Pedal to the metal!

This picture was taken at the corner of Concord Road in San Juan. Yes this is my ever faithful bicycle! If you 
can recollect from my first entry, one of the most common forms of mobility in the city is walking. Indeed walking was my first and main forms of mobility but as grew older this bicycle was my main and most exciting form of transport to get in and around the city of San Juan. In addition, San Juan is always cluttered with traffic congestion so it was also the quickest form of getting from one place to another as I did not have to sit in traffic or walk to my destinations.

A study conducted in Great Britain showed the diminishing numbers of persons that commuted via bicycle. In 1952 the percentage of persons that used a bike to get around the city was 11%. This number decreased significantly as in 1975 this number dropped dramatically to one percent. This percentage remained the same up to the year 2007. What this study showed was the stark contrast in bicycles vs. cars as a mode of transport. The percentage of persons that used cars in 1952 was 27% while in 2007 this number jumped to 84%! Great Britain have however catered for this increase in car mobility by having a diverse road network (Hall and Barrett, 283). Furthermore, Hall and Barrett (2012) went on to say that cycling is a mode of transport that is highly uneven across space. This is seen in an example in Belgium where cycling levels among commuters are higher in densely built up areas. These environments are suited for biking as they are characterized by short commuting distances. However, in lower density urban areas commuting distances are longer and hence cycling becomes a less attractive option. In other words biking is more favorable in cities where there is a short commuting distance.

Have you notice I have not spoken anything about Trinidad yet? This is so as every Trinidadian feels that in order to be considered as “reaching somewhere in life” you must own a car and riding a bike to work is frown upon by society. An article in the Guardian Newspaper entitled “Car sales gets a boast in 2012” highlights the story of the ever increasing number of cars in Trinidad. According to the article there were 14,888 new vehicles sold in 2012 compared with 2011 where there were 13,1363 new cars being sold. How are our small roads handling this influx of cars? There will be more traffic! Why don’t the government implement a bike scheme? For example the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which was implemented in London in 2010 and is still a major part of the transport scheme for London. This cycle scheme in the year 2013 currently has 8000 bicycles and 570 docking stations. At the recently concluded London 2012 Olympics, a record of 47,105 cycle hires was made in a single day. This is a cheap mode of transport in the city, it is environmentally friendly and promotes healthy living. So why not implement a small scale version of the Barclays Cycle Hire in Trinidad, more specifically the capital city? Seeing that the capital city is small (compared to London)  this will tie in with Hall and Barrett (2012) theory as explained earlier that persons are more willing to bike to areas that are short distances away.

This song by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers basically says a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyQxJ8d5PPo One of the main lines in the sound… “How could I forget to mention that the bicycle is a good invention”

Reference
Hall,Tim and Heather Barrett.2012. Urban Geography. London and New York: Routledge Publishing.2012 (pages 282- 301)

Raphael,John.2013."Car sales get a boost in 2012" Guardian Newspapers (February 28 2013). Accessed March 4 2013. http://guardian.co.tt/business-guardian/2013-02-27/car-sales-get-boost-2012

London and Partners.2011." London Cycle Hire Scheme" Accessed March 4 2013.http://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-around-london/london-transport/london-cycle-hire-scheme.