Op-Ed: Active People, Active Transportation

Portland Metro refers to the phrase “active transportation” as sustainable, multimodal transportation solutions that connect people to where they need to go (ODOT). At a local level, infrastructure is incorporated in city design in order to allow people to access what they need easily. Pedestrian focused design encourages people to get out of their cars and be active by walking, biking, and taking public transportation. It increases physical activity, decreases air pollution and gets people moving in and around their communities.

Portland should embrace new bike share technology

Bike sharing systems have skyrocketed in popularity over the last 10 years in the United States. Minneapolis, Washington DC, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston and now New York have extensive networks of bike sharing docks placed on street corners, plazas and parks throughout the city. The docking station was the key innovation that addressed issues of security, payment, and circulation that plagued past attempts to implement a bike sharing scheme. But new technology is integrating the functions of the docking station into the bikes themselves, offering promising benefits to both users and operators that may catalyze another wave of expansion of bike sharing in the future. Portland, the top bike city in the country, should lead the way in deploying this technology when they roll out bike sharing next year.

Active Transportation and The War On Obesity

Fatness – being overweight/obese is in most cases a symptom, not a negative health outcome in itself. It is defined by the ratio of your height to your weight and doesn’t take into account body composition, i.e. whether this height and weight ratio comes from a body builder, someone with excess fat, a pregnant woman, or someone with excess fat who had a leg amputated and consequently has the “right” height to weight ratio. It’s too blunt of an instrument to take into account whether someone’s bone structure and musculature resembles a refrigerator or a giraffe. It doesn’t consider how much exercise someone is getting, whether their calories are coming from produce or deep-fried Mars bars, genetics, stress, exposure to environmental contaminants… essentially, it is just about the bluntest means of talking about health that the field of health has. We only hear about it so prevalently for two reasons: 1) it gets used frequently in studies because it is quick, easy, painless, and cheap to measure someone’s height and weight. Especially compared to drawing blood or performing a cardiovascular stress test.  2) it’s in the news all the time, not because it is terribly relevant, but because a three-letter abbreviation (BMI) is more accessible to the general population than medical terminology like “adipose tissue” and “lipid profile”, and articles about fat get clicked on. That’s why you see ads like

 

 

 

 

 

Because it works. People click on that stuff like crazy. And what’s on the cover of supermarket tabloids?

Forget scientific accuracy, this stuff sells!

 

But cardiovascular disease isn’t caused soley by a few extra inches on your waist. It’s a subtle distinction between correlation and causation: for most of us, poor diet and exercise habits (A)  cause fat cells to grow (B) and a long list of health problems (C). But this is a case of A causes B, and A causes C. B did not cause C, except in the case of mechanical issues (sleep apnea) and hormone-mediated diseases like diabetes and some cancers. People who won the genetic lottery and can eat junk food and watch tv all day without gaining weight are still increasing their risk of dying, and someone who is overweight but eats well and exercises might live to see 97. The greatest increase in health from exercise is reaped by people who are just transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to an active lifestyle – before any weight loss is likely to have occurred [1].

 

But is there anything wrong with vilifying fat, since it can be an indicator that one's intake of food and exercise is imbalanced?

Reminding girls that they are girls decreases their test scores (the official terminology from psychology is “stereotype threat”)[5], and the appearance of girls and women is heavily policed and held to a mostly unobtainable standard [6], so it doesn’t seem to be a stretch that constantly talking about fatness could make people who aren’t thin feel like there isn’t a place for them in “bicycle culture” or other forms of active transportation. I wondered if I might be the only person to worry about this, but Google quickly turned up Ms. Kinzel’s experience:

 

“I’m using the elliptical trainer at the gym. A man walks by and gives me an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “GOOD FOR YOU!” he says loudly, pointedly, a little patronizingly. 

His intentions may well be positive, but in reality he has drawn attention to the perceived discrepancy between my apparent interest in exercise and the size of my body. He has pointed out that seeing people who look like me exercising in public is a strange and unfamiliar occurance, an idea rooted in the assumption that fat people are uniformly lazy and unhealthy, and I, as an exception, therefore deserve to be recognized and lauded. I feel singled out and othered, and very uncomfortable.” [4]

 

But if we can get overweight and obese people to exercise, won’t they lose weight and no longer suffer from stereotype threat or discouragement?

 Unfortunatly, exercising more isn’t a silver bullet for weight loss. Nothing is [3]. Even people who don’t experience stereotype threat could experience run-of-the-mill discouragement at not making much progress towards the goal of being skinny, if we promote walking and biking for the purpose of weight loss. Most of the weight gain Americans have been experiencing for the past couple of decades can be attributed to eating more, not exercising less [2]. People who walk and bike more might engage in less of other forms of exercise, such as sports or a gym membership. Or they might work up more of an appetite and eat more in compensation for increased activity. Real, permanent weight loss is very rare.

 What we as Planners need to do is stop linking active transportation to weight loss. We run the risk of discouraging people from improving their health and the environment when the pounds don’t melt away, or they lose some weight but not enough to stop viewing themselves as “fat”. Whether or not weight loss happens, exercising more improve blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer risk, hormone balance, sleep quality, bone density, inflammation, immune response, and mental health. And the planet. We need to hear much more exhortation to quit looking at the scale and just go ride a bike, and it should be coming from the national level such as the CDC. This is an issue where medical credentials matter, and the local City Council is not the appropriate level of government. Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign carefully avoids fat-shaming, but still puts a large emphasis on measuring the success of healthy eating and exercise by largeness. To improve utilization of active transportation for health improvement, and not unecessarily discourage people, takes a better understanding of psychology.

 

1. Running Doc: Biggest health benefits from exercise come when sedentary people start a program. (n.d.). NY Daily News. Retrieved June 10, 2013, from http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/exercise-benefits-start-program-article-1.1336187

 

2. Dreifus, C. (2012, May 14). A Mathematical Challenge to Obesity. The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/science/a-mathematical-challenge-to-obesity.html

 

3. Parker-pope, T. (2011, December 28). The Fat Trap. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html

 

4. What’s Wrong With Fat-Shaming? (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2013, fromhttp://www.xojane.com/issues/whats-wrong-fat-shaming

 

5. Matthew S. McGlone, Joshua Aronson, Stereotype threat, identity salience, and spatial reasoning, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Volume 27, Issue 5, September–October 2006, Pages 486-493, ISSN 0193-3973, 10.1016/j.appdev.2006.06.003.

 

6. Pretty much all media.

Op-Ed: Oregon Needs Mobility Education

Oregon’s graduated licensing program has received much praise in its effectiveness at reducing crash rates for teen drivers. Given this success, I propose that the state continue to lead the nation in driver preparedness by instituting mobility education, starting at the elementary school level. This recommendation focuses on the state level because the Oregon Department of Transportation already handles driver education within the state. Furthermore, instituting this novel idea as a pilot program within the state will allow for gradual adoption and flexibility in implementation.

Dangerous by Design: Portland's Unsignalized Intersections

Source: BikePortland.org

             The image above depicts the current intersection treatment at NE Going Street, looking north on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (MLK).

             Imagine you are a cyclist at this intersection, crossing the seemingly always-busy MLK by riding west on NE Going Street. As you wait for the traffic to pass you notice a car in the right-hand lane slowing to a stop just before the “zebra crossing.” The motorist looks at you and begins waving their hand, nodding and mouthing “go ahead.” Their behavior clearly states, “proceed, I am stopping for you.”

             This is where the problem begins.

Op-Ed: Active Transportation in High School: A New Frontier

“New technologies such as computers and gaming systems have also increased the quantity of choices for sedentary entertainment. At the same time, many American children now live in a physical environment that discourages physical activity,” (Clark, 2011). This is from “The Effect of Low-cost Incentives on Active Transportation to School Rates among Elementary School Students,” a research article with a focus on a certain age demographic. Elementary schools are often targeted for active transportation (AT) programs, so research information geared towards young children is plentiful. However, one of the age demographics that often get overlooked when it comes to AT outreach is high school students.

Bicycle Tourism as Economic Stimulus: Seriously?! Yes, Seriously.

$400 million. That’s how much bicycle tourism, in Oregon, generated in 2012.

Travel Oregon announces bicycle tourism success on Twitter. Source: Author

Op-Ed: Saving the Cycle Rickshaw

Growing up in India, I’ve used about nine different modes of transportation to get to school every day. My favorite was the Cycle Rickshaw (or the pedicab), as the operator (the rickshaw cyclist?) would sometimes let my friends and I take turns driving it back home. With the advent and subsequent monopoly of motorized and faster modes of travel on Indian roads, the Cycle Rickshaw population is dwindling. Increasingly, they are being banned from cities due to their poor integration with motorized traffic and deteriorating public image. In this post, I’ll talk about the problems faced by this mode, why they are a critical component for the Indian city, and some innovative grassroots initiatives focused on bringing back the Cycle Rickshaw.

Cycle Rickshaws on a busy road

Chicago's Pedestrian Scramble

Today was the first day people could legally cross a busy downtown Chicago intersection diagonally. At the intersection of State and Jackson Chicago has introduced a test pedestrian scramble that will allow pedestrians to cross the intersection in six ways, the cardinal four and the two diagonals. 

The pedestrian scramble is intended to reduce conflicts between turning vehicles and pedestrians by letting pedestrians get a head start as well as their own time on the road. For 35 seconds of every third light cycle pedestrians can cross in all directions. The experiment will run for several months to collect data and feedback before deciding if the scramble will become permanent and, perhaps, spread to other intersections in the city. 

The Use of Bicycles as Disaster Relief Tools

Could this be the new frontier for disaster response?
Source: Bikeportland.org

Natural disasters strike throughout the world on a daily basis. So many occur throughout the year that we won’t even hear about most of them from our regular news source. What we do hear about is the extreme ruin from building crumbling earthquakes, hurricanes that grind a city to standstill, entire blocks completely ravaged by tornadoes, record shattering snowstorms. All of these disasters happen routinely and when they do, emergency plans are called into action. For many, those plans heavily rely on traditional means of transportation, such as an automobile, bus or rail lines to move goods, shuttle people or even to evacuate the city. But history has shown that in situations such as these, traditional methods yield anything but traditional results and typically solutions are not usually viable means of mobility.

Suburbia as Smart Growth

This may not make you very comfortable to hear.  Suburbia may have inadvertently arranged itself, despite our grumblings and crinkled noses, in a manner that shockingly resembles that of Smart Growth or New Urbansim.  Now before you brush me off as some mild-mannered troll, let me say that I do not mean all of suburbia.  I’m not talking about single-family housing (there is no hope for that), but rather I’m referring to multifamily housing.  An Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC) report states that “since 1970 suburban multifamily housing has been the largest growing family housing market” and currently comprise a quarter of the housing units in the suburbs.  It goes on to say that these units are typically built 20 to 30 an acre, which is a sufficient density, according to an Access report, for a bus or even light rail corridor.

Shifting Away from Automobilities

As we've covered previously, Mexico City has experienced dramatic change over the last five years to its transportation system. Long regarded as one of the worst commuter cities in the world, Mexico City has seen such growth that they received the 2012 Sustainable Transport Award from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). This can be attributed to the city's system-wide shift away from automobility planning towards a multimodal approach emphasizing transit and active transportation options.

London: Barclays Cycle for Hire

London’s bicycle sharing scheme, Barclays Cycle Hire (BCH), scheme was introduced in 2010 by Mayor Boris Johnson and is touted as a catalyst for London’s cycling revolution. Barclays Bank funded a majority of the initial scheme, with operations fully funded by Transport for London. The scheme is often referred to as Boris Bikes after the Mayor and several community forums like this are fast gaining popularity. BCH gained instant success, with six million trips made in the first year alone, totaling almost 15 million trips since its inception and reaching a record high during the London Olympics in 2012. Although, Mayor Johnson is credited for the BCH scheme, it was actually first announced by the previous mayor, Ken Livingstone in 2007. The scheme drew inspiration from its European counterparts and is heavily modeled after the Velib, Paris’ bike share scheme.

Boris Bikes

The Next Evolution in Bike Sharing

In just the last few years, many U.S. cities have caught on to the formerly European phenomenon called bike share. As bike sharing programs open across major cities in the U.S., many of them have seen great success with higher than expected rider turnouts fueling the expansion of these systems. However, one major piece of equipment has been keeping bike sharing out of smaller markets: the docking station. 

Vintage Bicycles Boom

Peugeot in the Portland snow. Source: Hart Ryan Noecker

                   
            If Portland is known for one thing other than rain, it’s bikes. Lots of them. Take a look at what types of bikes most people are riding and you’ll see skinny tire, steel frame 10-speed bikes from decades past. Or, as some may say, “vintage bikes." And by vintage, I am referring to bicycles that hark back to an era of cycling simplicity, from the 1970’s through the 1990’s.

In Los Angeles, Every Lane is a Bike Lane

One of many Metro bus banners encouraging Los Angels to share the road[4]

In Los Angeles, cars clearly dominate the roads. However, in spirit of expanding and promoting cooperation with all users of the streets, Los Angeles Metro created the “Every Lane is a Bike Lane” (ELBL) campaign. Aimed primarily at automobile users, the push behind ELBL is to bring increased awareness to cycling “without showing cycling as reckless or dangerous.”[1]

The Ciclovia and Cicloruta Programs in Bogotá

There have been major investments in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in Bogotá, mostly started during Mayor Peñalosa’s term in office. Two of the programs specifically designed for bicycles are the Ciclovia and the Cicloruta.

Op-Ed: The Benefits of Active Transportation for Children

Children need to take a more active role in transporting themselves to school.  In 2001, only 13% of school children walked or bike to school, compared to 41% in 1969 (McDonald & Aalborg, 2009).  Coincidentally, the obesity rate has increased from 4.2% to 17% in children ages 6 to 11 (McMillan, 2009). 

Op-Ed: The Downfalls of Helmet Use

Just so we’re clear, I do not have anything against helmets aesthetically. In fact, my hair is never more cooperative than on days when it’s spent 30+ minutes under my helmet, giving it a side-swept, slightly tousled look that us queer women usually only dream of pulling off without gobs of hair wax and product. However, my argument looks beyond these style benefits and analyzes not only the true safety aspects of helmets, but also the message that they give to users and onlookers.