16 hours ago
Cars lined up at a Haikou, China gas station - Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country (Jan 2012)
Want to get rich? Open up a gas station, a car wash, or an auto repair garage in China.
Car culture is sweeping through China as car ownership becomes affordable to countless new Chinese families. Car wash stations and auto repair shops are sprouting up all over the city I am living in – with demand still outpacing supply. Long line-ups are a regular occurrence at gas stations here.
The consensus among locals I speak to is that everyone wants to have a car. Owning a car validates that someone has reached a certain point of “success” in their life and once you reach that point where you can afford a car you never go back to riding scooters again.
The status works on a rising scale. The poorest of poor use pedal bicycles, which are becoming very uncommon here as people’s increasing wealth allows them to move up the chain to riding electric scooters.
Once someone reaches the next plateau of wealth, they ditch the electric scooters and graduate to car ownership. The wealthier you get, the more expensive your car is.
As the wealth here increases - and thus the number of automobiles increases - the Chinese will discover the ills and inconveniences of car ownership. They will reminisce about the days when they could actually get to their destination in a reasonable time on a bicycle or a scooter instead of sitting bumper-to-bumper not getting anywhere.
When they are sitting in a line-up for an hour just to fill their car with fuel they will miss plugging their scooter into the wall to re-charge it or hopping on their bicycle.
Yet they will find ways to rationalize sitting in traffic jams for two hours. They will tell you how comfortable their car is, how much they love listening to music in their car. They will find any reason to justify it - just like we have done since car culture swept through North America some forty plus years ago.
Below are a few photos I took of car-related business around the city while pedaling around on Saturday.
One of many car washing stations around the city – many of which didn’t exist a few years ago:
One-block-long line-up of cars waiting to get gas:
Some people got out of their car to get some fresh air while waiting for fuel:
Another car wash station:
Porsche SUV and other cars being washed:
Even the natural-gas-powered taxi cabs weren’t exempt from line-ups. This natural gas station had taxi cabs waiting in line to fuel up:
Cars slowly making their way through this gas bar:
Haikou, China – All photos by James Schwartz / The Urban Country (Jan 2012)
Chinese families thankfully don’t drive anywhere near the distances that Canadians or Americans drive, so cars don’t need to be filled up too often.
People largely live urban lifestyles here - I have yet to see a detached single family house in all my travels through China - so long commutes to work from the suburbs are uncommon here.
But this influx of car culture could change all that. Will the Chinese culture of urban lifestyles outweigh the pressures of sprawl? Time will tell.
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- Sunday Afternoon Traffic in China (Jan 2012)
- Democracy Is Good, But… (Jan 2012)
- The Chinese Car Obsession (Nov 2011)
- The Bicycle as a Status Symbol in China (Sept 2011)
- Only the poor ride bicycles in Shanghai (Sept 2010)
Want to Get Rich? Open a Gas Station in China
Monday, January 23, 2012
Posted by
at
5:07 AM
15
comments
Gene Hackman in 1993 (AP Photo/File)
On Friday at approximately 3PM, Oscar-award winning actor Gene Hackman was hit by a pickup truck on his bicycle in the Florida Keys. The incident was covered widely by the media which made sure to point out that the 81-year-old Hackman was not wearing a helmet. Though true, this fact seems to distract us from the fact that he was hit from behind by a pickup truck.
Reading the media’s coverage of this incident it is very difficult to find any find any information on whether the driver would be charged or what possibly led to the pickup truck striking Hackman’s rear tire. After mentioning the lack of helmet near the beginning of the article CNN mentioned only that “alcohol was not a factor” afterwards.
The Daily Herald reported that “Hackman was riding without a helmet on an Islamorada street around 3 p.m. when the pickup hit him, throwing him onto the grassy shoulder”. The article mentions that no charges “were immediately reported”.
Of the top 11 results on Google News when searching for “Gene Hackman Bicycle”, five articles have the word “accident” in the title.
The word accident implies that the driver who hit Hackman from behind did nothing wrong, wasn’t negligent and this was an unavoidable incident. There is no evidence that this collision was merely an unavoidable “accident” (if it’s even possible). Yet this is what our media would lead you believe.
Furthermore, the media’s focus on Hackman’s lack of helmet – in a place where there is no law mandating helmet use – implies that Hackman should accept some of the blame because he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
The Digital Journal even went as far as to state that Hackman’s not wearing a helmet led to him being airlifted “to ensure no head trauma had occurred”. Most other news agencies reported that he was airlifted because he was on an island, not because he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
Of those top 11 news results that covered the Hackman crash 7 mention the lack of helmet, and 8 mention the word “accident”.
This highlights how buried we are in car culture. If the driver wasn’t drunk, then it must have been an unavoidable accident. If the cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet, well then duh, he gets what he deserves.
Perhaps instead of highlighting that Hackman wasn’t wearing a helmet, the media should mention that a man who is turning 82 this month is healthy enough to stay active and ride a bicycle. That should be a story in itself given how immobile our sedentary fast-food car culture makes most North Americans.
But instead of focusing on what should be a story of an 81-year-old doing what most 81-year-olds cannot do, the media focuses on helmets and all but ignores the root cause of the collision.
New York’s Gothamist website highlighted the lack of helmet in its headline entitled “Gene Hackman Not Wearing Helmet While Cycling And Getting Hit By Car” – as if getting hit by the car (it was actually a pickup truck) is secondary to Hackman’s not wearing a helmet.
If the media feels it is necessary to point out that a cyclist who is a victim of a collision with a car isn’t wearing a helmet, then they should also point out that victims of car crashes weren’t wearing helmets either.
Out of the 32,708 people who were killed in car crashes in the United States in 2010 I wonder how many news articles mentioned the lack of helmets?
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- Bike Helmets Not Warranted (Sept 2010)
- Wear a Helmet And Get a Cycling Utopia (June 2010)
- We’ve Been Carjacked (Dec 2011)
- We Are Addicted To Automobiles (May 2011)
81-Year-Old Gene Hackman Hit On His Bike
37 comments
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Last Sunday afternoon I hopped on my Giant folding bicycle and headed from where I am living in the “suburbs” and headed into downtown (a 5 kilometre jaunt). What ensued was a thrilling ride among a myriad of other two-wheeled travelers making their way to and from the downtown core.
I am currently living in a city called Haikou – located on Hainan island in southern China. In Chinese, Hai means “Sea”, so Haikou’s literal meaning is “Mouth of the sea”. Haikou has 2 million inhabitants in four districts, and boasts the highest rated air quality in all of China. It also features 2,000 hectares of green spaces with trees lining 40 percent of Haikou’s roads.
Despite this, Haikou’s air quality is declining. Automobile ownership has increased drastically in the last few years, with a clearly visible increase in traffic congestion from my two other visits – first in 2007 and 2010. As soon as I stepped off the airplane ten days ago I was greeted by a cluster of shiny new, luxurious car dealerships (BMW, Toyota, Nissan, ford, Infinity, Lexus and Mazda).
When I first visited Haikou in 2007 most cars were from the 1980’s – including entire police vehicle fleets. Just 4 years later it is now common to see police officers in brand new Audi A5’s. Car culture is sweeping over China, and it’s not pretty.
An ex-pat friend of mine living in Shanghai told me he met a Chinese man at Starbucks yesterday who told him that he paid more than $100K USD for his BMW – which converts to more than 630,000RMB with the current exchange rate. An average salary in China is less than 4,000RMB per month.
When the topic of rent came up, my friend told the BMW owner that he pays 3,600RMB/month for rent. The man who paid more than 630,000RMB for a car that will depreciate year after year told my friend that he’s wasting his money and paying far too much for rent. Clearly the BMW owner doesn’t see the irony in his criticism of my friend “wasting his money”.
Cars are that important here now – it has almost become religious.
Down here in Haikou I’m told by residents that a few years ago the Chinese government rescinded a 200% tax on car purchases. This - along with a rapidly growing economy - opened the floodgates to tens of thousands of Chinese who had previously found car ownership to be unaffordable.
Now instead of the dusty old 1980’s cars, shiny new imports are everywhere. Those 1980’s cars are all but extinct in 2012.
With the influx of automobiles in this city, traffic is now grinding to a halt - with rush hour automobiles traveling slower than walking pace. Those who could afford cars prior to the government scrapping the 200% tax are wishing the tax still existed – for no other reason than to restore their freedom of mobility.
Despite the massive growth in car ownership, two-wheeled traffic still seemingly comprises the largest modal share among the available modes of transportation here.
I use my bicycle 7 days a week, and each time I take it out I am delighted to share the wide bike lanes with thousands of other people sporting two-wheeled vehicles – with electric scooters being the most common choice here.
The following photos show my grand entrance from the suburbs into the downtown core on that Sunday afternoon – highlighting one particular bottleneck that gets quite nasty at times.
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Pedaling in Haikou, Hainan, China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
While cars are starting to become immobile in Haikou, two wheeled vehicles keep the city moving - conveniently passing congested traffic in the wide separated two-wheeled lanes.
I am keenly interested to see how Chinese cities will evolve and address this massive influx of car ownership.
Until next time – keep your feet on those pedals.
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- Democracy Is Good, But… (Jan 2012)
- The Chinese Car Obsession (Nov 2011)
- The Bicycle as a Status Symbol in China (Sept 2011)
- Only the poor ride bicycles in Shanghai (Sept 2010)
- Pedaling Haikou City, China (May 2010)
Sunday Afternoon Traffic in China
8 comments
Steve Jobs and Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
Before leaving for China I picked up a Kobo e-reader (comparable to a Kindle) so I could read on my travels without hauling 4-months worth of books along with me. The Kobo has transformed how I read books and I have found myself reading more than I have read in a long time. The book I am currently nearing completion is the Steve Jobs biography written by Walter Isaacson.
The biography has provided me posthumous inspiration and appreciation for Steve Jobs. I had never taken the time to get to know Mr. Jobs, viewing Apple as just another corporation that promotes conspicuous consumption.
I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate Jobs’ deep intellect, his anti-materialism, his counterculture “I don’t give a shit” attitude, his passion for products over profit, his quest for simplicity, his interest in Zen Buddhism, nor his obsession with design perfection.
When I was twelve years old I started toying with building my own computers which naturally swayed me toward generic PCs over all-in-one Apple Computer machines.
An interesting bit of information that surfaces in Jobs’ biography is the fact that the Apple Macintosh almost became known as the “Bicycle” in 1981.
The Apple Macintosh computer was originally named by early Apple employee Jef Raskin – after his favourite type of apple. When Raskin was forced to leave Apple in February 1981, Steve Jobs and Rod Holt decided to change the name of the Macintosh to “Bicycle” to distance themselves from Raskin.
The thinking behind selecting the name “Bicycle” stemmed from an article that Jobs had read in Scientific American that highlighted the efficiency of the bicycle. Jobs had regularly referred to computers as a “bicycle for the mind” in interviews after reading the magazine article.
Jobs explains the thinking behind the term:
I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud of a showing for the crown of creation.
So uh that didn't look so good. But then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And a man on a bicycle or a human on a bicycle blew the condor away. Blew them completely off the charts.
And that's what the computer is to me. What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.
Renaming the Mac to “Bicycle” however didn’t sit well with most of the Mac team, so the idea was eventually quashed and the project persisted to be named Macintosh, despite Steve Jobs’s disposition to the term “Bicycle”.
Here is a video from 1981 where a scruffy Jobs explains the “Bicycle for the mind” analogy:
In some ways, the marketing campaigns and philosophy of Steve Jobs are relevant to what we are trying to achieve on this website.
Bicycles are a simple yet effective mode of transportation, and questioning our car culture goes against the grain of society just like Mr. Jobs went against society’s expectations of how a billionaire CEO should dress or behave. He spoke his mind and he didn’t care how society expected him to behave or appear.
Here’s an inspiring 1997 Apple TV commercial that nicely describes the Jobs mentality:
“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
To remember Mr. Jobs, I will leave you with a few inspirational quotes and slogans from Jobs and Apple:
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
“I want to put a ding in the universe.”
“You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
“Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?”
“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles”
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”
“Think Differently”
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- The World Has Changed. So Can You. (April 2011)
- Billboard Hijacking To Promote Urban Bicycling (March 2011)
- ‘Rethinking Transportation’ Talk (Dec 2011)
- Anatomy of a Dutch Bicycle (Jan 2011)
How Apple’s “Macintosh” Almost Became The “Bicycle”
2 comments
Traffic signs in China – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Winston Churchill once said that it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. Like all other good things, democracy certainly has its flaws.
In North American democracy, transportation policy often caters to the majority instead of considering the best interests of everyone. For example, if 51% of citizens in a North American city commute using motor vehicles, 29% take public transit, 15% walk and 5% ride bicycles, then in our current “democratic” system will usually cater to the majority (drivers) at the expense of the 49% of the population who don’t drive cars.
Today is the fourth day since I arrived in China – on Hainan island in the South China Sea. Although most would say the Chinese government is “undemocratic”, when it comes to transportation, the government often looks at the best interests of everyone rather than catering to a single group. One could possibly even argue that this is more democratic than North American transportation policy which plays favourites with the largest group of voters.
To be sure, China is no saint on many issues. But when it comes to transportation, China’s commitment to looking out for the greater good is evident by the vast expenditures invested in public transit in its cities, its world-class bicycle infrastructure, and regulation on the number of motor vehicles allowed to be registered in major cities. All three of these initiatives have helped to reduce pollution and traffic congestion in Chinese cities as well as providing affordable alternative means of transportation for its citizens.
Democracy has failed us in North America. Our government has catered to drivers without considering the consequences or working toward the greater good of everyone.
The result of our “democracy” is that we end up with little bits of inadequate bike lanes neighbourhoods represented by “bicycle-friendly” elected officials, but then those bike lanes end when they reach neighbourhoods with anti-bike officials.
Our democratic process rewards polarization to win votes by isolating groups of people – the “divide and conquer” approach. We thus end up with an us vs. them attitude when it comes to allocating the limited space on our streets. You are either “for” cars, or “for” bicycles. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground, even though most people who use bicycles in North America also drive cars.
The result is that it becomes inconvenient and uncomfortable to ride a bicycle in North American cities. This leads more people to resort to motor vehicles as they are sole mode of transportation.
Here in Haikou - Hainan’s capital city of ~2 million people - virtually all new roads are constructed to include bicycle infrastructure. The decision to include bicycle infrastructure cannot be blocked by a particular car-loving neighbourhood. Bike infrastructure is included with standard road design, just like we do with sidewalks in North America.
Further, the bike lanes here aren’t just a painted line on the shoulder of a road or located directly in the door zone of a row of parked cars. Bike lanes here are wide and physically separated, making riding a pleasurable and safe experience instead of a stressful and dangerous one.
Below is a photo of a new road that hasn’t yet been built. The street signs have preceded the road itself. Each of these new roads come equipped with a sign that is so common across China to indicate which lane is dedicated to bicycles:
China bike infrastructure – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
You can see in the photo above the physical separation between the motor vehicles and bicycles. These physically separated lanes are everywhere (when not prohibited by lack of space), and extremely comfortable to ride.
Here is a photo on a new road in a brand new development zone in Haikou:
China bike infrastructure – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Some bike lanes are shared with motor vehicles. But vehicles drive much slower in this lane and only enter this lane when they are parking or entering a driveway. These are also common in the Netherlands, but they are virtually nonexistent in North America:
China bike infrastructure – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
Including properly-designed bicycle infrastructure as standard planning in North America would provide what many North Americans crave: a comfortable alternative to driving cars. A way to avoid traffic jams. A way to get daily exercise without even thinking about it. A way to know exactly how long it will take to get to your destination – regardless of traffic.
But until we include bicycle infrastructure as a key aspect of road design we will always be fighting for short patches of bike lanes that seem to end even before they begin.
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- We’ve Been Carjacked (Dec 2011)
- We Are Addicted To Automobiles (May 2011)
- Suburban Bike Infrastructure (March 2010)
- Handicap Bike Parking (May 2010)
- The World Has Changed. So Can You. (April 2011)
Democracy Is Good, But…
19 comments
James posing as a hipster on a fixie in Baltimore, Maryland in October 2011 – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country
As we approach another new year, I have been reflecting on the events of 2011 and how they have shaped both myself and this website. In many ways, 2011 has been a coming of age for The Urban Country. We have reached record levels of readership and have been told by many people that we are one of their favourite bike blogs. A few weeks ago we were nominated as one of the best new bicycle blogs in 2011 on Cyclelicious.
In 2004 I started The Urban Country as a personal blog. The name was reflective of my home country Canada – a country of vast land where the majority of the population resides in urban areas. I talked mostly of politics, the economy, the environment, shared jokes and generally just vented on whatever was on my mind.
In 2009 I started to focus exclusively on bicycle transportation to highlight to citizens of our car culture that it is fun and rewarding to get around by bicycle. Bicycles are a relief from the imprisonment that we call car ownership and widespread use of bicycles makes our cities more liveable and simply more enjoyable to traverse. Bicycling can make commuting to work or school - or wherever the road takes us - delightful instead of dreadful; gratifying instead of frustrating.
With our busy schedules we can get our daily exercise without any forethought or self discipline. We can leave for a meeting and know exactly how long it will take to get there without checking the traffic or bus/train schedule. It is liberating, and this true freedom of mobility barely costs anything.
In 2011 The Urban Country’s message began to spread and we saw more than 200,000 visits on this website throughout the year with more than 160,000 unique visitors. This would seem low for a mainstream website, but The Urban Country is still in its infancy and has room to grow and spread the simple message further in the coming years.
Through this blog and twitter I have met some amazing people who really care about improving this world we live in. Without these great people I would probably lose my motivation and slip into a state of cynicism and despair for our future. But the readers of this website give me hope for a better future in North America and beyond.
Thanks to all of you who have added The Urban Country to your list of blogs that you regularly read – it sincerely means a lot to me – especially when there are so many other great websites out there to occupy your limited time.
Below are some 2011 highlights and website statistics that some of you might find interesting. Following the statistics are a few things that I have planned for 2012 and beyond.
2011 Highlights:
- February
- Developed & launched www.ratemyvelo.com – a website that allows users to vote on user-uploaded photos of people on bikes “to show the world that bicycles are for more than just sport”.
- May
- Calculated that the average American works 2 hours a day just to pay for their cars
- June
- James and his wife had their first baby
- September
- Mikael from Copenhagenize launched the Copenhagenize Index of Bicycle Friendly Cities for 2011 – which originally spawned from a collaboration between Mikael and James in 2010.
- October
- Launched the ‘i share the road’ sticker campaign to promote a positive message of sharing the road between drivers and cyclists.
- October marks one year since I sold my car and went car-free. My transportation costs are now virtually $0 so I have $8,000 in my bank account that I wouldn’t otherwise have had if I kept my car.
- November
- Built a bike lane out of trash to show that there is enough space for bikes, cars & trucks
- Announced our bicycle art contest winner of an exclusive painting by Mike Rubbo
- December
- Created the “Rethinking Transportation: How the bicycle can save our cities and ourselves” talk.
Most Popular Articles in 2011:
- Critical Mass Carnage (GRAPHIC VIDEOS) (February) 73,361 views & 107 comments
- Americans Work 2 Hours Each Day to Pay For Their Cars (May) 14,815 views & 33 comments
- You’re Welcome Mr. Motorist (January) 5,861 views & 25 comments
- Anatomy of a Dutch Bicycle (January) 4,212 views & 16 comments
- Roads Weren’t Built For Cars (July) 3,819 views & 8 comments
- Bicyclists Must Obey Laws If They Want to Share the Roads (February) 3,503 views & 37 comments
- Motorists Prime Beneficiaries of Socialism (August) 3,441 views & 35 comments
- Bicycle Infrastructure Is Good For Business (May) 3,409 views & 3 comments
- The Bicycle as a Status Symbol (September) 2,586 views & 16 comments
- Trashy Bike Lane (November) 2,466 views & 21 comments
Top Traffic Sources:
- google search traffic (31,676 visits)
- reddit.com (26,900 visits)
- facebook.com (13,515 visits)
- feedburner (8,558 visits)
- imgur.com (6,514 visits)
- ehowa.com (5,213 visits)
- stumbleupon.com (4,668 visits)
- twitter.com (4,635 visits)
- google.com (3,750 visits)
- t.co (3,570 visits)
Top News/Blog Referrers:
- slog.thestranger.com (3,008 visits)
- npr.org (2,553 visits)
- treehugger.com (1,524 visits)
- thestranger.com (1,418 visits)
- bikeportland.org (1,236 visits)
- copenhagenize.com (1,196 visits)
- andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com (1,192 visits)
- ibiketo.ca (659 visits)
- prollyisnotprobably.com (642 visits)
- road.cc (555 visits)
Top Visitor Countries:
- United States (101,765 visits)
- Canada (43,452 visits)
- United Kingdom (13,677 visits)
- Australia (6,025 visits)
- Spain (5,463 visits)
- India (3,654 visits)
- Netherlands (3,627 visits)
- Germany (3,576 visits)
- Brazil (1,499 visits)
- South Korea (1,358 visits)
Top Browsers:
- Firefox (73,641 visits)
- Chrome (56,203 visits)
- Internet Explorer (34,228 visits)
- Safari (30,263 visits)
- Mozilla Compatible Agent (7,697 visits)
- Opera (2,825 visits)
- Android Browser (1,700 visits)
- Opera Mini (268 visits)
Most Bizarre/Funny Search Keywords:
- poop (84 visits)
- mature porn (52 visits)
- freematureporn (34 visits)
- how do nascar drivers pee (34 visits)
- thong blog (31 visits)
- do bicycles have to stop at stop signs (30 visits)
- mature homemade (13 visits)
- cyclists are idiots toronto (12 visits)
- human poop (8 visits)
- fat asian kid on a bike (6 visits)
Looking forward to 2012 and beyond, I have a few things in the works. First of all I will be doing some travelling from January until May and hope to add some international content to the blog during my travels. I will spend most of the time in China, but I’m also planning to visit Tibet, the Philippines, and the Netherlands.
When I return to Toronto in May I am planning to continue doing talks on bicycle transportation to discuss the benefits and how we can achieve a higher rate of cycling.
I am also planning to bring bi-weekly podcasts to The Urban Country to discuss transportation, cycling and politics. I’m working with a brilliant advocate/recent friend Ben who is planning to take this on in 2012. We will start with one or two pilots and get your feedback to shape the show.
In 2012 I am planning to write a short e-book that might end up with the same title as my presentation: “Rethinking Transportation: How the bicycle can save our cities and ourselves”. If readers find the ebook interesting I would like to explore the possibility of doing a longer version book on a similar topic beyond 2012.
Lastly, I had a dream about making a documentary to uncover the car culture that is growing in China and the destruction it is causing in China. I don’t know how much will happen on this initiative in 2012, but I will keep my camera rolling during my travels this winter anyway.
Happy 2012 to all of you and your families!
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- 2011: Year of the Rabbit (Jan 2011)
- 2010: Year of the Tiger (Jan 2010)
- ‘i share the road’ campaign launch (Oct 2011)
- The World Has Changed. So Can You. (April 2011)
- ‘Rethinking Transportation’ Talk (Dec 2011)
2011 Year End Wrap Up
13 comments
Agents practising being interrogated. The rural situation of camp X can be glimpsed from the background. (From the Pelham-Burn collection, reproduced by courtesy of Lynn-Philip Hodgson)
On 6 December 1941, just one day before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, a British spy training camp opened in Whitby, Ontario, some 50 kilometres east of Toronto. The training camp STS 103 – also known as Camp X – was so top secret that the Prime Minister of Canada wasn’t even aware of its existence until 1945.
Camp-X provided “invaluable help” to Colonel William J. Donovan in the creation of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1942 – the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency.
The purpose of the camp was twofold: 1) To train men recruited in Canada to become spies in German-occupied countries (e.g. French Canadians), and 2) To allow the British to provide assistance to the Americans to build their foreign intelligence service (something which wasn’t allowed to be done on American soil while the United States remained neutral).
My interest in the topic was first piqued in 2001 when I read the book Almost, a story of a 20-year-old Canadian with Hungarian heritage who trained at Camp X before being dropped into Hungary in 1944 only to be captured and tortured by the Germans shortly after his arrival. James Bond author Ian Fleming had also trained at Camp X, providing inspiration for his novels.
The Special Operations Executive Secret Operations Manual used for training the spies was published long after the war ended. The training manual covers a variety of topics ranging from silent killing to sabotage to the art of disguise. I picked a copy of the manual in 2007 for academic study and personal interest.
Among other things, the training manual highlights the usefulness of bicycles as a tool for covert operatives to remain inconspicuous when performing their duty in occupied countries.
Bicycles allowed operatives to stay relatively under the radar in German-occupied countries where train stations were closely monitored and motor vehicles were frequently stopped or had to pass through check points.
Although bicycles were indeed used by the military during the war, the SOE training manual highlights the civilian use of bicycles as a mode of transportation to elude officials and avoid suspicion.
Here are a few excerpts from the training manual pertaining to bicycles:
Escape Procedures
(Editor’s note: The escape procedures section explains techniques that can be employed by the operative to escape from occupied territory)
5. Travel Across Country
b) Some of the means of travel and comment upon them
- Travel by foot makes it relatively easy to avoid many controls – taking remote paths, crossing fields, etc.
- Travel by bicycle has proved relatively safe.
- Buses are less subject to check than trains but more crowded – passengers more subject to prying conversation and questions. General suggestions for those using either bus or train are:
- Don’t take bus or train from terminal; terminals generally watched carefully. Some escapees suggest that terminals should be avoided entirely – even if it means leaving train some fifteen miles from terminal, walking past it, and boarding another train some fifteen miles beyond.
- Take locals and travel by roundabout routes when “Things are hot” Leave train or bus before it reaches border. One escapee recommends round-trip ticket to near border. Almost all borders and coasts under German control are not restricted or forbidden zones – special German army permits needed.
- If one purchases single tickets for short distances, he can at any time pretend he is making only a local trip – either to depopulate a given town or to get work
- Avoid any but necessary conversation. Appear sleepy or use the tobacco chewing trick.
- The pretense of sleep and showing whole mass of documents (passport, permits, ration cards, ticket, etc.) at inspector at once makes him careless in checking them.
- Avoid secluded corners in stations; the police give them special attention.
- Controls sometimes can be avoided by entering or leaving station through a lavatory with exit into adjoining hotel (St. Charles R.R. Station in Marseilles – similarly in Toulouse).
- In some stations controls are enforced only during the period shortly after train arrival. Going to restaurant or library before leaving station frequently means to avoid controls entirely.
- Sometimes controls can be escaped by riding the steps of the train.
Surveillance
(Editor’s note: The surveillance section explains methods and techniques for performing surveillance on target subjects)
3. PLANNING
a) Cover
Following is rarely done by single person, more frequently by combination of several with various types of cover, E.g.:
- Taxicab driver with vehicle (Largely “blown”.)
- Tradesman’s van with driver
- Tradesman or messenger with bicycle
- Shoppers, house or apartment-hunters
- Man with girl
- Woman with baby carriage
General Movement by Day (Minor Tactics)
(Editor’s note: This section explains how movements can be traced by officials or by the operative)
6. Footprints
e) Tire Tracks. Most important consideration is which way they are going. Most certain way is by crossing or overlapping of front wheel tracks by rear wheels. Over a bump tracks will momentarily broaden out at the far side, as the tire takes the downward bump of the chassis. Position of the tracks on the road are also an indication, especially when cornering. In the case of a bicycle, direction is more easily distinguishable, as rear wheel more often crosses or obscures front wheel, especially uphill as the forward position of the rider causes more wobble. The faster the travel the straighter the line.
Not only were bicycles useful for secret agents, they were also the most practical way for civilians to get around when motor vehicles were parked due to fuel shortages and rationing. My Grandmother – who was 9-years-old when the war broke out – rode her bicycle on the rims due to a shortage of rubber tires in the Netherlands under Nazi-occupation.
The bicycle certainly wasn’t the deciding factor in the war, but it had a pragmatic appeal to transport both secret operatives and civilians in occupied territory.
James D. Schwartz is a Transportation Pragmatist and the Editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com or follow him on Twitter.
Related Articles:
- My Dutch Family History (Feb 2011)
- Japan Earthquake & Tsunami: Role of the Bicycle (March 2011)
- Roads Weren’t Built For Cars (July 2011)
- The World Has Changed. So Can You. (April 2011)
Further reading:
Rigden, Denis - How to be a Spy: The World War II SOE Training Manual.
Toronto, ON, CAN: Dundurn, 2004
SOE Secret Operations Manual. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Paladin Press, 1993
