Traffic Crushing São Paulo
Planetizen points us to an article in the International Herald Tribune about the disaster that is modern day traffic. This particular story describes São Paulo, Brazil (map) (wiki):
FIGHTS, SHOOTINGS
Local newspapers are littered with chronicles of shootings and fist fights over traffic disputes. Hold-ups in bottlenecks are common. And last month, a disgruntled commuter slashed the tires of a bus because it was full and was almost lynched by passengers before police intervened.
“It’s a nightmare. It’s getting to the point where I can’t take the stress anymore,” said Geralda Aparecida Mendes, a cleaning lady who takes three buses to work every day.
The traffic woes are also a drag on the economy. In a recent study, Sao Paulo state’s transportation secretariat estimated the gridlock costs the city’s economy at least 4.1 billion reais (1.2 billion pounds) a year in lost productivity.
It turns out that traffic is not just about smog and asthma and wasting time sitting in traffic and economic slowdowns and all that fun stuff–it’s also about violence and destruction of property and road rage and robbery and pushing people towards nervous breakdowns. In short, traffic is anti-human.
The people of São Paulo need to look at every conceivable option to mitigate these problems. My vote? Bike paths.
I would like to see some bang-for-the-buck studies on building bike lanes vs. building more/bigger auto roads/bridges/highways, but I can imagine that folks would love the thought of a peaceful ride into work instead of being packed like sardines into a bus or train.
I lived in Reston, Virginia (map) (wiki) for a bit (a western suburb of DC), and they have an awesome rail trail: the Washington & Old Dominion trail. It can take you from some of the nicest suburban towns on the west side of DC to just about into DC itself. It won’t quite get you all the way into downtown DC, but you could navigate your way in or jump on the Metro. When I lived there, the trail often seemed to get a decent bit of traffic (especially on weekends), but now with gas prices skyrocketing and traffic generally growing worse in every metro area in the country, I suspect this trail might be seeing more use than usual. If anyone would know about (bicycle) traffic on the trail these days, it’d be WABA or RBC. Point being, I’d like to see rail trails be an option for any city struggling with traffic problems. This might be an area for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
Every time I think of traffic and cities, I’m reminded of Buffalo, New York (map) (wiki)–the city best known for Buffalo Wings and benching Doug Flutie. 
I didn’t spend a lot of time there, but was there long enough to realize that driving around town (and back and forth to Niagara Falls and Orchard Park) wasn’t that difficult; there just didn’t seem to be a whole lot of traffic. It definitely made an big impact on me. I wonder if it’s still like that?
The Pedaling History Bicycle Museum is in Buffalo. The city seems to have a Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Board and some racing-oriented clubs, but I wasn’t able to find an advocacy-oriented group. Did I miss them?
They do have a bike lending-type program called Buffalo Blue, a pedicab company called The Buffalo Bike Taxi Co., and at least one intrepid bike commuter. SUNY-Buffalo does some biking stuff and UB Green seems to be involved a bit.
Sydney, Australia (map) (wiki) is working on dedicated bike paths and a full-blown integrated bicycle network with their Sustainable Sydney program. I can’t imagine how much more beautiful Sydney is going to be when they finish this project. The city is already unbearably nice in lots of areas.
The picture to the right comes from the SydneyCyclist.com forums, and it is part of a new media campaign by the City of Sydney. This particular poster focuses on safety, which happens to be the primary/initiating focus of this petition. The poster advertisement says:
What if you could safely ride your bike instead of your luck?
The reaction of one cyclist to that photo is pretty funny and, I think, indicative of what is going on:
OK, that’s it. Forget whatever I’ve said about Clover Moore in the past, Clover Moore for Premier I say
Wow, things are really happening. (thank God for the Climate Change movement).
The bold is the commenter’s original formatting, not mine. I think it’s fair to say that Clover Moore has won herself a new fan. The part I like best about this comment is the “Wow, things are really happening” statement. It’s true: things are definitely happening. Even the grizzled veterans are becoming convinced, it seems. I have no doubt that there was a tremendous amount of effort in Sydney by all sorts of people to get this initiative going. Congrats to them.
Some social research on cycling done by Sydney talks about “potential cyclists” and says:
Safety concerns, high levels of traffic and lack of cycling infrastructure are the current barriers to them cycling
In other words, “if you build it, they will come” (ref).
Bicycle NSW (NSW = the state of New South Wales) seems to be the main advocacy group in/around Sydney.
I also like the idea that bicycling seems to help different constituencies form natural coalitions. The Sydney commenter said–somewhat but not completely in jest–”thank God for the Climate Change movement.” I think this is important because it makes it crystal clear for us (if it wasn’t clear enough) that bicycle advocates and environmental advocates need to work together. It is actually possible to form coalitions of groups who have little-to-no interest in each other’s proposals and work, but in this particular situation, many of our goals are actually the same. Environmentalists and cycling advocates may have different reasons for wanting more/better bicycle infrastructure, but they share that same real goal.
Of course, everyone is busy, but there may still be very easy, low-cost ways to work together. An example?
Maybe leaders of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Texas Bicycle Coalition could agree to a sit-down lunch (everyone’s got to eat, right?) once a month. And what would they do at this lunch? Talk about the things they’re trying to get done, learn from each other, and figure out if they can help each other.
Using these state-level organizations is just an example; any group can and should try to work with any other group.
Boston wants in on the bike lanes act, too. Thanks to the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition for the good work they’re doing up there.
Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute let us know about the 1,000,000 Bicyclists Campaign (website not live until May 1, 2008), via BikePortland.org.
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Go check ‘em out!
Finally, maybe the lesson of São Paulo is, “Don’t wait until it’s too late.”
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