Our friend Mike Rubbo came to stay with us in March. It was -10 C here but people were still cycling much as they always do. We had had a chance to get used to the weather, of course, so I thought Mike did well to survive outdoors at all, having come here from the Australian summer.
Mike wrapped up warm to film the school run in Kloosterveen, a new suburb
of Assen. It's impressive whatever
the weather.
The above is the first of the films that Mike has finished about cycling in this area. This film was shot around the bike shop and cycle parking at the largest railway station in Groningen, with particular emphasis on one of the shop's customers, a lady who uses her electric bike to get around in and around the city and who had an amusing story to tell.
Mike Rubbo recently sent us one of his wonderful artworks. It shows a view of Peter and myself disappearing into the distance in our Mangos. It was drawn from a photo made by Paul Martin during the Cycling Dutch Style tour by an Australian group earlier in the year.
Mike's got an exhibition at the Tap Gallery in Sydney called "Nothing But Bikes". The exhibition opens on Monday, the 4th of July, and runs until the 17th. Sixty one items of "Bike Art" will be on display. Worth a trip. Especially good as somewhere to cycle to. However, Australia is unfortunately a bit too far away for us to go. We've got just the one picture here, it's wonderful, and we feel honoured to have it.
We were also lucky enough to receive a second gift this week, also unique and different. Pat Franz from Terracycle in Portland came to Assen with his daughter on a cycling holiday organised by Judy.
Before leaving Assen, they gave us four spinning tops (one for each of the family), each of which they'd made of a US quarter dollar with a very nicely machined piece of metal as the axis. These are themselves a great example of the quality of Terracycle products. They're beautifully made and work really well, spinning as freely as their famous idlers:
If the name Mike Rubbo rings a bell, it's perhaps because he's not only an accomplished artist but also a famous filmmaker. It's quite likely you'll have seen his work before, either on the small or large screen.
Over here, it's nothing special to be a "cycling councillor." In fact, quite the reverse. When 93% of the population ride a bike at least once a week, it would be a brave councillor who tried to get elected with any kind of anti-bike message. In this country, the royal family ride bikes, and do so publicly in part because it's a way of connecting with the public and appearing a bit more normal rather than aloof.
However, in Australia it is not the same, and Jackie is sticking her head out in being a "cycling councillor." It is perhaps not a co-incidence that she represents the area with the highest cycling rate in Australia. 9% of commutes in Yarra are by bicycle, which is vastly higher than the average for the country as a whole.
Now, that's all very interesting, but what I like to know about places like this is what makes them special. What makes Yarra a place where cycling is more acceptable and more commonplace than elsewhere in Australia ? I sent Mike this question, and got a very comprehensive reply from Jackie herself, listing her reasons why Yarra has a high cycling mode share:
Location close to key destinations such as CBD (1-2kms away to 5kms away at the extreme), employment and local activity centres;
Yarra being 19.5 sq kms, and only a few kms from CBD (Central Business District), so distances all easily cyclable;
Relatively flat terrain;
Hoddle grid street pattern (rectangular blocks) makes cycling easy;
High youth population, including students, given proximity to many tertiary educational institutions (University of Melbourne, RMIT, Australian Catholic University, and city campuses of Monash University, Vitoria University and others);
Demographic is diverse with high proportion of professionals (higher incomes), and students and public housing (low incomes); both demographics cycle;
cycling as an egalitarian and independent mode, suits the Yarra demographic;
Congestion, so it is far more effective to cycle - being faster and door to door;
20% of households do not have a car, compared with Melbourne average of 10%;
73,000 residents; and 8,700 business in Yarra, employing some 60,000 people, Yarra having the largest source of employment outside the CBD. Some large businesses, like the CUB, have large secure bike cages for staff. Many employers are starting to encourage their staff to cycle to work with good parking and other facilities. Under the State planning scheme, these have become mandatory for larger new developments, but this is effecting existing businesses too. At meetings with planners, we take every opportunity to point out that more bikes are sold than cars, especially in Yarra, so where are residents/workers going to put their bikes. We say that if they do not want them in corridors and on balconies where they can cause trip hazards and WorkCare claims, then they need to plan better storage places;
people are employed locally though more are employed in the CBD and also in surrounding areas;
Yarra inherited a good cycle path to the CBD (Canning Street) but this has been supplemented by bike paths on virtually all roads in Yarra due to policy change directing this;
Role models of Mayor and councillors on bikes, and senior staff including Directors on bikes;
PR with press features on cycling and facilities;
many local workers like to attend a bar or the like after work and having a car hampers them with restricted parking, drink driving etc; a bike gives more flexibility and less likely to be DUI.
What is my point in presenting this ? I believe there is always a reason why people cycle more in some places than they do in others. You see the same thing even here in the Netherlands. Some cities have highercycling rates thanothers. There is always a reason why.
The challenge is to transform the rest of the city, even the rest of the country, so that conditions there are also conducive to cycling, and to keep on doing so in order to continue to increase the cycling rate. Commuters are a start, but they only get you so far. For a sustainable improvement, infrastructure needs to be designed to make it possible for awiderdemographic to take to bicycles.
For now, let's be happy with what Yarra has achieved so far: The highest cycling rate anywhere in Australia.
The renowned Australian film director, Mike Rubbo, recently made a film about cycling in the Netherlands which features me. It's rather unusual to be the subject of a film in this way, and I've resisted putting it on my own blog, not because I don't like the film, but because it seems a bit conceited for me to do so. However, Mike kept asking me to put it up, and here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
What I'm riding at the start of the film is a Sinner Mango Velomobile. This is not only is very fast indeed, but also comfortable, and it has the fully enclosed chain, reliable brakes and puncture resistant tyres essential to make for reliable everyday transport. Oh, and we could have adjusted it to fit Violeta properly...
Mike's own blog can be found at www.situp-cycle.com. It includes many other videos which he's made, including interviews with other people such as Mikael from the Copenhagenize blog, a cycling doctor in Australia and Sue Abbott who has achieved some fame due to fighting the helmet laws in Australia.
From Mike Rubbo's blog Sit-Up Cycle, this video is of Sue Abbott, an Australian who is facing legal action in Australia for refusing to wear a helmet when cycling.
As most readers will know, Dutch cyclists are both the most numerous and the safest in the world. In fact, the roads of the Netherlands are the safest in the world. Helmets are very rarely worn in this country, virtually not at all for utility journeys, though sport cyclists tend to wear them as part of the uniform. Australia's helmet compulsion is a misguided attempt to improve cyclist safety, when what really needs to happen is investment in cycling infrastructure. That is the way to increase the cycling rate and to make the population more healthy.
