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Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.
Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:20
Catherine Elliot
It's really giving advocates at all. So yeah, my next stage is really taking what I learned in a big city and and making tools and actually giving decision makers and people with the power to change, giving them the green light and, to quickly make change.
00:00:20:22 - 00:00:44:09
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Towns channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Catherine Elliot from Winterthur in Switzerland, just outside of Zurich. And we're going to be chatting a little bit about some of the research and the work that she has been doing. And eventually we'll make her way to talking a little bit about, an e-bike project that she did, and then also, her future ambitions and career aspirations.
00:00:44:12 - 00:01:01:02
John Simmerman
But before we get into that, I just want to say, if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Town Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador. Hey, it's super easy to just click on the join button right here in YouTube down below. If you're listening to this, please consider navigating over to Activetowns.org.
00:01:01:02 - 00:01:11:26
John Simmerman
Click on the support tab at the top of the page and there's several different options. Okay, let's get right to it with Catherine.
00:01:11:29 - 00:01:15:28
John Simmerman
Catherine, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast.
00:01:16:00 - 00:01:18:18
Catherine Elliot
Yeah, thanks for having me, John.
00:01:18:21 - 00:01:19:17
John Simmerman
I'm just.
00:01:19:19 - 00:01:20:02
Catherine Elliot
Here.
00:01:20:03 - 00:01:35:07
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, just before we hit the record button, when we were talking a little bit about, you know, past episodes that you've enjoyed and all that good stuff. But let's do this. Let's pause for a moment and have you just explain who the heck you are and where you are.
00:01:35:10 - 00:02:03:13
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. So, yeah, Catherine Eliot, I'm in Winterthur, Switzerland, just outside of Zurich right now. I kind of in between jobs currently. So, just finished up the E-bike City project and, moving towards, it was a research project, which I'll get into in a second. And just trying to shift, research into action now. So that's my.
00:02:03:16 - 00:02:05:28
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. That's right. Okay.
00:02:06:00 - 00:02:11:19
John Simmerman
The share a little bit about your backstory. How did you end up there invented to know.
00:02:11:19 - 00:02:32:08
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. Just a bit of background about me. I mean, today I want to talk about how we can actually create active towns and taking knowledge and leveraging it to into change. So in that next slide, I kind of give a little bit of a background. I'm originally from Hanover, Pennsylvania, and I come from a big family.
00:02:32:08 - 00:02:55:08
Catherine Elliot
As you can see, there have, six male, three brothers and three sisters and on that little nut ball in the bottom right, with, the basketball head, because we all kind of played basketball is a affordable sport. And, we pretty much had almost the whole team there. So, yeah, kind of grew up real sporty family, always in the outdoors.
00:02:55:10 - 00:03:21:01
Catherine Elliot
Only had one car. So bikes were really, you know, we didn't particularly have, real sustainable, you know, childhood. Except that I was born on Earth Day. But, but, yeah, to get around, we use our bikes. And when the bike broke, you know, you can just run to, and to the bike shop to fix it.
00:03:21:01 - 00:04:05:27
Catherine Elliot
We just had to figure out how to fix it themselves. And, that was always a bit, problematic, but. Yeah, kind of was into biking then. Wanted to learn a bit of mountain biking because there were some random trails nearby. I got into university and did a degree in sport management because I was really interested in sport and health and exercise and wanted to promote that, you know, could more people also find that love of sports that I had and finished up that degree in Pennsylvania and moved to Colorado and, did some degrees, some more degrees and worked in outdoor industry, and just learned, you know, met a few people in
00:04:05:27 - 00:04:35:21
Catherine Elliot
Colorado is a bit more and a bit nicer climate and had a few friends that taught me how to kind of get into, bicycle commuting. So during my PhD in Fort Collins, I met some people who, really changed my life, I would say in terms of thinking of biking, not as just a sport, but really getting around active commuting, enjoying the mountain bike team, at Colorado State University.
00:04:35:23 - 00:05:04:12
Catherine Elliot
I joined the, like Fort Collins, FC bikes. I think they changed your name at some point. The bike advocacy group helped get volunteers for tour de Fat New Belgium event that they do annually in several cities. Now, and I even learned how to repack a hub and, the ball bearings and, ball and bracket from, Rafael, who's got a bit of a story to put.
00:05:04:15 - 00:05:27:14
Catherine Elliot
I can give it, send you a link in the outside. He was with, the bicycle co-op. So really grassroots for free. I went and picked out, Nishiki. Nishiki was my first proper mountain bike. So I thought, as a commuter bike, I'll. I'll take an issue that the police had had found that had been has been hanging somewhere forever and and gave it to Rafael.
00:05:27:14 - 00:06:04:15
Catherine Elliot
And then he in turn helped people rebuild these bikes and repurpose them as basically vehicles. So during my PhD, I cruise around in an orange lady frame and then she she, road bike, which I had built into a single speed. And, yeah, I can say, Phil really changed my life, actually, because at that point I, I started trying to think about, how kind of one of the best forms of, like, democracy or democratic movement can be something as, as cheap.
00:06:04:15 - 00:06:25:13
Catherine Elliot
I mean, it's really your feet, but in terms of getting a bit further away, can be something as cheap and simple as, fixer upper bike. And so him giving me the knowledge actually, of course, then throughout my life I've been able to continue using it, but to share it with others. I since had built up some other bikes for other friends.
00:06:25:15 - 00:06:49:25
Catherine Elliot
And, I think that man has no idea how much he's actually impacted others. And to this day I think they now have seven, workshop, seven bike stands in the bicycle Co-op in Fort Collins. And it's still going, I keep in touch with my friends there, and they're still there helping out now. And I think it's a really good social, a really good piece for social change.
00:06:50:01 - 00:07:21:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's it's such a fascinating story. And I love our overlap that we have to, you and I were talking about the fact that. Yes, I was just in Zurich, last year. Last summer. Right about this time, actually, it was. It was in late July, I think it was. And so I had a walking tour with, with, Professor Norman Garrick, who is connected to Wes Marshall, who we were talking about and, and all of that.
00:07:21:12 - 00:07:29:15
John Simmerman
But I don't know if, you know, but I filmed, a solo ride video of me just wandering around winter.
00:07:29:18 - 00:07:30:21
Catherine Elliot
I haven't seen that one.
00:07:30:23 - 00:07:31:06
John Simmerman
Yeah.
00:07:31:06 - 00:07:36:00
Catherine Elliot
So this year's got the best, bicycle infrastructure in Switzerland, so.
00:07:36:01 - 00:08:02:17
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. So I and I think, in some of the responses that came back from especially my Dutch viewers were like, oh, okay, it's not quite Dutch caliber, but there's some good stuff there. And there is. It's a suburban context. And there's some wonderful off street network of pathways. And I love some of the pathways that went past, many of the garden plots that, that are out there that, that people work and all that.
00:08:02:22 - 00:08:25:16
John Simmerman
But I love the fact that we have the connection with Fort Collins to. I used to live in Boulder, for a decade, and I know a bunch of the folks who are working hard to transform the built environment there in, in Fort Collins and, really just like where I'm at here in Austin today, sort of patterned after the learnings from the Dutch cycling embassy.
00:08:25:16 - 00:08:45:20
John Simmerman
And they've done, several of the think Bike workshops there. And so there's that overlap there, which is how you and I are connected because we're connected through, Chris Brandt, let the international manager there at the Dutch Cycling Embassy, and we're going to be talking about some really cool stuff that you've been working on and all of that.
00:08:45:20 - 00:09:23:28
John Simmerman
And I love the fact that you did your PhD there at, at CSU, that Colorado State University. That's so freaking cool. Which, by the way, is one of the most bike friendly campuses ever. And I've done a fabulous interview, in video of of me with, rolling through the streets of of Fort Collins with Courtney Geary and rolling through the campus with Jamie Gaskill, highlighting the fact that you've got a platinum level city in terms of bicycle friendliness, along with a platinum level university in terms of bicycle friendliness.
00:09:24:00 - 00:09:28:13
John Simmerman
And yeah. What years were were you there?
00:09:28:15 - 00:09:32:06
Catherine Elliot
Was there between from 2006 to 2010?
00:09:32:09 - 00:09:38:12
John Simmerman
Oh my gosh, you're going to just be blown away by how much transformation has happened there since then. Yeah. And you mentioned.
00:09:38:16 - 00:09:38:19
Catherine Elliot
In.
00:09:38:21 - 00:10:05:22
John Simmerman
Your question. Yeah. No, no, no that's great. In fact, I'm going to be I'm going to be there in just a couple of weeks. So I'm going to be there. I'm actually going to be speaking to a class at the University of Colorado at Boulder, on the 24th, I believe, or the 23rd. And then, the next day I'll be up in Fort Collins filming, with City staff on some, wonderful off street network of pathways that they're building out, which is just fantastic.
00:10:05:24 - 00:10:18:26
John Simmerman
So let's let's skip on over to the next slide here in your in your PowerPoint. What the viewers through what you're doing here with this this word play sort of representation.
00:10:18:28 - 00:10:53:14
Catherine Elliot
So this is actually something I came up with, a small research study, just 75, academic staff and some students mixed in there when I was in New Zealand. So I kind of went after Colorado. The PhD I was in, I was actually in Basel, Switzerland for three and a half years. I did a postdoc looking at exercise and mental health and it wasn't until I came to Switzerland when I realized, like, oh, people don't want to go to the gym, but they're okay to ride their bike around to get places as transport.
00:10:53:16 - 00:11:20:26
Catherine Elliot
So then I started, then I after this three and a half years of biking everywhere for transport and having friends that don't own cars, which in the US is preposterous. Just you wouldn't think of it. You know, I went to New Zealand and of course, it was back to kind of this American system again. So that's when I said, okay, how can we bring some of this knowledge from most European countries and really get it?
00:11:20:26 - 00:11:50:07
Catherine Elliot
And so I said, look, what, what comes to mind if I tell you, the phrase ride a bicycle can be positive or negative, whatever. And these are the words I came up and the most frequent one was some version of either free or Freedom. And that's when it kind of hit me. I think, you know, if I look back in my life and, I really think about when was the first time I felt free, and it depends on your childhood and and things like that.
00:11:50:07 - 00:12:19:20
Catherine Elliot
But for me, it was really when I learned to ride a bike. So at the age of five, and when I asked that question many times in the European context, they'll say the same answer. But oftentimes in the US they'll say, when I learn to drive a car. And so then I realized, actually, and I came up with this statement myself, and I don't know if many people there even I said, I think, everyone's actually a cyclist, if you want to call that or a person who enjoys riding a bike, they just don't know it yet.
00:12:19:21 - 00:12:35:05
Catherine Elliot
Because. Because what we all want actually is this thing called freedom. And and we're such, anyways, that was really just an exercise to see. And you see, some of the negative words like scare alert.
00:12:35:05 - 00:13:08:07
John Simmerman
Yeah, there's a few. Yeah. Worry and frustrated, called. Yeah, there's a couple of them. But the relative size of the word represents the frequency in which they were that, you know, presented. So freedom at being the biggest and boldest and, and thickest in, you know, followed, by satisfaction and happiness in terms of the size and the frequency in which that they were brought up speaks volumes to the fact that, yeah, there's something really, truly you use the word joy.
00:13:08:07 - 00:13:45:21
John Simmerman
There's something joyful about it. And I think that there was a video many, many years ago about a character or really wacky character, I think in San Diego, like maybe Ocean Beach or La Hoya or something like that. Who, who roller blades. And so his passion, I mean, he's the design is like it's late 70s, early 80s and he, he's a, you know, he rollerblades around and he talks about how that feeling of movement and how you're, you're swooping and going like this does something in the brain and it releases, you know, chemicals.
00:13:45:21 - 00:14:10:29
John Simmerman
And I'm like, oh, that's kind of the same feeling that I used to get when I was powder skiing, doing downhill skiing. And you get this movement and etc. I'm like, oh, that also gets triggered when I'm surfing. And then I also get that feeling. People get that feeling from cycling is especially, you know, that that joy of when you're feeling safe and invited and you've got infrastructure and a society that embraces it.
00:14:11:02 - 00:14:34:23
John Simmerman
There's a reason why we get that little hit within our brain when it's a joyful experience and not a frustrating experience, and not a worrisome experience, that it reinforces habit formation and it's pleasurable. And so I'm not at all, you know, surprised by this word, you know, representation. But yeah, this is and you're smiling right now.
00:14:34:23 - 00:14:38:06
John Simmerman
So, I mean, just even talking about this brings a joy to.
00:14:38:09 - 00:15:14:04
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. And for the moments, if you look at DC and Ryan's, self-determination theory, this no one's done this research yet. It's been on my to do list. But, looking at, the three things that people need. So, this connectedness, this relatedness and, feeling of accomplishment and those things, if you can't get them in a normal bike because you live on a mountain, then you get an e-bike and yet you get all three, but facing this difficult time so that people say, oh, but what about the weather?
00:15:14:09 - 00:15:35:11
Catherine Elliot
Like the weather is what builds your resilience, which we need in life. And I feel like if I, if I look at kids nowadays, they don't really have the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike, to learn how to fall, and, and to get back up. And I think those are the, the moments where I'm like, oh, sure, really sure.
00:15:35:13 - 00:15:41:24
Catherine Elliot
A change in your child not teaching them how to ride a bike, not taking them out, biking in, even in the rain.
00:15:41:26 - 00:15:56:23
John Simmerman
Yeah. Feeling what it's like to have the elements on, on you. Now the Dutch have a saying and I'm in. Maybe the Swiss. Swiss have the same saying. If there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. Do you guys say that there as well?
00:15:56:25 - 00:15:59:15
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. Or they said you're not made of sugar.
00:15:59:17 - 00:16:00:15
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:16:00:19 - 00:16:18:01
Catherine Elliot
You're all well. Yes. You'll be uncomfortable. But this whole, the comfort. Yeah. There's another research saying how comfort actually contributes a lot to, our, our climate or our footprint. You're saying. Yeah. You can. Yeah.
00:16:18:01 - 00:16:49:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And there's a book on my on my shelf over here, the Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, which, you know, it gets to the fact that. Yeah, where we can get too complacent and too comfortable. So when we think about. Yeah, especially for, for parents when you mentioned, like, the three things that we want to try to, you know, accomplish as humans and etc., you know, it it might be to, you know, it might need to be fast and we might need to look good while we're doing it.
00:16:49:01 - 00:17:09:12
John Simmerman
And, you know, from a functional perspective, we might want to transport kids or slash goods, groceries, things, etc.. I love this slide where you compare a cargo bike to a car and you've got this walk us through, this little, visual that you put together.
00:17:09:15 - 00:17:31:14
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. At one point I thought about, okay, well, oftentimes people say, I can't ride a bike. I have kids, and then I thought, well, what about a cargo bike where the car goes, goodbye, and you have a bike? And so I thought, well, let's compare, one, 1 to 1 of a cargo bike can be fast, especially if it's electric.
00:17:31:16 - 00:17:51:20
Catherine Elliot
It can look good. If you look at, like, using the LA bikes in particular, or, there's a few others. Transport kids. Well, I suppose, and maybe in my family, wouldn't have gotten all of us in there, but, you can get a few kids in there, burn fat for the bike, even an e-bike.
00:17:51:20 - 00:18:15:14
Catherine Elliot
We have done research on that. You still do burn fat. Whereas the car is more burning the money and on the on the, cargo bikes, you can actually save quite a bit of money. And, the thing that you save is your, I guess your calories and makes you fat. Probably not the most, politically correct way of saying it, but.
00:18:15:14 - 00:18:31:23
Catherine Elliot
Yeah, that that the car if you look at car ownership, especially in the US versus obesity, you see this kind of direct trend in the literature. So I just really want to look at yeah we're going to trade off. Go ahead. Yeah. There's probably another ten things you could add on that one.
00:18:31:27 - 00:19:02:18
John Simmerman
Well I just want to add one more based on what we were just talking about. Let's add a six, you know, on the, on the left side here, you know, it it also, you know, brings joy into your life and makes you happy. You know, very rarely if you have a safe and inviting environment to to ride one's bike in, it, it becomes a joyful experience and you come back feeling refreshed and invigorated and happier for the experience versus on the right hand side.
00:19:02:21 - 00:19:29:04
John Simmerman
Rarely do people say that, oh, I enjoyed my commute, I enjoyed this, I I'm coming back. You know, refreshed and vitalize. And I feel joy from this experience more often than not, the experience of driving and research, you know, validates this as well as just empirically talking to people, validates this, is that people feel like, oh no, that was another yet frustrating drive.
00:19:29:06 - 00:19:42:12
John Simmerman
And the frustration can be dot, dot, dot. You fill in the blank. It could be everything, including just the fact that the more people driving, the less you know, enjoyable that experience is.
00:19:42:15 - 00:20:11:15
Catherine Elliot
So yeah, yeah, you hit the nail, hit the nail on the head with that one to the happiness and also the quality of life. And that's I mean, the thing is, everyone wants those things, but we're trapped in this modern, normative society, to yeah, this modern normativity. It's an excellent podcast or, interview with the, the authors.
00:20:11:17 - 00:20:39:17
Catherine Elliot
It was episode 289, Car Brain, with Professor Ian Walker and Professor Mark, tapeworm for stress and, and I have a colleague here, actually, in Zurich. I got his name is on the bottom, Daniel Sutter. He actually went to a classroom and, full of children and said, hey, here's here's some markers, here's some paper we want you to draw.
00:20:39:19 - 00:21:13:08
Catherine Elliot
What does it look like on your way to school? And here on the left, you see Maria, who's age ten, goes by foot to school. And unfortunately, Samuel, at the age of seven, on the, on the right, is going by car. So if you look about like you said, that joy and and how we get to places and what are the experiences I mean, the car you see a destination, you know, origin destination to use the transport terms, where the foot you've got plants, you use test animals.
00:21:13:10 - 00:21:32:29
Catherine Elliot
My friend Tony and I from Fort Collins used to go on rides, and we used to talk about our wildlife sightings. And, and we're still texting today when we go on rides. Hey, I saw, was ever an eagle or, actually, the other day in Switzerland, believe it or not, I saw a camel.
00:21:33:02 - 00:21:55:00
Catherine Elliot
Was on someone's farm, and I couldn't believe it. And I said, oh, I have to send Tony my wildlife sighting. So, Yeah. And it's just. When are you going to see a camel in a car? I'm not really sure, but, Yeah, I just think those experiences between the origin and destination actually make life worth living.
00:21:55:00 - 00:22:27:27
Catherine Elliot
In my opinion. It could be. It could be a rain. Could be. You know, we had a sudden kind of a hailstorm the other day. We got caught in it. But that's what you call memory. So those is difficult times actually imprint on your brain and cause you to remember them. And whether it be good or bad and and I'm just thinking, think of the story this is going to be when we get home, you know, and, and, I feel like, too often people overlook the negative aspects, if you want to call them that of, of cycling.
00:22:27:29 - 00:22:48:21
Catherine Elliot
And I think that's the part that makes the, the sunny days worth, worth riding, you know, make him that much better. And so I think for our children, at the minimum, we can provide them with, a life with a colorful picture here, just to simplify it.
00:22:48:24 - 00:23:15:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, that's a really good that's a really good point. Just the fact that there's so much color, detail and vibrancy to the image on the left that Maria put together. And, for the listening only audience, these are two, drawings to to pictures, you know, painted. It looks like with, with watercolors or other markers, etc.. And the one on the left is just vibrant and detail and everything.
00:23:15:01 - 00:23:42:11
John Simmerman
The one on the right is just grays and blacks and whites and and the other thing that other researchers have seen to when, when, you know, presenting this to children is we find out that it's, it's almost like a black box. They go into the backseat, they get strapped in to their car seats, most likely. And maybe they're even handed, a screen, a device, an iPad or a cell phone or whatever to occupy them.
00:23:42:18 - 00:24:09:29
John Simmerman
And so they also don't have a good mental map of, of their community. And so it's kind of a black box of how I get from home to, to school, from school to play destinations to the park, etc. it's like, you know, maybe if they're asked to, to do a picture or an image of what the park is like also and colors come back and and and and the life returns.
00:24:09:29 - 00:24:29:22
John Simmerman
But it's a black box. It's like disconnected. And they don't really have a mental map of what their own neighborhood looks like, which is incredibly sad when you think of it. I don't know. I mean, when you were in Hanover, and again, a smaller kind of community not far from Gettysburg. Right.
00:24:29:25 - 00:24:31:18
Catherine Elliot
Exactly. Yeah. 15 minutes.
00:24:31:21 - 00:24:47:19
John Simmerman
Not not far from Gettysburg. I would imagine as kids is a group of six kids within the family. You guys probably knew your community in your neighborhood, inside and out. And you would, like, venture around and explore it. Is that correct?
00:24:47:21 - 00:25:22:14
Catherine Elliot
Yes. We actually had the neighbors. It was kind of two neighborhoods, two neighborhood families. The other one also had seven kids in their family. And I remember in summer we had squirt gun battles hiding behind, running around the neighborhood, hiding around, behind the corners of houses and garages. And we were building forts and trying to fix the, the tracks there so we could drive it as a four Wheeler, you know, mountain biking and, having falling into the rocks, in the river, the stream beside.
00:25:22:14 - 00:25:38:15
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. We were always out playing, I mean, my parents would come in and say, you were outside. You know, we watched Rescue Rangers on TV and it was like, no, go outside and play. We only had the channels, so it wasn't we weren't really on to the TV, to be honest.
00:25:38:18 - 00:25:58:00
John Simmerman
Well, I want to go back to our our side by side pictures because I was describing the one on the left here, and I didn't even realize that that was the next one on the deck here. Is. Yeah, it's like there's vibrancy and color at the two ends, but the, you know, the black box, the the unknown is just colorless of that journey.
00:25:58:02 - 00:26:28:11
John Simmerman
And I get again, this is this is what our children are missing when we just dump them in the car, put a screen in front of them to calm them down. And, and quiet them. And, and you know, they're not engaging with their environment in the same way as somebody who walks or bikes to school. And, you know, you mentioned it earlier with your friend Tony of like, texting, you know, the photos of, of like the cool stuff that you saw while experiencing.
00:26:28:11 - 00:26:53:13
John Simmerman
Or maybe it's not even a photo. Maybe it was just you saw it, but you didn't capture it. Is that life that we experience at walking speed and biking speed, especially when you're riding relaxed and upright and really taking it in. It's like life at 15mph or less. You know, life at three miles per hour, you feel things and you experience things at a rich level.
00:26:53:15 - 00:26:58:29
John Simmerman
And I think that this is a really played out and illustrated well by these children.
00:26:59:02 - 00:27:18:11
Catherine Elliot
And on this one, actually, I put the color for one on the right this time, but he's going to school by foot, so, you know, it didn't even slow it down. Another step. Whereas the one on the left is going, by car and, you see, you know, the house is very colorful and the school is colorful.
00:27:18:11 - 00:27:25:21
Catherine Elliot
This those are points that the child knows, but the the road is just a black hole and black line and, and there's a few birds.
00:27:25:21 - 00:28:02:08
John Simmerman
So exactly. So we've got this dichotomy of, of challenges ahead of us. I mean, you've had this opportunity to experience the West Coast, the Mountain West region. You had the experience of living in Europe and doing your post-doc there in Basel and then going to New Zealand, which is again, as you mentioned, very car centric. And, you know, and I spent time living in Hawaii too, and maybe moving back there as well.
00:28:02:10 - 00:28:31:03
John Simmerman
Is that, you know, these some of these places are just paradises and absolutely beautiful. If only cars didn't really transform and change the environment. We talked. We talked briefly and mentioned briefly about modal normativity. And really, you know, what Ian and Marco are honing in on is that it has fundamentally changed the way we think, the framing that the motor Dom has put forth.
00:28:31:03 - 00:28:54:24
John Simmerman
And Peter Norton does a great job of of looking into the history of this, is just really transformed and shaped our brains. And so, yeah, we've got this challenge now of, well, how do you reverse that? How do you change that? And when it comes to, you know, cars versus bikes, it just kind of doesn't work. What us through.
00:28:54:27 - 00:28:57:26
John Simmerman
How do we get past this? Catherine, please.
00:28:57:28 - 00:29:34:15
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. So I spend many, many a night and day thinking of this. And, my conclusion is, we need people. We need people in cars. We need people and bikes. We need basically everyone. Because at the to kind of boil it down to the essential ingredients, there's always in the end, there's always a person typically walking, but maybe in a wheelchair or in a, stroller, getting to their final destination.
00:29:34:15 - 00:30:00:03
Catherine Elliot
So even if you drive a car, you are a pedestrian. So, I guess the the really, the thing is to be inclusive. We want active towns. We can't just focus on cycling. We can't just focus on pedestrians. And we definitely can't just focus on climate because there's so much research showing that that does it moves a very small percentage of people who were born on their stay.
00:30:00:06 - 00:30:21:10
Catherine Elliot
We really need inclusion. So we need solutions for drivers. I actually think that stats are, if we want to call them a problem. Well, they're people, so they shouldn't be the problem. They need to be part of the solution. So how do we find a solution? How do we get them out? How do we have, solutions for access for people with mobility issues?
00:30:21:12 - 00:30:43:18
Catherine Elliot
How do we get autonomous children? And so the autonomous vehicles, what about health? What about quality of life? What about people who need their car for their job? So these are the things basically, in the e-bike city promotions we did, I, I did an assessment of 432 million comments on our project. And those are the things that come up.
00:30:43:20 - 00:31:04:20
Catherine Elliot
And when I think about that, you know, I think as a Maori proverb, when I was living in New Zealand, hey, Tonga to Tonga is on her tongue. It's, it's, what's the most important thing in the world? The people, the people, the people. And so I would say the best thing we can do is actually bring those car drivers along, acknowledge, actually, we want the same thing.
00:31:04:20 - 00:31:24:06
Catherine Elliot
You're a cyclist. You just don't know it because you've been given this motor normativity tool called the car, and that's it. And we've built the whole system for you to use that car. So but we don't want to talk. We want to talk about you as a person to bring you along. And so that's where I think the conversation should start.
00:31:24:06 - 00:31:50:24
Catherine Elliot
Instead of saying, well, cars versus bikes, it's very divisive. Unfortunately, it's kind of the reality of the situation when a car hits a bike or a pedestrian. One of the latter two is usually the one hurt. And so it can be quite emotional to even talk about these topics. But we need to understand, like, how can I prevent a car driver from hitting someone in the first place?
00:31:50:24 - 00:32:18:03
Catherine Elliot
And I think that's where, was this book, killed by a traffic engineer? Is just so critical. And so, I would encourage people to watch the interview you've done with him because it's an excellent point about. It's not that, it's not that the whole system is out to try and get vulnerable road users. It's that we just didn't know any better when we came up with the car.
00:32:18:03 - 00:32:43:23
Catherine Elliot
It was a great idea at the time. We did a great job. Civil engineers did a great job building places for these cars. But when we have this population increase, for example, Zurich, we'll see 30% more population until 2050. When we have that, we realize mathematically that, all those cars, for every single person, it doesn't work so well.
00:32:43:25 - 00:33:22:20
John Simmerman
Sir, because if I can jump in and Zurich is a great example for us to kind of look to in terms of, that this isn't a war on cars and this isn't a war on car drivers, but it is leaning into what I really try to emphasize here on the channel. It's about creating mobility choice. It's about mobility options and the fact that, you know, I can jump on the train and quickly get from Zurich up to winter, or with my folding bike with my Brompton, and then take off and film an entire session, you know, there in winter, it's like, that's what we're talking about.
00:33:22:20 - 00:33:56:18
John Simmerman
This is not some ideological thing where if you do this, you're a bad person. It's about creating mobility options. And I think addressing the the elephant in the room that is modal normativity from a productive and, and productive way in that has empathy for people who are stuck in car dependent areas and parts of society around the globe, and be able to embrace the fact that you haven't been given options.
00:33:56:18 - 00:34:25:14
John Simmerman
So how do we create those options, legitimate options that, you know, kind of helps bring people along? I believe that our language has to change. I believe that we have to use the extra words of rather than calling people cyclists to say that, yeah, we're just talking about people on bikes, people who happen to I mean, Chris Brantley, who we mentioned earlier, you know, a good friend of mine, he likes to say this is pedestrian.
00:34:25:14 - 00:34:48:08
John Simmerman
Plus, you just it's it's it's we're not talking about the Dutch have two words for, for for cycling. You know, they had the VR in there, which is the wheel runner, which is this sport cyclist who is going fast, who's in their helmet and in glass shields and in Lycra. Which is how I got into this world.
00:34:48:08 - 00:35:03:14
John Simmerman
I mean, that's I was an Ironman distance triathlete living in Boulder, Colorado, trip traveling all over the world, competing, as an age group of guys. Not not professional. I was just I was just, you know, a middle of the pack guy, but, But. Yeah, that's.
00:35:03:14 - 00:35:04:18
Catherine Elliot
Right. You know, you did it.
00:35:04:18 - 00:35:35:17
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah, but that's how I got sort of into this whole concept of how do we create safer streets. You know, I'll never forget September 13th. You know, 2001, two days after nine, 11, literally two days after 911, I was hit by a car in Boulder, you know, or outside of Longmont. Actually. And, you know, the driver was distracted, did a left, you know, cross and and it hit me in the intersection and sent me flying.
00:35:35:18 - 00:36:06:15
John Simmerman
I was nearly killed. But it wasn't until years later that I really started to understand a little bit more about, hey, this is about our built environment. And those were the seeds that became what ended up becoming my nonprofit advocates for Healthy Communities and then the Active Towns Initiative, in, in 2013 that was launched. And, it's this is not again, we're not trying to vilify people and we're not trying to blame people.
00:36:06:16 - 00:36:21:01
John Simmerman
We want to come to productive solutions. So let's take a look at our systemic change of norms to address address this from from mono modal normativity to human and environment centric ways of living.
00:36:21:03 - 00:36:56:03
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. So, I kind of sat down and thought, how do we how do we look at this from a systems perspective? So first of all, we need the central, like I said, the people, the people, the people, we need people in the center. There are people who care enough to learn, see, act and change. And so, the two things in your example, you talked about yourself, you got hit and the driver who hit you, both of you actually wanted the same thing, which was to get from A to B without getting hurt.
00:36:56:05 - 00:37:21:25
Catherine Elliot
Then driver didn't want to hit you. So you actually have something in common there. And I think it's important to focus on that, especially with advocates and and again bringing up what's his book. It's actually the infrastructure that failed you in that. Well and it doesn't help if someone was distracted. But why are we building infrastructure where all it takes is a distraction for, a crash to occur?
00:37:21:27 - 00:37:45:10
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And when I say distracted, when I say that particular driver was distracted, your point is, is spot on. What? That drive that particular driver was distracted by, because this was highway 287, and I was on the very, very, very wide shoulder. Is he was focused in on the oncoming traffic of, you know, of coming towards him.
00:37:45:10 - 00:38:02:00
John Simmerman
And so he was like, I'm concerned about my own health and safety and well-being. I want to make sure that it's safe. And so he's focused on the motor vehicle travel lanes, not this wide shoulder over where I'm at. And so to your point, yeah, I mean, he had no and he didn't do this maliciously.
00:38:02:03 - 00:38:11:11
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. And he was actually doing his job. So that's insane. That and another thing because it wasn't even like he was texting.
00:38:11:13 - 00:38:11:22
John Simmerman
Yeah.
00:38:11:28 - 00:38:42:00
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. You know. Exactly. We always been texting them about who's actually doing his job, looking to see if it was safe to travel where he needs to go. And he ended up hitting us the infrastructure and and. Look, I'm not a transport planner. I don't have an engineering degree, but I know enough that there is so much happening on the road that if you sit behind a computer and try and play it out, you know, you might not design it perfectly.
00:38:42:00 - 00:39:03:23
Catherine Elliot
And I think, we need to acknowledge that and have an opportunity to fix it. And, and hey, that's what it is. Not to say, oh, you horrible engineer, it's to say, hey, look, actually this plan has a great idea we implemented, but it's not working because we now we see how many crashes whatever in this intersection. Let's fix.
00:39:03:26 - 00:39:22:17
John Simmerman
Well, so here's here's my question for you, Catherine, before you go further is okay, so at the core of this at the center of this is people who care enough to learn, see, act and change. That's at the core. How do we how do we create more of these, these crazy people who actually think this?
00:39:22:19 - 00:39:30:05
Catherine Elliot
Yeah. So I actually I turn it back on you because it's like, how what was it that took you to to flip?
00:39:30:08 - 00:39:48:20
John Simmerman
Yeah, that's a really, really good point. So, several years later, after that crash, you know, first I had to heal, then I had to get enough, confidence and feel like I could get back out on the road because I was traumatized. You know? I didn't want to get back on the bike. I didn't want to get back out there.
00:39:48:22 - 00:40:15:19
John Simmerman
But eventually, years later, did. I eventually made a move, a change from Boulder, Colorado, to Honolulu, Hawaii. And when I made that change to that environment, I was like, oh my gosh, this is like an environment where, it is so hostile here going from Boulder to Honolulu. I was like, oh, hey, I'm moving to Paradise. I'm going to be able to train every day and I'm minute be able to swim, bike and run.
00:40:15:19 - 00:40:41:26
John Simmerman
And I know, and, I was supposed to race, Ironman Canada that year up in Penticton and, and and I was just blown away by how hostile Paradise was. Drivers were aggressive. And I was like, oh my gosh, I can't do this. And I panicked. I sold my bike. I withdrew from the race, I bought a surfboard, I joined a canoe paddling club and immersed myself in Hawaiian culture.
00:40:41:29 - 00:41:03:26
John Simmerman
And and that's what I did. Well, a year later. Fast forward. A year later, I moved to a different island. I moved to the Hawaii island, and I moved to Kona, the birthplace of Ironman. Not really the birthplace, but the home of the Ironman World Championships. And I fell back in love with getting out on the bike, etc. and that's when I the the epiphany happened.
00:41:03:28 - 00:41:33:01
John Simmerman
For 15 some odd years, I'd been about creating healthy environments in corporate campuses and trying to encourage, people to live a healthy, active lifestyle, in those types of environments, manufacturing environments which supported healthy, active living. And that's when the connection really solidified in me that, oh, duh, our built environment, our communities, if we make them, safe and inviting for people to walk and bike to places.
00:41:33:01 - 00:41:57:16
John Simmerman
To your point from earlier, it's not about a workout. It's about, hey, can you get low levels of more and moderate levels of physical activity in just going about your daily life? And so that was the epiphany. That was part of my origin story of making that transition. And then very soon after that, I fell down the urbanism rabbit hole, met, a doctor, Richard Jackson, who was at the UCLA at the time.
00:41:57:18 - 00:42:30:16
John Simmerman
He became a mentor for me and talking about, you know. Yeah, it's it really is about understanding that transportation engineers, city planners and architects, you're all public health professionals, too, because what you do, what manifests through your work, your professional outcome, influences and impacts and can promote and or inhibit physical activity. Thus, public health and well-being, including mental health and well-being, too.
00:42:30:18 - 00:42:55:03
John Simmerman
So yeah, that's that's part of my origin story and how that came about. It was a slow burn. You know, it took me a while to get from oh, etc., etc., etc. to, okay, let's launch this nonprofit in 2011. Let's start the active towns initiative in 2013. And then, lo and behold, next thing you know, I'm doing this thing and meeting amazing people from all.
00:42:55:03 - 00:43:30:04
Catherine Elliot
Over the world. Yeah, I actually have a great, impressive, resume of people that I've spoken to. So I'm sure your knowledge every time you meet someone is, increased. And so what? What I would say, in terms of advocacy, I put that kind of at the top because I think that, the, the real pinnacle of where things get started, because that's where people like you, people like me, anyone who has kids and had a near miss on a bike is probably fired up to make some change.
00:43:30:07 - 00:43:50:11
John Simmerman
Yeah. Can I jump in and say that? It's funny that you mention that because you talk about, you know, the list of folks that I've had the privilege and honor to, to have on the channel. I can tell you that many of them from an advocacy world, that's what motivated them. That's what got them started, was realizing, in fact, Tom flood, who's one of them.
00:43:50:11 - 00:44:08:22
John Simmerman
He he jokes about it and says, yeah, if you want to become, you know, if you want to know the origin story of most of us as activists in the safe streets world, it's because I was just a parent trying to take my kids to school, walking or biking and realized how hostile the environment was, and that motivated me.
00:44:08:29 - 00:44:18:21
John Simmerman
And so, yeah, that's one way for people to care enough to learn, you know, see, act and change the built environment. It shouldn't have to be that way. But unfortunately it.
00:44:18:24 - 00:44:36:27
Catherine Elliot
Not. But and, and I guess in, kind of a negative way, but, someone like the numbers of people who have had crashes, globally are so high that there should be plenty of us out there. I mean, even as a pedestrian, you don't have to.
00:44:36:27 - 00:44:58:23
John Simmerman
Yeah. And to mention to to mention that to follow up on that. Yeah. It is kind of a negative thing kind of sort of happened to me. It was a still even slow burn, even for me. But you know, an episode we're recording this, folks, on August 7th. I'm not sure when this, this episode is going to go out, but, you know, just last Friday, I released my episode.
00:44:58:25 - 00:45:22:17
John Simmerman
It was actually the premiere episode for season ten, which was families for Safe Streets. Again, the club that no parent wants to be a part of. It's it's the club where they've lost a loved one, many of them children to motor vehicle violence. And again it's negative. But that that is to your point, that is one of the things it's like those traumatic events.
00:45:22:17 - 00:45:27:06
John Simmerman
Yeah. Gets people motivated to change the world.
00:45:27:09 - 00:45:58:09
Catherine Elliot
So so I think if we get those people fired up, they can do some. And I'll just travel left here. Cool fun event. And what we found with exercise. And I think it also works with bicycling and walking is not making it a cycling or walking event. We do need sport in its own right, sport for sports purpose, but we also need things like tour that it's not about the bike, it's about the amusement.
00:45:58:12 - 00:46:21:12
Catherine Elliot
That honestly that event, if you want to fire up cycling in your city, you get tour de Fat New Belgium Brewery. Those guys, two thumbs up. You get them to come to your city and make cycling fun. They block off the street and do a city, cycling carnival. Through the city. They end up with, beer contests.
00:46:21:15 - 00:46:43:19
Catherine Elliot
They usually, at least in Fort Collins, they give away a custom bike, to someone who gives away it, gets rid of their car. So it's this whole festival around the love of a simple machine. And, I mean, they have plenty of car shows. I mean, in Pennsylvania, I can't name how many car shows they have every year.
00:46:43:22 - 00:47:01:15
Catherine Elliot
Why can't we do something, a bike show? Why can't we have these celebrations of the vehicles and. Yeah, that's a great image of, tour de fat. It's just. Oh, my gosh, this is so much fun. You dress up in costume, you ride your bike around, and then you party and there's all different types of bikes they have.
00:47:01:15 - 00:47:25:01
Catherine Elliot
You can try out tandem bikes and all different things. And it's just a fully creative, fully artistic and just fun and social. So that to me, having these types of events that are just, I mean, it's called tour de fat because it's a fat tire bike, but it's not, a cycling event per se. It's just happens to be the mode that you use.
00:47:25:01 - 00:47:46:00
Catherine Elliot
And we found that in exercise when we say, oh, we're going to get together and chat. By the way, what do you want to do? Oh yeah. In order to do that we're going to walk there. So there's this kind of background, goal of achieving like like this cool tick box, but that's not the main aim of it, because if you try and go for that, you can achieve it.
00:47:46:02 - 00:48:15:01
Catherine Elliot
And then I got into research, Bike City project. I really think there are people who try and put research just to delay their action. So I think that happens. I think it's important when you do research to publish things like, here's our final book that is, has the visuals. It has is very readable for a lay audience.
00:48:15:03 - 00:48:44:06
Catherine Elliot
There are some technical terms. And, and what we did with this was we created visuals. We worked with a folder, which we put these in the back so that people could pull them out, kind of backwards on my camera. Here's a visual from the perspective of a pedestrian. We have one from a driver and one from a bike, but we wanted to include something that a planner can actually put these on their walls.
00:48:44:06 - 00:49:14:21
Catherine Elliot
And, and I start to have those visions. So, the future can be. Because if we don't have it, it's, it's hard to just sit here and talk about it. And then the other thing is the technical tools for planners. So currently, like I said, I'm in the middle of a jobs. I'm actually just got hired for a planning and engineering firm where they use a tool called vision to when they have to redesign a street for the city.
00:49:14:23 - 00:49:33:00
Catherine Elliot
They basically look at the traffic flow and the speed, all that fun stuff. But, you know, I had, I had a talk with them. I said, what do you guys do for parking? That's your first step is look at parking, car parking, on street car parking. And they don't really they didn't really have a tool for that.
00:49:33:00 - 00:50:02:26
Catherine Elliot
They look at it of course, but they don't have a tool. And that's what I said. Okay, we need to redesign your planning tool. And so as a result of this eBike City project, two of the researchers have come, developed a startup with the tool. And so I'm going to work at the nexus between their startup and this engineering firm, and we're going to create a tool that can replace all planning tools because it will consider parking.
00:50:03:02 - 00:50:33:19
Catherine Elliot
It will consider, the bike ability, the walkability and it will consider even the speed limits and how that impacts not just the traffic but quality of life, health, etc.. So we're redesigning the will bottom up working with planners, and I'm really excited to actually take that little bubble of research and, and take the technical tool that we've developed from it and develop it further so that we can use it in practice.
00:50:33:21 - 00:51:06:08
Catherine Elliot
And that's where that final, bubble comes up with the wall between because what happens was, as the project coordinator for the E-bike City project, we had somewhere between 12 to 15, years, man. Our man years, since a thought of of work that went into that. And then we presented it to the politicians and they said, well, we don't know about taking away all that car parking, all those one way streets you have.
00:51:06:10 - 00:51:29:03
Catherine Elliot
We're not sure how that works. So I propose if we want to change the the system for motor normativity, we need to not tell the politicians what to do to work with them. And part of that is giving the planners who who provide the, the different, urban designs. Part of that is giving them the right tools to use.
00:51:29:03 - 00:51:53:11
Catherine Elliot
So they're not just looking at cars and traffic. They actually look further, but they don't really have tools. They're working with an abacus, and we're asking them to do, you know, something that you need a graphing calculator for it. So it's really unfair to expect then the politicians to say, oh, yeah, we think this should work. And then people go out there with a pitchfork saying, you took my car parking.
00:51:53:13 - 00:52:19:25
Catherine Elliot
And so that's where this political will, really needs help linking to the advocates, linking to the researchers, linking to the planners, so that they can because I think in general, they've only get voted for again, you know, they want to keep their political job. But if we can make it understandable that the city, you know, the city will benefit from it, people's quality of life will improve.
00:52:19:27 - 00:52:48:01
Catherine Elliot
Then I think they'd be like, okay, what's this all about? And how do we do it? And so from the research professional perspective, my proposal to researchers is make sure you make your results accessible. Tom flood on LinkedIn. Follow him. Marco. Follow him. They take research and they put it in a very visible manner that can you can send to a thousand people with a click of a button.
00:52:48:03 - 00:53:18:12
Catherine Elliot
And now everyone understands, induced demand, you know, so, the research is, very important to visualize in and then not just if you can take it to the level that we took it, which was 3D visualizations. That is key. But at least getting it in the hands of the, the people so they can say, hey, we want that.
00:53:18:13 - 00:53:27:02
Catherine Elliot
We like that. And our research did show when you put more green in the images, people are more likely to approve of it.
00:53:27:04 - 00:53:53:17
John Simmerman
It's interesting, too, that, you know, when we look at the bubbles to the the left in the upper area there, we've got advocacy and we've got cool events and related, unrelated to bikes or it's okay to be unrelated to bikes, but it's really about reinforcing the joy of what it means to be able to get around one city without being tethered to a car, and that being the only way that you get around.
00:53:53:20 - 00:54:28:24
John Simmerman
But that's foundational, I think, to ultimately what we need to feed the bubble in the middle of the people who do care enough and, you know, to to learn and see and act and change. But part of what gives the politicians, our elected officials, the political will to follow through and then work with the technical professionals within the city staff and, you know, backstopped by the research of saying, yeah, this is how we achieve a better city, a more livable city is we need to have more mobility choice.
00:54:28:29 - 00:54:55:26
John Simmerman
And oh, by the way, it needs to incorporate the green and it needs to be a beautiful experience, etc. the more that the politicians, the elected officials believe that, oh, they've got my back. The constituents, the voters that have put me here are speaking up in volumes loudly that this is what we want. We want a more livable community with mobility options, with mobility choice.
00:54:55:28 - 00:55:23:05
John Simmerman
Then suddenly they have that backbone, they have that political will. And so I like to reinforce that if we want to do our jobs, as you know, advocates of healthier places in places that are active towns that really help create a culture of activity, we have to make sure that we've grown our support to a level, an awareness, keeping in mind that the majority of people are just busy living their lives.
00:55:23:07 - 00:55:46:20
John Simmerman
They don't think about this stuff like we were once. We're thinking about this, we're in it all day long. We're echoing things in our bubble all the time. We need to be able to permeate out into the ether of the general population and and get them feeling like, oh, I care enough about this stuff. And it doesn't have to be a tragic event that makes me care about it.
00:55:46:27 - 00:56:18:26
John Simmerman
It needs to be something positive, a vision of the future. And I want to pull pull up your little video that you have that's really cool, that talks about brings to life this vision that you're talking about. Before I play this though, and when you mentioned the technology side and and that whole aspect of, you know, creating a system that better is a tool that better looks at what we need to do for the future.
00:56:18:28 - 00:56:37:12
John Simmerman
One of the things that absolutely drives me nuts about how traffic planners, do things is they take a look at a street and they say, well, our current VMT is this vehicle miles traveled and the number of vehicles that are on the street is this, etc. we need to make sure that we accommodate this. And I'm like, time out.
00:56:37:15 - 00:57:03:09
John Simmerman
Is this street actually working for you? Is this is this consistent with the vision that the community has and the politicians the leaders have, or is this a road? Is this an unhealthy, unproductive place that's sapping the life out of the community? Why would you want to continue to support that? Maybe what needs to happen is, you know, completely redo this.
00:57:03:15 - 00:57:13:20
John Simmerman
So I always like to say that we have to take a step back and start at the foundation and say, is this really what we want in our city?
00:57:13:25 - 00:57:19:27
Catherine Elliot
Where are the people? And, you know, where are the people in your design you've designed for cars?
00:57:20:00 - 00:57:44:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, exactly. It's just like Utrecht saying, you know. Yeah. No, that was a bad idea. We didn't really want to drain this canal and create a motor vehicle highway through the middle of our our historic core adjacent to the historic core. We made a mistake. We're going to we're going to correct it. We're going to bring the canal back, and we're going to kick the cars out of that area.
00:57:44:04 - 00:58:10:17
John Simmerman
But by doing that, we're welcoming it up for people. Oh, by the way, it's not a war on cars. If you still want or need to drive your car through that space, you still have two lanes. You still are able to get around again. Mobility choice. So I just wanted to point that out that in talking about tools that help with this whole concept of, I think we have to start at the foundation of, okay, first, what is the vision of our city?
00:58:10:17 - 00:58:23:00
John Simmerman
Do we want this, this street, this, these areas to be auto sewers, or do we want them to be lively, equitable places, equitable city? So let's play that video here.
00:58:23:03 - 00:59:01:29
Video One Voiceover
In Switzerland, transportation produces 41% of CO2 emissions from energy combustion, which is more than in the USA and across the European Union. Traffic jams are commonplace, and by 2050, populations in Swiss cities should grow by another 30%. Traffic simulations by researchers at ET Zurich show that there is a solution to increase the capacity of streets and reduce emissions, reallocating more street space for sustainable modes can improve safety, efficiency, access and sustainability in a way that everyone's mobility needs are met.
00:59:02:02 - 00:59:38:02
Video One Voiceover
Decarbonizing transportation while improving the freedom of travel requires integration of micromobility and public transportation. By transforming streets, we can strengthen public transportation and micromobility and provide safer and more attractive spaces for pedestrians, emergency and delivery vehicles, as well as mobility vans and tradespeople, will have access to all buildings through a parking reservation system. Better access to wider, separated bike lanes will increase safety and convenience for all ages and abilities.
00:59:38:04 - 00:59:51:01
Video One Voiceover
Children could enjoy cycling to school safely. Increased bike parking and more publicly shared micromobility would provide last mile connections for commuters and visitors.
00:59:51:03 - 01:00:01:00
Video One Voiceover
More space designated for micromobility means people would benefit from less crashes, reduced stress and improved health and well-being.
01:00:01:02 - 01:00:09:00
Video One Voiceover
Based on research, redesigning streets is a quick and cost effective solution that would work if implemented.
01:00:09:02 - 01:00:15:18
Video One Voiceover
People can regain autonomy and enjoy the freedom of movement without owning a car.
01:00:15:20 - 01:00:31:06
Video One Voiceover
By combining public transport and micromobility, we occupy less street space and make the city more livable for everyone. While achieving emissions goals for transportation.
01:00:31:08 - 01:00:45:16
John Simmerman
Yeah. So let's let's play this equitable city, Video and, immediately afterwards we can, you know, talk a little bit about, you know, this project, this in the end, Will and that's what we'll wrap up with is, is, you know, reflections on this.
01:00:45:19 - 01:01:12:21
Video Two Voiceover
What if cities reallocated 50% of their road space to micromobility, such as bikes, cargo bikes and e-scooters? This pioneering plan is at the heart of eBike City. The developed in collaboration with engineers, city planners and residents, this project is reshaping the future of urban mobility.
01:01:12:23 - 01:01:40:01
Video Two Voiceover
E-bike city creates a sustainable, livable community by prioritizing micromobility to reduce emissions and enhance daily mobility. It promotes safe walking and cycling alongside public transport, empowering people of all ages and encouraging regular physical activity.
01:01:40:03 - 01:02:01:28
Video Two Voiceover
E-bike city places a high priority on accessibility. Ambulances, delivery vans, taxis and other service providers can still reach every building. Users of micromobility will benefit from expanded road space and ample bicycle parking.
01:02:02:01 - 01:02:18:27
Video Two Voiceover
How will an e-bike city affect you? The redesign prioritizes pedestrians, micromobility, public transport and green spaces.
01:02:18:29 - 01:02:43:04
Video Two Voiceover
With a dynamic road allocation system, major roads adapt to changing demand. On sunny days, more space is given to micromobility. On rainy days, public transport takes priority and when necessary, space is made available for cars.
01:02:43:07 - 01:03:09:20
Video Two Voiceover
But what about the costs? It's a valid concern, but engineering estimates indicate that the expenses will be reasonable. These costs will be offset by reductions in accidents and fatalities, lowered emissions and noise pollution, and benefits to health and well-being.
01:03:09:22 - 01:03:37:04
Video Two Voiceover
E-bike city is not just a visionary plan, but a toolkit that can be adapted by any city with this open source toolkit, cities can pave the way for sustainable urban mobility and create livable streets that everyone can enjoy.
01:03:37:07 - 01:03:45:00
John Simmerman
Love. It was fun to on. That is if I'm picking up the accent, right? That sounds a bit Kiwi.
01:03:45:02 - 01:03:48:29
Catherine Elliot
No, that's actually that was I generated voice. Oh my.
01:03:48:29 - 01:03:52:22
John Simmerman
Gosh. It was funny because there was like a little bit of a little.
01:03:52:22 - 01:03:53:19
Catherine Elliot
Bit of like.
01:03:53:22 - 01:04:26:19
John Simmerman
Yeah, there's a little bit of an accent to that. It was funny too. Was hard for me not to jump in and say, oh, we talked about that. We need to have, you know, you know, access to green, you know, as well integrated into that. One of the great things that I noticed, especially last year in, traveling around Europe was, especially in, in the Netherlands was a really an emphasis on more green infrastructure integrated with the active mobility infrastructure and the transit infrastructure, is just fantastic.
01:04:26:19 - 01:05:00:19
John Simmerman
And especially, a dedication to more wildflowers and, and more opportunities for pollinators and soil and, and just and stormwater runoff and all sorts of rain gardens, just a wonderful biophilic sort of approach to, again, making these experiences, the ride, the walk, etc. using public transit that much more enjoyable and pleasant for people. Beautiful. Yeah. So let's go ahead and wrap up by having you, talk a little bit about that, that next phase for you.
01:05:00:25 - 01:05:12:17
John Simmerman
And I know we could probably keep talking for hours and hours and hours, so I can't wait to bring you back on the the pod. Or better yet, I want to, return to winter tour and do a bike tour with you.
01:05:12:19 - 01:05:41:12
Catherine Elliot
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why not? And I think there's a new, there's a new session they're opening up in the next April, so, Yeah. So now, going back to that, that graphic with the, the people in the center and advocacy at the top. Now, working part time with, advocacy group called miserable. And I would encourage everyone to check it out.
01:05:41:14 - 01:06:08:04
Catherine Elliot
They have what they are is, they're looking at bringing people like you and me to connect, through their platform to the people fixing roads. So, getting you to have a say when, I don't know if you've seen the, the New York Times yesterday. Just had an article about, seven year olds in North Carolina who got hit by a car.
01:06:08:04 - 01:06:50:04
Catherine Elliot
I think it was on his way to school. And you can actually go there, take a photo and say, look, this is on my kids route to school. You post it either on the website or through the app. As he's walking, you can post it to like a walkable, website. If he's on the bike, you can post it to bikeable and soon we're coming out with school bill, which is looking specifically at routes to school and, invisible in general, is also looking at, the handicapped accessible areas, stroller accessible areas, anywhere where there's bad infrastructure that can be improved.
01:06:50:06 - 01:07:20:24
Catherine Elliot
You take a picture and there's someone on the other side, assuming you have a city council or, municipality that's happy to work with this app. They'll be looking at it. And for an example, in Switzerland, we have over 20,000 spots reported since 2017. Already 1200 has been fixed 1002. So this is really the opportunity for advocates to get on board, especially for bikeable.
01:07:20:24 - 01:07:50:07
Catherine Elliot
We already have quite you know, you've got League of American Bicyclists. You've got people for bikes. Those people who are members of those groups, like Fort Collins, would like to work with us is pretty much it's free, to to post your spots. You can do it today. Bikeable city.org. What walkable I think is the, walkable world.org is the global one.
01:07:50:07 - 01:08:12:28
Catherine Elliot
So it's a global movement. But we started in Switzerland and it's really getting a voice. And you can give, you can upvote, the different posts so that they can see, oh, it's actually first Street, and Brown Street that really people are complaining about. And, and we can start to take our voices instead of just complaining to each other, we can post it.
01:08:12:28 - 01:08:31:01
Catherine Elliot
And the nice thing is, and then there's a history and a timestamp and you can say, hey, this post, this spot has been, you know, you may think it's only been a month, but it's been two years since I've entered it and what's going on? And, you know, I almost got hit there again, things like that.
01:08:31:01 - 01:08:52:16
Catherine Elliot
So as an advocate, you can or just as a, as a person, you can have a voice and we our idea is to really link the people, like the citizens with the, the people in charge of infrastructure or the change makers. So, yeah, there's walkable, you can change it to English and there's a map, you can take a soda.
01:08:52:16 - 01:09:20:07
Catherine Elliot
You don't have to take a photo. You can also do a screenshot. You can enter in like you and I probably have five spots that we can't stand on our bikes, that we know of. And you can get on bikeable city.org right now and, and post five spots, your top five on your commute. And you can do screenshots on a Google Maps and probably find the issue, and so it's really giving advocates at all.
01:09:20:10 - 01:09:56:14
Catherine Elliot
So yeah, my next stage is really taking what I learned in E-bike City and, and making tools and actually giving decision makers and people with the power to change, giving them the green light and, to quickly make change. And yeah, so that's exciting, really exciting time for me. I'm happy to connect. I'm in LinkedIn, so if any of your listeners want to connect, it's just Catherine Elliot on LinkedIn and send me a message if anyone's interested in looking at either of those tools for us, that's.
01:09:56:15 - 01:10:20:29
Catherine Elliot
Yeah, that's my job. Kind of moving forward is to to actually take the research and make change. It's nice to do research and be like, wow, look what could be. But when you deliver it to the politicians and they sit there and they're like, I'm not sure. And I'm like, okay, you're going to be sure because we're going to make a tool for the people for the, for the engineers, that it's going to be irresistible by the time we're done with it.
01:10:20:29 - 01:10:45:22
Catherine Elliot
So that's yeah, that's my vision. And if you go on our bike city website, you can you'll get to our brochure, you can print out some of our posters. This one was made with, the cyclist in mind, but we also have one for car driver and, print those out. If you're a planner, put them on your wall and let's start getting the vision out there.
01:10:45:22 - 01:11:12:28
Catherine Elliot
Corbusier, you know, gave us visions of cars. And it's no wonder it's not just my car marketing. And, it's not the Studebaker marketing team who got us all into cars. It was actually what was sold to the municipalities that they should deliver these cities for cars. And I think it's time that we start to have streets for people and active talent is I think what you're doing is an excellent work towards achieving that.
01:11:12:28 - 01:11:21:02
Catherine Elliot
So thank you for getting the word out and and promoting these type of, these types of activities. So yeah.
01:11:21:06 - 01:11:44:01
John Simmerman
Well you're quite welcome. And I want to pop on over to that website again, bikeable city.org. Is that landing pad for that. And again, walkable walkable okay. Is the master or the home site there? Catherine, this has been so much fun. So here's my final question for you. Do you ever make it back to the States?
01:11:44:04 - 01:12:00:17
Catherine Elliot
Yes, I do, it might be another four years until I get back. Okay. But, no comment. Yeah, I do, and, yeah, I do, especially during Christmas. I was just back for Christmas, actually.
01:12:00:17 - 01:12:18:12
John Simmerman
Oh, you were okay. Fantastic. Okay, well, one of these days we need to connect here, you know, in the States and, wherever I happen to be, whether I'm. He's still here in Austin or if I'm in Hawaii or wherever I'm at, I love to give you a bike tour wherever I end up landing and, show you around.
01:12:18:18 - 01:12:38:15
John Simmerman
But in the meantime, next time I'm in, Switzerland, I will sure to look you up and, get on the bike and do, a little tour around your beautiful town of Vincent to, Again, thank you so much, Catherine Elliott, for this wonderful, little chat here on the Active Towns podcast. Thank you so much.
01:12:38:17 - 01:12:40:13
Catherine Elliot
Thanks a lot, John. Appreciate it.
01:12:40:15 - 01:12:57:12
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Catherine. If you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, I'd be honored to have you subscribe to the channel. Just click on the subscription button down below, and be sure to turn on all notifications by ringing that notification bell.
01:12:57:12 - 01:13:17:25
John Simmerman
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01:13:17:28 - 01:13:38:06
John Simmerman
You can also buy me a coffee or make a donation to the nonprofit. Again, every little bit helps and is very, very much appreciated. I simply could not do this without you, so please consider doing so. Again. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness.
01:13:38:08 - 01:13:58:19
John Simmerman
Cheers! And again, just want to send a huge thank you to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel here on YouTube YouTube memberships. YouTube. Super. Thanks. Buy me a coffee. Patreon Patreon supporters. As well as supporting the nonprofit again, I simply could not produce this content without you. Thank you all so much.