Re your point that makeshift mobility users are often marginalized, I think a lot of bans happen because the decisionmakers don't consult these users/ are far removed from the second and third order impacts of their decisions. Two personal examples -
1. Singapore government's e-scooter or PMD ban from last year - While I know e-scooters are much maligned and do have many safety concerns, these devices were the only source of income for 1000s of food delivery riders in S'pore and proposed alternatives (bicycles, e-bikes, motorbikes) just didn't work for a variety of reasons. (Disclosure - I worked at a micromobility operator co and our local biz was affected)
2. The Supreme Court of India's ban on diesel buses in Delhi from a few years ago - great from an air quality standpoint, especially considering Delhi's current pollution levels, but a decision that made it close to impossible for millions to get to work. And since I grew up in Delhi, it's auto rickshaws for me always :)
Those are really good examples. Far too common, I agree.
In most cities where informal transportation dominates (and that actually is most cities in the world), the ruling class travels by private cars and so are really far removed from the experience. --Part of the reason informal transportation emerges in the first place is the neglect of public transportation.
Whatever transportation investments are made are meant to "solve traffic" which is absolutely the wrong thing to solve. I always say, "Solve transportation." And, if I might add, start with what people are already using.
If I had my druthers, every city would have a "public transportation experience" unit whose sole job is to document the experience of transit users and set targets for improvement.
A lot of these bans are closely tied in to some connected politician with a specific vehicle or engine import franchise. When we were doing the cycle rickshaw modernizatino project in India we had a hard time getting our lighter and more comfortable designs adopted because the big player in the industry controlled the rexine (? - some sort of plastic used for the seats) import monopoly. So we changed the seat to use rexine and then they were good with it.
Follow the money is a reasonable step when examining causal factors. Government can be criticised for a lot of dumb decisions. However in many I've looked at there are partly hidden commercial favours behind them. The transformation of the energy sector here in Australia is a good example. It seems purely ideological that our national government has done what it can to delay and demean renewable energy. To the great cost of our economy and environment. But the incumbents takes enormous donations from the coal mining and coal fired power station industries. And there are plenty of former politicians who move on to lobbying roles in these industries. It's a happy coincidence that the anti-renewable ideologues also benefit from the delaying tactics but I don't think it is sufficient to motivate such bad decisions.
I'm sure that happens. But it's not a good long term pathway. It just locks us into the next large dinosaur industry. I think the better pathway is campaign finance reform to remove private money from politics. But then we don't live in that imaginary happy world do we and so regulating the small innovator out of existence is always going to be a problem. City scale governments seem to do a little better though. The bigger the company or the government and the bigger the problem it seems.
I think tuk tuk should be spelt however the local population wants to spell it, so there xan be multiple spellings. Then when we write articles on it, hopefully dear Clippy will just let us add the preferred local spelling to the dictionary —like my name, which often gets corrected to Tiling by Microsoft until I add it in <cringe>.
Curious for your thoughts: those Chicago tuktuks look exciting, and so covid-safe with open air! But...what about when winter comes, and they’re trying to make it through the snow? Will the aldermen subsidize throw blankets and hot chocolate to encourage ridership?
Good point on the spelling! And yes to localizing dictionaries. (BUT Radiolab had a really good episode on writing assistants and population based autocomplete and word suggestion essentially means something else--or someone else--gets to shape our writing, and by implication, our world view.)
As to tuktuks in the winter, we shall see. I bet the biking maxim can apply: there is no bad weather for tuktuks, only bad clothes. (Then again, how does a three wheeler manage heavy snow?)
Re your point that makeshift mobility users are often marginalized, I think a lot of bans happen because the decisionmakers don't consult these users/ are far removed from the second and third order impacts of their decisions. Two personal examples -
1. Singapore government's e-scooter or PMD ban from last year - While I know e-scooters are much maligned and do have many safety concerns, these devices were the only source of income for 1000s of food delivery riders in S'pore and proposed alternatives (bicycles, e-bikes, motorbikes) just didn't work for a variety of reasons. (Disclosure - I worked at a micromobility operator co and our local biz was affected)
2. The Supreme Court of India's ban on diesel buses in Delhi from a few years ago - great from an air quality standpoint, especially considering Delhi's current pollution levels, but a decision that made it close to impossible for millions to get to work. And since I grew up in Delhi, it's auto rickshaws for me always :)
Love your newsletter!
Thanks, Anjana!
Those are really good examples. Far too common, I agree.
In most cities where informal transportation dominates (and that actually is most cities in the world), the ruling class travels by private cars and so are really far removed from the experience. --Part of the reason informal transportation emerges in the first place is the neglect of public transportation.
Whatever transportation investments are made are meant to "solve traffic" which is absolutely the wrong thing to solve. I always say, "Solve transportation." And, if I might add, start with what people are already using.
If I had my druthers, every city would have a "public transportation experience" unit whose sole job is to document the experience of transit users and set targets for improvement.
A lot of these bans are closely tied in to some connected politician with a specific vehicle or engine import franchise. When we were doing the cycle rickshaw modernizatino project in India we had a hard time getting our lighter and more comfortable designs adopted because the big player in the industry controlled the rexine (? - some sort of plastic used for the seats) import monopoly. So we changed the seat to use rexine and then they were good with it.
I suspected half as much. Either there is a favored manufacturer or importer or there is a squeeze on someone doing good business.
I didn't realize it went down to the level of materials.
Did the cycle rickshaw modernization program succeed?
Follow the money is a reasonable step when examining causal factors. Government can be criticised for a lot of dumb decisions. However in many I've looked at there are partly hidden commercial favours behind them. The transformation of the energy sector here in Australia is a good example. It seems purely ideological that our national government has done what it can to delay and demean renewable energy. To the great cost of our economy and environment. But the incumbents takes enormous donations from the coal mining and coal fired power station industries. And there are plenty of former politicians who move on to lobbying roles in these industries. It's a happy coincidence that the anti-renewable ideologues also benefit from the delaying tactics but I don't think it is sufficient to motivate such bad decisions.
so is the trick finding new vested interests that could make new money and have them go against the incumbent vested interests?
I'm sure that happens. But it's not a good long term pathway. It just locks us into the next large dinosaur industry. I think the better pathway is campaign finance reform to remove private money from politics. But then we don't live in that imaginary happy world do we and so regulating the small innovator out of existence is always going to be a problem. City scale governments seem to do a little better though. The bigger the company or the government and the bigger the problem it seems.
In the informal transportation sector, I'm batting for change that comes from the bottom up with incentives from above.
A lot of the vehicles are DIY or DIY upgrades anyway, why not develop products that cater to the DIY nature of the sector?
I think tuk tuk should be spelt however the local population wants to spell it, so there xan be multiple spellings. Then when we write articles on it, hopefully dear Clippy will just let us add the preferred local spelling to the dictionary —like my name, which often gets corrected to Tiling by Microsoft until I add it in <cringe>.
Curious for your thoughts: those Chicago tuktuks look exciting, and so covid-safe with open air! But...what about when winter comes, and they’re trying to make it through the snow? Will the aldermen subsidize throw blankets and hot chocolate to encourage ridership?
Good point on the spelling! And yes to localizing dictionaries. (BUT Radiolab had a really good episode on writing assistants and population based autocomplete and word suggestion essentially means something else--or someone else--gets to shape our writing, and by implication, our world view.)
As to tuktuks in the winter, we shall see. I bet the biking maxim can apply: there is no bad weather for tuktuks, only bad clothes. (Then again, how does a three wheeler manage heavy snow?)