Love cars, love traffic jams

Sure I've shown a picture like this before, but this one's different.

It's the first one I've seen that includes bicycles, buses and light rail.

Surely it's obvious to everyone that unless traffic jams are something we enjoy, then bicycles and public transport are by far the best options.

Where does "Jaywalking" come from?

I like this video about how cars took over the streets. Learn where the phrase jaywalking comes from and how clever marketing strategy from car makers changed the way we think.

The end line is classic... "Thank you for granting us passage, Metal Majesty."

The poor woman

I've certainly felt like this at times. The smug pedestrian (or bike rider) cruising past a traffic jam.

Thursdays in my neighbourhood are particularly bad for drivers. Our city has late night shopping on Thursdays, so commuter traffic and shopping traffic add together.

In a logical world some of the regular drivers would work this out and take public transport on a Thursday - or ride or walk if it's a short distance. But people tend to stick to habits even if it means sitting in traffic for much longer than other forms of transport would take.

Of course the poor woman in the cartoon is also doing for for her physical and mental health.

Damn, these electric bikes (are great)

The topic of electric bikes came up at work today. One colleague mentioned how jealous she is of electric bikes as they pass her on the uphills.

I think this cartoon sums it up well. The rider of the electric bike is thinking "Damn, these electric bikes (are great)" while the other rider thinks "Damn these electric bikes (are making me jealous)."

The Secret of Happiness

I've just read an article on Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. "We might not be able to fix the economy. But we can design the city to give people dignity, to make them feel rich. The city can make them happier."

One experiment was to have a day of a total car ban. The 'car free' day was the first day in 4 years that nobody was killed in traffic. Hospital admissions were down, smog thinned, and people were feeling more optimistic about life. All from just one day without cars.

Why does better city design, and fewer cars, give such a boost to our happiness? The article had some stats on that - and it seems that we've over-valued the role of money in happiness.

• The British got 40% richer from 1993 to 2012, but the rate of psychiatric disorders and neuroses grew.
• Londoners are among the least happy people in the UK, despite the city being the richest region in the UK.
• The more connected we are, the less likely we are to experience heart attacks, strokes, cancer and depression. Connected people sleep better at night. They live longer. They consistently report being happier.
• People who endure more than a 45-minute commute were 40% more likely to divorce.
• People who live in car‑dependent neighbourhoods are much less trusting of other people.
• Longer commutes mean lower life-satisfaction. A person with a one-hour commute has to be paid 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office. For a single person, exchanging a long commute for a short walk to work has the same effect on happiness as finding a new love.

So why is driving so bad? So bad that being freed from it is the equivalent of falling in love - or getting a 40% pay rise?

"Driving in traffic is harrowing for both brain and body. The blood of people who drive in cities is a stew of stress hormones. The worse the traffic, the more your system is flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, the fight-or-flight juices that, in the short-term, get your heart pumping faster, dilate your air passages and help sharpen your alertness, but in the long-term can make you ill. Brain researchers found that peak-hour travellers suffered worse stress than fighter pilots or riot police facing mobs of angry protesters."

Apparently, it's the mobility of walking, running or riding that makes commuting enjoyable.

"We were born to move. Immobility is to the human body what rust is to the classic car. Stop moving long enough, and your muscles will atrophy. Bones will weaken. Blood will clot. You will find it harder to concentrate and solve problems. Immobility is not merely a state closer to death: it hastens it."

Cyclists report feeling "connected to the world around them" in a way that's not possible in a sealed vehicle. Their journeys are "sensual and kinesthetic".

So how did Bogotá's experiment go?

It made life better for almost everyone. Commuting times fell by a fifth. The streets were calmer. The accident rate halved, as did the murder rate, even as the country as a whole got more violent. There was better air quality. Bogotáns got healthier. The city experienced a spike in feelings of optimism. People believed that life was good and getting better.

To find out more, read the article, or get the book it comes from - "Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design" by Charles Montgomery.

More Road Space

One of the great things about riding a bike, and about public transport is how little space it takes. Especially compared to cars.

Smarter transport frees up so much space on the roads. Groups have taken some stunning photos to illustrate just how much extra space there could be on the roads.

There's also the famous photo of the space to transport 60 people, and this animation of the space saved by a bus.


But one of the pictures I find the most compelling is this one from an international study. Building roads is such a wasteful way to transport a lot of people.

Train and bus cheaper than a car

I stumbled across the article, Train and bus commute cheaper than the car, reporting on a study of transport costs in Australian cities.

In summary it calculated the costs at:
$10,698 - commuting by car (even a small car) for 15km.
$5,155 - catch public transport, leave the car at home. Saves $5543
$2,370 - catch public transport and have one less car. Saves $8328

That was one year ago. So for 2014, I tallied up how much I spent on public transport - each time I added credit to my go card.

$1195 - my total transport costs for 2014. About one-tenth of the average car costs.

So if you think you're saving money by driving, you may want to re-think that. (See how much your car costs you)

PS. You might notice it got a lot cheaper near the end of the year. I left my previous job in October, and have travelled mainly by bicycle since then. That's another great advantage of being car-free - you only pay for what you use. With car ownership, if you leave (or lose) your job, you still have to pay a year's registration, a year's insurance. The car still gets older, and loses its value. You'll also be tempted to use it (and need to buy more fuel) when you could use cheaper and healthier options.