Over the weekend, Jason Thorne, who is the General Manager of Planning and Economic Development at the City of Hamilton, tweeted this out. He said, if Jerry Seinfeld can do Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, then he was going to do Planners On Bikes Getting Coffee. And that’s exactly what he did in Barrie with their Chief Planner, Andrea Bourrie.
I immediately responded by asking: Is this really a thing you are doing? Because if not, it is something you should absolutely start. He was kidding but I think the response he received on Twitter got him reconsidering if he should make it a thing. I think this is a great idea, and so I hope he does consider it. If you agree, maybe send him a tweet.
I have a GoPro, gimbal stabilizer, and a bicycle. So if this doesn’t become a thing, maybe there needs to be a Developers On Bikes Getting Coffee.
Last week, Mary Meeker of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers published her annual internet trends report. You can find it here, if for whatever reason it is not showing up below. Also, here is last year’s Internet Trends 2017 presentation in case you’re curious.
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Internet Trends Report 2018 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
One slide that stood out for me is the one below. It shows the global demand for transportation trips booked through smartphone apps. The numbers include on-demand taxis, private for-hire vehicles, as well as on-demand motorbikes and bicycles.
China, through a combination of cars and bicycles, makes up 68% of the global share. It looks to be over 5 billion completed trips in Q1 2018. A staggering number. At the same time, look at how much of that is a result of growth in the number of bicycle trips.
A new “bicycle house” recently opened up in Malmö, Sweden. It is a 7 storey apartment building that has been designed entirely around the bicycle. It’s called Cykelhuset Ohboy.
Bicycle house means:
- There’s no parking for cars in the building. Apparently it’s the first building in Sweden to do that, which is surprising to me. I thought that would be more common.
- All of the access corridors were made wider so that it’s easier to maneuver your bike around, larger bikes can fit, and there aren’t any access issues when bikes are left outside of your apartment.
- All of the doors in the complex are 10cm wider than they need to be (and have door openers). The elevators are also larger and open up on both sides so you don’t have to turn your bike around.
- The building is equipped with cargo bikes and kid friendly bikes so that you can grocery shop and wheel your family around. The building does have larger family sized apartments and, according to Copenhagenize, the building is fully occupied.
In most, if not all, condo buildings here in Toronto, you’re usually not allowed to take bicycles in the elevators. And bikes sitting on balconies is considered a highly undesirable outcome.
But clearly that’s just one frame of reference for how the world should work.