
©Barry Sandland/TIMB – A moment of calm in the morning transit rush
The growing number of commuters who are taking folding bikes with them. Every single morning. Holland has it pegged as their largest growth market in transport. Pure common sense, if you have a few kilometres to ride after you get to the station. No Metro or buses there you have to wait and take the next step.
And there is constant information that people who ride bikes arrive to work in a far better mental state than those who have struggled with buses, cars and the like.
The real shame is the failure of transport to embrace the change. That there is insufficient space for bicycles on trains, if you take a standard bike, it is a struggle to find the correct car, stations have too few bike areas outside or inside to allow safe space to lock the bikes. The troubles continue.
When cities buy new trains, or update stations, the impact lasts decades. These are long-term developments that, in their current state, show that cities are still behind the times. We are still catering to an outdated structure. And the changes will be even slower to come.