs to make it easier for bike riders to take advantage of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system's expanding mixed-mode commuting network, according to office director Chang Jer-yang.

But effectively managing those parking lots will be just as important as building them if the bicycle-MRT commuting option catches on.

"People will feel more comfortable parking their bikes in a public area near an MRT station under our staff's watch, " Chang said.

This is a very promising development. There are actually plenty of bike racks in Taipei, but few of them are any good (front wheel slots) and most of them have little if any additional security.

I would love to see this program expand to include fully enclosed bike boxes, but maybe it would also save some money to increase bicycle access so you could more easily bring your bike on mass transit systems.

Also in the news...

The Straits Times is reporting that a Singaporean religious organization has finished its mercy mission to Taiwan and looks to spread is beliefs to other poor countries, including Malaysia and the United States of America.

Here is the full article:

WHEN cycling around Singapore started getting routine, four members of the Concern and Care Society (CCS) took to cycling 1, 400km around Taiwan, at the same time bringing cheer to victims of last year's hurricanes and floods.

Together, they cycled their way through 100 nursing homes and orphanages along with 66 other cyclists from Taiwan.

Ms Siow Lee Khoon, 43, Mr Lee Yok Leun, 77, Mr Marcus Loh Yoon Siong, 53 and Mr Wee Lian Seng, 62 armed themselves with hopeful messages written by students from Nanyang Girls' High School as well as members of the public.

The four are part of Cycling Club Superstar, which promotes cycling among members of the CCS and other residents. The club decided to use cycling to reach out to the needy, and the initiative was born.

'It started off as a way to get old folks, especially retirees, to lead a more active lifestyle. We later wanted to make it even more meaningful by using cycling to help others,' said Mr Lee.

The club has plans to do the same in Singapore. Road trips to Malaysia and the United States are also on the cards, according to Mr David Lee Chih-Wei, honorary consultant, CCS.