Bicycles - part of the urban transport solution?

What about public transportation?

Certainly public transport schemes remain reliant on the generation of power in some manner. And although the carbon load from buses, trains and subways is far less than that of private automobiles it would be difficult to argue outright against public transportation – it has obvious benefits for large urban centres– and obvious limitations, problems and shortcomings.

Perhaps the biggest hindrance with public transportation is the problem of rising to the challenge of expanding urban populations and a corresponding demand for access to city cores. In recent years, our planet passed a critical mark – more of us now live in cities than in rural areas. Mass urban transport schemes such as subways, or those which operate on the surface or elevated tracks, groan under the strain of rush-hour peak demands. Upgrades to capacity, if possible at all, are hugely expensive as solutions involve a combination of land acquisition, tunnelling, or building elevated tracks. Adding more passenger capacity by increasing the frequency of trains is an option – but there are limits. Infrequently a simple accident or mechanical failure will inevitably result in a show-stopping cascade effect along the line. And derailments or more serious accidents will result in a complete loss of service along parts of a transport network of days, weeks, or even months.

Adding more buses could be considered. However, as these vehicles share the road network with private automobiles, they will be subject to crawling speeds due to rush-hour congestion. Some cities have resorted to dedicated bus lanes during peak hours. Others have combined this with an attempt to limit the amount of private vehicles by charging for access to zones with a high traffic demand. Again, similar hindrances and problems exist for possible expansion of a bus network as they do for the various forms of rail. As well, short of an outright ban of cars in urban centres, those who are willing to pay for the privilege of driving in them will do so.

Hybrid automobiles?

Hybrid vehicles which run on a combination of petroleum fuel and electricity, or more exotic hydrogen fuel cell technology may be an option. However, no matter how far the price of these vehicles may drop - even to the point of becoming dirt cheap – these beasts are relatively large. The are regularly built to seat four or more passengers but commonly only carry one. If we all got around in this manner, it wouldn’t solve the problem of congestion in urban centres.

Ok, fine – I’ll buy a scooter!

Scooters, or small engine motorcycles, are a staple of transportation in the developing world. Even in North American and European urban centres, scooters are already popular or becoming so and are regularly used as a cheap alternative to relatively expensive automobiles. Very recently, an Indian manufacturer, Tata Motors announced a low cost car, the ‘Tatar Nano’. Essentially, it’s a scooter-sized engine with a thin and light car-like frame. The ‘Nano’ is being sold for US$ 2500.00 – which is believed to be within the financial reach of members of the population who have previously juggled a family of three or four on one motorcycle.

Yet even though scooters or ‘micro-cars’ burn far less fuel than automobiles – in large numbers they represent a not inconsiderable impact to the overall carbon load on the environment. And as well, the transportation and economic growth issues faced by the developing world are far different than those of countries which are already affluent.

Electric scooters may be an option – although still very expensive. They are small, cheap to run personal transportation vehicles which occupy a minimal amount of space and hence diminish the effects of congestion. From the environmental perspective - obviously generating stations converting fossil fuel to electrical power is less polluting than the combined output of individual fossil fuel motors in automobiles. Potentially, if the promise of clean and cheap electrical power generated through nuclear fusion is realised, we could very likely find that scooters are the most suitable personal urban transport solution - and will supplement buses and trains which will, as well, run on electricity generated from fusion reactors.

Today’s affluent urban centres

We live, obviously, not fifty or a hundred years in the future, but today. And even if at some point researchers do in fact develop a personal transport which runs on electricity generated from fusion power – does that then mean that riding a bicycle should still not be put forward as a desirable alternative? Almost certainly the conserving of energy - no matter how non-polluting it may be at the generating source – is an attitude to encourage. Or let’s ride bikes simply for the fitness benefits.

What’s left? Worried about messing up your hair? Shall I stop evangelising and get off my high horse?

Or perhaps I should get off my bike?

I think I’ll go for a nice ride instead.

For more information

BikeTrans
http://www.biketrans.com

The Tata 'Nano' Car
http://www.tatanano.com