Other blogs of interest relating to transport schemes

The winners of the Copenhagen bike design competition:
http://greenideafactory.blogspot.com/

San Francisco Street blog:
http://sf.streetsblog.org/

Copenhagenize:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/

FOR THE LOVE OF BICYCLE CULTURE

[Images from Copenhagenize]

Other transport schemes in the UK and Europe (Secondary research)

Car Shares: London and UK
www.streetcar.co.uk
Where is it ? London and UK

All the convenience of your own car but without the cost and hassle.

Streetcar has cars parked in a dense network of dedicated spaces across London and several other UK cities, typically within a few minutes walk of your home or work. You can use one for as little as 30 minutes or as long as 6 months.

They are reserved online or by phone, and can be collected and returned 24/7 using one of our high-tech smartcards. Our fleet is made up of brand new Volkswagen Golfs and Volkswagen Polo BlueMotions. There are also some vans if you need to move bulkier items.

The cost of your usage is based on how long you have the car and how far you drive but unless you're a heavy car user, the annual cost of Streetcar will be dramatically less than owning a car and with lots of the hassle of car ownership removed

Bike share: Copenhagen

With growing popularity across Europe Copenhagen is one of many countries promoting a bike sharing schemes for their public.

THE CITY BIKE AND COPENHAGEN

The city bikes in Copenhagen are world famous. When you tour the city you notice, that especially tourists love riding the city bikes. Some even regard them as the major tourist attraction of Copenhagen! But don't get surprised, if you see an officially looking clerk on a city bike on his way to the office. The copenhageners themselves do sometimes use "bycyklen" as a quick alternative to cars, busses and taxis, when they want to get around in City. The city bikes are Copenhagen! This is emphasized by the fact, that a city bike was the official gift from The City of Copenhagen to the American president, when he visited Copenhagen in 1997. Bill Clinton recieved a specially designed city bike called "City Bike One". The city bikes are also a story about our town. They tell you that Copenhagen City is a little big green town, in which you easily get around. The cool yet funny design of the city bikes illustrates our playing approach to city-life.

City bikes give jobs!

"Bycykelservice" maintains the city bikes. "Bycykelservice" is a departement in the rehabilitation agency of Copenhagen. It trains around 30 rehabilitees. During a 6 month-training program the rehabilitee qualifies for a job on normal conditions. The program is a succes. Around 80% of the rehabilitees get a job afterwards, mainly as lorrydrivers or bicycle repairers.

Environmental

To encourage even more citizens to use their bicycle for transportation, The City of Copenhagen systematically expands the net of bicycle lanes and routes. Hence, you can get faster around in City by bicycle than by car or bus!

FACTS

We have
- 2.000 city bikes
- 110 city bike-racks in City
- 1 bicycle repairshop only for city bikes
- 4 mobile city bike-repairshops - for reparations on the spot

Interesting: recent bike design competition:

http://www.cphbikeshare.com/winners.aspx

The winning entry for a new bike share system for Copenhagen must adhere to the City’s primary goals for the future development of the city. The goals are that Copenhagen must be a sustainable and dynamic city and a city for everyone.
More specifically, the design competition is the first step towards Copenhagen implementing a new bike share system that is...
- an attractive product for the city's guests
- an indispensible piece of the transport puzzle for train passengers
- a faithful friend in an hour of need for Copenhageners
- easily integrated and implemented in an existing city
- unique, elegant and attractive
- robust.

WINNER: Lots design, Kouchy & Partners, Green Idea Factory

Day One: Research on the High street in Redruth

[Image: talking to people about their views on transport in the Camborne, Redruth and Poole area]

For the first day of research myself and Jo Flood visited Redruth Highstreet to get people's views about transport in Redruth and surrounding areas. Due to it being a (very) windy day we struggled to get people's attention despite our giant wooden board and the offer of Foxes Glacier mints for a few minutes of their time. Despite this a few braved the windy weather in true Cornish fashion to have a quick chat with us about their views on transportation. The majority of people were users of public transport and owned their own car. They agreed on the lack of car parks as well as the inconvience of buses. We didn't recieved many answers which we didn't expect and the majority considered how unreliable the buses were, as well as how timetables had to be planned round if public transport was being used. Nevertheless it was a good start to gain some insight into a select user group of people who at the time were shopping, going to the bank or post office or going to work.

On with day two where we interview the businesses along the A3047

Live | Work

www.livework.co.uk

Website of Live|Work who we are working for on DOTT project Road works

Workshop day

Whilst working on the 'Road Works' project, I have been involved in mind mapping exercises where ideas are sketched and concepts dreamt up. Following are a selection of photographs (taken by Moryl Mamie) illustrating a workshop day. The day was productive and exciting which resulted in feeling like a good day work had been done. Ben Reason of Live | Work introduced us to a way to communicate ideas through drawing onto printed illustrations to create a mind map of ideas which were then sorted into categories. I found it particularly useful as a new way to communicate and sketch my initial, rough ideas without too much consideration to detail; it was a quick, pacy exercise to illustrate our ideas which helped them to develop into something more. In addition I found this new way of designing effective as it helped us to think quickly and bounce ideas off each other. The exercise allowed us to visually communicate the light bulbs of ideas above our heads!

[Image: Ben, Myself and Louisa, working in the DOTT offices at Krowji]

[Image: Ben and I sorting the drawn images into categories of titles such as support, inspire and fun]

[Image: All the sketches of initial ideas after a few hours work]


[Image: Detailed sketches]

[Image: Me sorting through the sketches and ideas]

Research: Transportation around the world

From China to South East Asia: transport globally

Image: Hong Kong trams

Whilst in Asia I discovered a range of transportation which although may seem a little extreme in comparison with the transport we use in the UK today along with feeling detached from the feel of Cornwall, however they do provide some interesting concepts, systems and theories which could inspire future concepts provided for the towns connected by the A3047.

The trams of Hong Kong: A spectacular form of transport on Hong Kong island, the trams have become famous worldwide. Basic, traditional and in effect the opposite to the flashy and bright Hong Kong, these trams simply provide a transport route from A to B. They are efficient, easy to use, along with running on time at regular intervals. Of course most importantly they are very cheap at approximately HK$1 for each journey lasting up to one hour. In comparison to the new underground subways Hong Kong has to offer, which although offer air con and a sanctuary away from the busy streets and crowded trams, the trams are nonetheless a great form of transport available and possibly the most exciting, alternative form to use in HK. Although my thoughts would be whether or not this is a bias opinion as a non-local to the area. What would they really be like to use day in day out?

Bicycles in Beijing: Although this is possibly the most populated city in the world, the traffic and congestion feels more under control than perhaps somewhere like London. To balance out the mass use of cars, there are plenty of bikes...everywhere! With this cheap form of sustainable transport readily available Beijing is full of bikes! Many people use their bikes as a multi-functional form of transport from using their bike as a way to deliver, collect, act as a taxi driver, drop off, and carry various things from shopping, to a doorway (see various images). Nevertheless this attitude towards the bikes is not just restricted to Beijing; other parts of Asia have adopted this form of sustainable transport as a main way to get around.

Motorbikes: Motorbikes are one of the main forms of transport in Asia; for a local it is standard for up to 5 people (sometimes more) to use the same bike to get around. Many an interesting sight spotting a family of 4 along with the family dog balancing on a motorbike. The attitude towards this is fantastic! In this country where there is a 'river of empty seats' and along with the current economic climate this could be an inspiration to new ways and attitudes towards how we can use transport in a sustainable way and without causes damage to the environment.

Tuk Tuks and motos: The rickshaw is a cheap (perhaps cheaper for
locals), easily accessible, available at almost all times especially in larger cities and reliable as it is often small enough to dodge the traffic jams like a motorbike could. Tuk tuks are in concept taxis however are more like motorbikes with a carriage added on the back for passengers. In 2006 the tuk tuks were brought to Brighton in East Sussex. Tuk tuks are also popping up in other European countries such as the Netherlands where the tuk tuks are imported from Thailand and fitted with CNG engines. Other than this tuk tuks are common in South Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, along with India, Central America and Pakistan.

Article from the Independent
From Bombay to Brighton by Geneviève Roberts
"The tuk-tuk, ubiquitous in Asian cities from Bombay to Bangkok, has arrived on British shores. The three-wheeled motorised rickshaws, named after their spluttering two-stroke engines, took to the streets of Brighton yesterday. If the fleet of 12 vehicles, which pick up passengers along set routes, prove popular, then tuk-tuks will be introduced in London from May next year. There are also plans for fleets in Bristol, Edinburgh and Birmingham. The executive director of TucTuc Ltd, Dominic Ponniah, 26, was travelling in a tuk-tuk in Delhi when he decided the rickshaws would be an asset to this country. "The streets of Delhi are as congested as our roads, but instead of being blocked with bendy buses, a tuk-tuk can nip in and out of traffic," he said. He said that the vehicles have been modified to make them safe and environmentally friendly. Each tuk-tuk takes up to three people and uses the equivalent of 50 miles per gallon. But Bob Oddie, General Secretary of Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, believes the vehicles will not be as safe as taxis or buses."

Motos are bikes which have a detachable passenger carriage, complimenting the driver's lifestyle as their form of transport becomes a personal method as well as job. This is convenient for both the user and the driver and works well economically. These can be seen in most places across Asia, such as Cambodia and Vietnam.

Cyclo: Cyclos are similar to tuk tuks again but the driver is on a bicycle peddling the passenger through the traffic. Although in some places the tuk tuks and motos are taking over from the traditional cyclo it still remains a simple form, if not hard work for the driver, of transport to get around. Disadvantages are that they are only ideal for shorter journeys around towns and cities, and unlike tuk tuks can only really take 2 adults, perhaps depending on the tip, the driver will sometimes take a small child as well, although this would be likely to the maximum. Like the bicycle people use the cyclo as a way to transport goods and produce. Common in parts of China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Buses: In general buses are used much more freely in parts of Asia compared to the UK. Buses can be picked up usually without having to stand at the bus stop from most pavement space. Tickets are often brought without much thought of booking in advance and the general experience of using a bus in certain parts of Asia is not stressful, easy and unrestricted to the ideas of timetables and waiting at a bus stop. Buses usually show up when they show up and generally there is not too much interest in whether or not the bus has too many people on. As a driver it is an incentive to get more people to use the bus as it is run more like a business such as a taxi service. People = customers. In the UK perhaps the driver feel detached from the service so the incentive to pick people up is not necessarily there.

Road Works: Live | Work

Project brief: Road Works working with Live | Work and CPR regeneration

Image: Redruth High Street by Jo Flood

Road works, previously known as the A3047 is a project based on the transportation methods used along the A3047 connecting Redruth, Poole and Camborne in Cornwall. Interests at present are regarding the transport used by people commuting to get to work and the potentials of developing schemes to reduce mass traffic along the A3047.

"New transport, working to re-design the A3047 as a sustainable transport corridor" Quote from Dott.com describing the Road works project

At current stages myself and 3 other interns are working with Live | Work to conduct secondary research regarding transport schemes nationally and internationally. Currently we are looking at the broader transport and schemes, from the transportation links in third world countries to European transport systems to encourage stimulus for idea development.