Pedal Pumpers Push Pedestrians: A Clash of Cultures in a Conflicted Kingdom

Religious Zealots in Traffic
The Taipei Times ran an editorial from the Taipei based reporter, James Baron, who brings into focus some of the problems Taipei is facing with its overlapping bicycle policies.

Baron writes: 

The effort to turn Taipei into a cycle city has borne fruit. 

The Guardian ran a piece called “Return of the Bicycle Kingdom? How pavement cycling is transforming Taipei” on Tuesday last week that focuses on the initiatives that have shot bicycle usage figures for the city way past those of New York and London. The author of the article, Nick Mead, who was in town for this year’s Velo-city Global Conference, heaped deserved praise on the YouBike system and the riverside cycling paths. 

He also referenced a threefold increase in cycle lanes within three years, though the caveat that this extra space would be on the sidewalk and, thus, taken from pedestrians was telling. Another interesting figure was the 386.24km of sidewalk that is now apparently open in its entirety to cyclists.

I also wrote some about this article Here and Here. But I don't get up to Taipei enough to see the daily interaction between bicycles, motor vehicles and pedestrians. The Guardian article seemed a bit fanciful, and not the Taipei I have encountered. But I gave the writer the benefit of the doubt is writing honestly about his experiences. I also imagined that maybe it is worse off where he hails from, making Taipei look like a city park. 

One paragraph that struck me about the article was this gem:

“We want to be a cycle-friendly city, but we’re not trying to be like Amsterdam or Copenhagen,” Anne Chung, transport commissioner for Taipei, tells me on the sidelines of the VeloCity global cycling conference, which is taking place in Asia for the first time. “There are too many scooters and motorbikes at the moment and it is too dangerous to ride on the road with them, so the pavement is safer for cyclists. We want people to make cycling part of their lives and be able to combine cycling with the metro and buses for the ‘last mile’ of their journeys. We want to be able to tell car and motorbike users that there is a smarter way to get around.”

But upon further investigation Baron uncovered a different story. This struck me as a bit strange, considering the occasions public officials have sought to tour the Netherlands and Copenhagen looking for inspiration for Taiwan's future development.

Possibly, one of the biggest problems may be in how the central and local governments have not been able to decide where cycling belongs. It becomes and ideological problem. Digging way back in the TiC archives I found this piece that really captures the root of the problem.

"Although the MOTC is moving to take the lead for national biking policy, projects to develop local bike paths continue to be financed by the Ministry of the Interior’s Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) and the Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council (SAC). According to a construction plan by the SAC, a budget of NT$4 billion (US$125 million) will be devoted to the development of an integrated network of biking paths around Taiwan from 2009 to 2012, continuing similar efforts started by the council in the early 2000s for sport and recreational purposes." 

You can see by the alphabet soup above, how bureaucratic divisions, budget rivalries and lack of cross-agency communication can impede the process of integrating cycling into the transportation grid. To expand on the paragraph above, it is obvious that cycling in Taiwanese officialdom is neither transportation nor a sport.

The bicycle has no place to go, because bureaucrats have not been able to envision where to put it. Many see the bicycle as a piece of leisure sporting equipment-- a cash generating toy-- that is fun for non-cyclists to play with on weekend jaunts past cafes, kitsch markets, souvenir shops, and restaurants. Others see the bicycle as transportation and integral to reducing congestion in the cities. 

By relegating the bicycle to the sidewalk, the city is sending the message that the bicycle is not regarded as transportation.This is a policy and an outlook that needs to be reversed for Taipei and other cities to really begin making progress. They need to provide road space for bikes and treat the bicycle as an important cog in the transportation grid rather than a mere toy.      

Dunhua Bike Lane Debacle: City Puts NT$60 Million Failure To Rest

My quick synopsis and commentary of a recent article from the Chinese language news wire:

.......................

Taipei City has finally been forced to terminate the ill-fated Dunhua Bike Lanes.

The Dunhua bike lane was launched 2 years ago with much fanfare, but due to poor design othere have been several serious accidents and numerous complaints. Therefore, after a lengthy evaluation by the Bureau of Transportation, the lanes have been slated for removal.

The lanes have been routinely criticized for having been constructed as a knee jerk reaction to the first bicycle boom in 2008, when the city sought to win political points on the heels of a trend.

Now, the city is proposing a redesign. But after an initial NT60 million initial investment, Taipei residents are reluctant to fund the redesign fearing a continuation of the same type of ill planned, ill thought-out city project that has been the hall mark of Taiwanese urban bike trails.

The lane runs from Min Quan E. Rd. to Keelung Rd. at 4.6km.

Ever since its opening in Sept. 2009, the city has received regular complaints. Many residents feel the basic design has many errors, for example the rubberized material is easily damaged and becomes slick in the rain. Furthermore, the lane cuts between pedestrian walkways and bus lanes forcing citizens to dodge bike traffic in order to catch a bus.

What this really shows is how little the government really considers the needs of cyclists before spending public funds on these types of projects. Often these bike paths are a quick means to pander to the electorate and to spread money to various construction firms.

It is disappointing when a city loses a bike lane when they should be creating them, but that is the risk of letting unrelated factors influence necessary infrastructure. If you're just going to do it half-assed, then don't do it at all.

Cyclists As Equals?

A Change Is Gonna Come...

According to an article by Jason Kambitsis in Wired Magazine, The U.S. Department of Transportation is finally catching up with some other parts of the world in shifting from an automobile-centric approach to city planning, to a policy which puts cars, cyclists and pedestrians on equal footing... or at least if governments would like to receive a federal funding for transportation related projects. This is good news for those who are sick of seeing federal funding largely wasted the unsustainable dream of communities centered around the personal automobile. This dream was the dream of my grandfather who was known as one of the fathers of the Interstate 5 and former head of the Washington State Highway Dept. before the creation of the DOT. His generation believed the answer to congestion was to simply build more roads. This type of thinking has formed the core of DOT policy since its inception in 1966. During the campaign Barack Obama promised to seek significant changes in transportation policy and we are just beginning to see the results.

The policy statement reads, in part:

"Walking and bicycling foster safer, more livable, family-friendly communities; promote physical activity and health; and reduce vehicle emissions and fuel use,”

The Republican response can be read here:

"To laughter, Republican House members suggested LaHood was taking drugs, dismissed the very idea of bike lanes and derided any change to a car-dependent society."

Some American cities have already gotten on board. Portland Oregon is often rated the most bike friendly city in the United States, while other municipalities have crafted long term development plans focusing on bicycle transportation. The Seattle Bicycle Master Plan serves as an excellent blue print for other cities aiming to integrate cycling into their transportation infrastructure.

This is a fantastic development, but most parts of the United States have a long way to go to becoming more environmentally and cycling friendly. Whenever I go to the United States to visit, I am always amazed at how far everything is from home. When Americans want pet food or ice cream, they get in the car for five minutes to get to the strip mall. From an environmental standpoint, this is far from ideal.

If humans are going to make the most of their natural environment and leave a livable world for many more generations of people and creatures we need to learn to accept alternative models for living. Period!

This is where Taiwan comes in. As shocking and ridiculous as it may sound, Taiwan has the potential to become a leader in creating and promoting a more environmentally sound model of living. Crazy, I know.

Unlike the United States, Taiwanese life is concentrated in the urban centers. Everything a family needs can be found within walking distance from home. Rather than one mega-supermarket supplying huge blocks of the population, the corner 7-11 supplies many of our daily needs. There are really no suburbs. You are either in town or in the country. This is a huge advantage to building an infrastructure that is not centered around the automobile. If people can live and work within a walk or bike ride from home it greatly reduces our reliance on fossil fuels and becomes a highly efficient model for living. Ahhhh... the idealized future.

Unfortunately, Taiwanese localities remain aloof to the needs of cyclists. The infrastructure just does not exist in any reliable, interconnected form, to integrate cycling into the urban transportation system. There have been some efforts to make space on some trains and the High Speed Rail for mostly folding bikes and there are a few designated bike trails, but most of these are for weekend recreational riders and do not reliably connect to areas where people work. They often don't reliably connect to anything. The city streets are a scrum against scooters and dangerous drivers without bike lanes or reliable law enforcement and busses are not equipped to carry bicycles. These drawbacks keep many potential riders from choosing the bicycle for commuting. Simply, the plan is... there is no plan.

Taiwan's government really needs to take a coordinated and centralized approach to making cycling a positive alternative to motorized vehicles. I don't think this can be achieved on just the local level as political rivalries and special interests often influence the outcome of urban planning projects. Projects like bike paths and lanes are, more often than not, the victims of election year promises and not very well thought through but look nice on the campaign trail and in a stump speech. A long term, integrated transportation plan that realistically incorporates cycling into the project would be a major improvement for a more sustainable future and I hope the new U.S. policy can spark Taiwan's politicians to make the same paradigm shift.

Taiwan has the potential, but is there a will?

We're on an island after all.