FNQROC Update - June 2014

Michael Colville-Anderson from Copenhagenenize Design was a key note speaker on the first day.  There was one question that got me thinking....(Copenhagen has a very high cycle commute culture....even in the snow!).  He asked his six year old daughter what she would think if she lived in Australia and had to drive to school every day.  Her response after some time was... "how sad, are they poor?"  A six year old Australian child was asked this question "how would you feel if we could only ride to school?" and the reply was "cool!"

The other shock factor from this presentation was the below slide and the speaker making the audience say it out loud....twice!!!  It takes a lot to shock me but Copenhagen you have guts and I respect that!

I have learnt that the 'cyclists' we need to cater for are not currently cyclists.  They are the majority.  They are our budding enthusiast, and families.  This is where the economic development is...just ask the Welsh and Daffyd Davies (by the way, he has done some work for TIMBA).  These enthusiasts and families are the ones we need to capture, and make them feel safe.  They are the ones who will support economic growth in this area and help to reduce car usage.  The vocal minority are the down hillers, sports 'elite' and MAMILS (middle aged men in lycra).  Commuter paths and mountain bike tracks for economic development can (as a rule of thumb) be measured by the number of females using the route (I am not discounting the sport elite and downhillers here but the numbers in comparison are small - we do need to cater for all and the local clubs are doing that).

One of the thought provokers for me was "why are we building infrastructure to cater for the number of cars?"  Shouldn't we be catering for transportation based on the number of people we can move?  With our current road constraints shouldn't we be preparing for the future, 20 years forward?  In cities, the number of people with driving licenses are decreasing, they have no need, they use cycle ways and public transport.  Aren't these the people we are trying to attract to our region.  Are we doing a disservice to ourselves if we don't plan for them now?

Next month, I will have access to the presentations and I will pick out the pertinent ones (particularly those with before and after...the kind that gets planners, engineers and economic development officers excited) to include in my  July newsletter.  In the meantime, this radio podcast recorded by ABC Radio is a good synopsis.  

I went to the conference with pre-conceived ideas and thoughts and left with a whole new perspective.  I have a road bike, I bought a mountain bike to experience the desire of the region to grow in this area and now I WANT one of those chic cruiser bikes to commute and shop with...you know, the ones that are very girly, with the basket and flowers...we need a little chic to combat the MAMILS!