On your bike
SCMP
Christine Loh Kung-wai is chief executive of the think-tank Civic Exchange. cloh@civic-exchange.org
If you assume something is not possible, you probably won’t try. Worse, your assumption may be based on ignorance. For example, many people assumed it would not be possible to put in cycle lanes in busy cities where the density of vehicles and people wouldn’t leave room for cyclists. Another reason is that it would also be unsafe to cycle in such conditions.
Cities with long cycling traditions, like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, are seen as special cases because they don’t have the density of bigger cities. Then New York announced it would build new bike paths. New York?
Having just visited the Big Apple, the cycling lanes are indeed there and it is possible to cycle around quite a large area of Manhattan and beyond. The initiative is proving popular with New Yorkers. Those who are cycling want to do more, and those who don’t cycle think it is a good idea nevertheless.
On my way to a meeting at one of the major UN buildings one morning, I saw a staff member take his bicycle to his office. The bike was collapsible to about the size of a hand-carry suitcase, making it easy to take into a lift and park at his desk upstairs. While taking the lift, everyone talked about his bike in the way one would about an endearing pet.
At a conference last week in New York called Walk21, organised by the city’s department of transport, the key theme was the importance of enabling walking in cities because activities at street level are what bring a city to life. Moreover, it is good for the environment and public health, too.
Alongside improving the pedestrian experience was promoting cycling. Thus, walking and cycling are no longer being seen as ancillary to cars and buses but as major mobility modes deserving the same policy attention. Very nicely produced cycling maps are now handed out in New York. Another idea is to encourage cycling along the US east coast for sport and recreation. It is already possible to do so along the magnificent Pacific coast. Wouldn’t it be great if we could also cycle along the China coast? Is it possible? Probably yes, but we first need to plant the idea in our minds.
If Hong Kong had a conference on matters concerning pedestrians, it would mainly feature a lot of complaints about how difficult it is to walk even quite short distances in our city because, over time, planning policy has given vehicles priority.
People are blocked from walking along the waterfront by highways, and with decades of reclamation, the beautiful harbourfront is far from congenial. The public has complained about excessive reclamation for more than a decade now and they have forced reclamation plans to be drastically curtailed.
As a result, the government is looking at providing waterfront promenades and better connectivity between where people live and work and the new walking paths.
Still, the attitude is not to acknowledge walking as a major mobility mode. Every district in Hong Kong can organise local residents’ workshops to discuss how to improve life for pedestrians. It will foster a whole new sense of the city. With a new mindset, cycling too will no longer appear to be just a recreational option.
Indeed, if we open our minds, we can visualise Hong Kong functioning quite differently. The rail system becomes the backbone delivery mode it is meant to be. The tram system provides a low-pollution, above-ground option.
As the Hong Kong Institute of Planners suggested a few years ago, much of Des Voeux Road can be pedestrianised so air quality and noise levels can be reduced. Shopkeepers should do better business but the vehicular lobby won’t like it.
The latter cannot be allowed to hold us hostage to redesigning our sustainable city of the future. What kind of conversations do we need in the community to move things forward? This city’s powerful interests can for once lead the discussion on sustainable design in a positive way rather than resist to the bitter end.
