💻 Hacked Off - MM#587
Good day my good friend.
Dispatches from the frontline on the war on cars. In the small town of Flitwick a fierce battle rages. One side stating that the plentiful room in the front garden needs to be given over to an extra parking space ‘in case we need it.’ The other is fighting valiantly to make the case for trees and flowers. Both sides are at a stalemate. More news when we receive it.
If the recent announcement by the Prime Minister still has you hot under the collar, we are talking ‘changing the narrative’ on sustainable transport at Mobility Camp on 26th September 2023 in Birmingham. It would be great to see you there. Get your tickets now.
If you like this newsletter, please share it with someone else who you think will love it. I will love you forever if you do. ☺️
James
🔧 Fix It Boris
One of the forgotten initiatives as part of the ‘unpleasantness’ of 2020 was a scheme launched by the UK Department for Transport called the Fix Your Bike Voucher Scheme. It was exactly like is says it was - people were offered vouchers to get the bike out of the shed and get it fixed. And what resulted was one of the single most effective interventions in cycling in the UK that I have seen in many years.
Lets look at the important numbers covered in the analysis report.
The scheme was effective in attracting people who did little or no cycling: over a third of those applying (35%) said that, 12 months before they applied to the scheme, they had been cycling less than once a week, including 6% who said that they never cycled at that time…
Slightly under half (46%) of those who applied for a voucher went on to use it...with 43% saying they were cycling less than once a week at the time of applying…
53% of voucher users reported that they had started cycling for some trips previously made by car or van, compared to 27% of non-users. Voucher users also reported that, in the previous week, they had cycled for an average of 8.9 miles that they would previously have driven. The equivalent distance reported by voucher non-users was 7.0 miles, a statistically significant difference of 1.9 miles.
In short, despite the unique circumstances of the pandemic, this scheme was effective is encouraging people who didn’t cycle at the time to take up cycling, and for those who rarely cycled to do it more. And they continued cycling after the pandemic as well.
Amazingly, I have never seen any similar types of initiatives being delivered anywhere in the literature. So I wondered why this was so effective, and again there is very little literature on why this works.
I did find one study on Feminine Velonomy, indicating that the experience of women is difficulty in navigating the highly gendered spaces of bicycles and maintenance. Which is useful context, but hasn’t really answered the exam question of why a voucher scheme was so effective.
A more extensive study on self-repair in China offers slightly more insight, saying that the willingness to self-repair a bicycle depends on internal and external psychological factors. This may indicate that a voucher helps to overcome a factor of lack of confidence by simply removing the need to fix the bike yourself. As someone who has failed in many puncture repairs, I can sympathise with that.
It seems to be one of those schemes which clearly has an impact, but we don’t know why. In some respects, the why may not be important, so long as it works. But if we want to make such schemes more applicable elsewhere, understanding the decision making and how this influences mode choice is important. Time for someone to do a research project, I think.
What you can do: If you are a professional planning an active travel promotion, maybe even alongside a scheme, work with local bike repair shops to offer a voucher allowing people to get their bikes repaired. Promote it widely among cyclists and non-cyclists alike. Learn the lessons of the UK experience.
If you are an activist, contatc your local bike repair shops, and see if you can work with them to set up a discount voucher scheme for bike repairs. Send the shops the DfT report and highlight the experiences of businesses who participated.
🚘 Are connected cars easier to steal?
Growing up in the UK in the 1990s, car crime was everywhere. And I mean that. Nearly 20% of ALL reported crimes in the UK involved theft from vehicles. Topping out at over 4 million thefts in 1993 and 1995. In 2017, this had fallen to just 790,000 thefts. Owning and driving a car is extremely safe historically, yet now a new crime is being enabled by increasing digital connectivity - cyber crime. Or is it?
The truth is…we don’t know. We know that connected vehicles have security deficiencies in them, and the horror stories about hackers seizing control of vehicles are…disturbing. And this is a risk that needs minimising for sure.
I think back to a cyber security project I did at Transport Systems Catapult. One of the things I learned from a collaborator, Paul Galwas of the Digital Catapult, was how we often forget that crimes have a human element to them. Criminals will need a motivation to steal from YOU - money, desperation, whatever. Without that, crime does not happen.
Vehicle crime has historically been an opportunistic one. See a purse on a seat, smash a window, steal it, run off. To take control of your car, criminals will have to take the time and effort to do so. If they really wanted to do it, they would find a way. And if you find yourself in a position where people are doing that to you, you have a more fundamental problem that an insecure software system in your car.
What you can do: If you want to protect yourself as best you can, there are some really simple steps that will make you very secure. You must, MUST use a password generator and locker - Bitwarden is one recommended by many privacy websites, but there are loads of others. If you want to go further with your privacy, I highly recommend reviewing the recommendations on the Privacy Tools website.
Some other tactics for cars specifically is to turn off the in-car wireless services like WiFi and Bluetooth - they are easy to hack. Don’t under any circumstances insert anything other than the manufacturers dongles into the diagnostic ports. Don’t share personal info unless you are forced to by the system, and if you suspect you have been hacked, head to the service centre right away.
🎓 From academia
The clever clogs at our universities have published the following excellent research. Where you are unable to access the research, email the author - they may give you a copy of the research paper for free.
TL:DR - Researchers try to figure out what city factors increase the rate of adoption of autonomous vehicles. Good news for EV fans.
Examining the impact of urban-rural spatial structure on mobility networks: A case study of taxis
TL:DR - There is a relationship between the urban form and using taxis.
Seeking equity and justice in urban freight: where to look?
TL:DR - Talking about equity and urban freight is as rare as Elon Musk having a good idea for Twitter, or X or whatever it is.
Pricing curb parking: Differentiated parking fees or cash rewards?
TL:DR - Do the former to reduce peak hour occupancy. Do the latter to earn more revenue.
✊ Awesome people doing awesome things
I absolutely LOVE the work of Station South CIC.
It says that it is a cycle cafe for everyone with a garden thrown in, but it is so much more than that. It goes to demonstrate the value of not just having an impact, but in HOW you do that work. I highly, highly recommend reading about how the CIC built their space in Levenshulme, Manchester, with inclusivity in mind. Its a brilliant initiative, and if you are ever in Manchester, get out of the city centre, head down Stockport Road into South Manchester, and show them some love.
Got someone doing something awesome in transport decarbonisation, transport justice, or transport safety who deserves a shout out? Let me know about them.
📼 On the (You)Tube
Watch this video about how Chicago screwed up its parking. Big time. As in biblical scale of mess up. This level of stupidity is almost inspiring.
What you can do: Don’t do this.
🖼️ Graphic Design
Well, that is not a pretty sight. Not only are humans dumping millions of tonnes of plastic in the ocean each year, but in many countries almost none of it is controlled. Come on, how can we ignore Sir David?
📚 Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
Why US tech giants are threatening to quit the UK (BBC News)
UK homes install ‘record number’ of solar panels and heat pumps (The Guardian)
Font size can ‘nudge’ customers toward healthier food choices (ScienceBlog)
Montana Climate Lawsuit: Youths Win Landmark Case (Rolling Stone)
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