This is a great video of a presentation by John Pucher, professor of planning and policy development at Rutgers University, speaking to an audience at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Click here to see the video. It's lengthy (70+ minutes), but well worth viewing in its entirety.
In his entertaining and enlightening presentation, Dr. Pucher makes many convincing arguments for the benefits of bicycling and illustrates many successful bicycling improvements developed in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Surprising to some of us who believed that the Dutch have always been bicyclists, Pucher indicates that all three nations actually had a decline in bicycling activity following World War II. The increased bicycling mode share has been the result of radical policy shifts in the past 40 years to deliberately encourage cycling.
The key point Dr. Pucher makes repeatedly is that bicycle advocates must promote facilities that make bicycling possible for everyone--male and female, old and young, rich and poor. Dr. Pucher also indicates that bicycling enhancement is only part (carrot) of a comprehensive strategy; restrictions on vehicular privileges, access, and priority (stick) are equally necessary. He acknowledges that Europe's higher gas prices also enhance the relative appeal of bicycling for transportation.
And while he shares some examples of educational and promotional campaigns in the three countries, his primary emphasis is on the infrastructural changes these societies developed to foster bicycling-friendly communities. Not simply bike lanes, but separated paths, bike parking facilities (one example has a bike wash!), car-free zones, bike boulevards, traffic calming, intermodal transit access, bike-priority signals, bike boxes, and route networks.
View the complete presentation: Cycling for Everyone: Lessons for Vancouver from the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany.
Image: Web capture.
Visit: City expands bike routes at record pace, Vancouver Sun
Visit: John Pucher: Cycling Safety on Bikeways vs. Roads
Visit: John Pucher: Cycling for everyone (PDF of PowerPoint presentation)
Visit: John Pucher-the bicycle scholar, Momentum
Visit: Not just for cars anymore, Bike Commute Tips Blog
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips Site
Thanks to Jack Painter for forwarding this item.
He's a bit of an awkward speaker, but his points are good, and I agree it's worth listening to.
ReplyDeleteThe link to the slides used in one of his presentations (good data, insightful images):
ReplyDeletehttp://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/BikeWalkPublicHealth_April%206.pdf
Jack
Yes, he is a very enthusiastic and energetic person and overly passionate person. How do I know this?---I am currently his student at Rutgers.
ReplyDeletehe is john sin carro