Good day my good friend.
You are amazing, right. Honestly, I’m overwhelmed. No sooner had we blown past £400 raised for the Trussell Trust, and I set a stretched target of £500, well you went and blew past that as well!! From some very generous offers to sponsor this newsletter, we are now at £540 pledged! That’s just…I’m staggered. That will help people in real need.
Dare I set a stretchy-stretched target of £600? Have you all got that in you? Frankly, I’m thankful for what you have done so far. It’s more than I could have asked for. If you want to help achieve £600, you can offer to sponsor (email me about that), become a paid subscriber (click the button at the end of this newsletter), or just donate directly.
Thank you, again, you wonderful people.
If you have any suggestions for interesting news items or bits of research to include in this newsletter, you can email me.
James
Kids will be kids, on motorcycles
The humble motorcycle has done more for the motorisation of personal transport than even the car, especially outside of Europe and North America. The use of this mode has a number of issues associated with it, notably how safe they are, especially in comparison to how well they are used. But an issue that is all-too-common throughout the world is the use of motorcycles by young people.
But, amazingly (and despite the collective wisdom of people who frequent local Facebook Groups), this issue is not well understood. But this study from Ho Chi Minh City is a first good study of why young people ride motorcycles illegally. Turns out their parents permitting this behaviour is a big factor, which to me indicates a wider cultural acceptance of young people on motorcycles. If you are from that part of the world, maybe you can help this guy from Britain understand if this is so, or if I am completely wrong?
Tech and free will, without the conspiracy stuff
The always-excellent City Monitor posted this article on the potential implications of outsourcing our decision-making to technology. Since reading Wayfinding recently, which is part psychology and part “why GPS is bad for our navigation skills,” I’ve been thinking the same thing. What are the implications of us outsourcing the thinking for routine tasks – like travelling – on how we make decisions?
There is some early evidence that the use of navigational aids is changing how we interact with the world around us. We know that journey planning systems do have an impact on route and mode choice. But the long term impacts of this technology is poorly researched. We have no idea what the long term implications are on route choices, modal choices, and travel choices generally. Maybe, if such technologies are becoming more widespread, we should full that gap. Right?
Random things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
England just made gigabit internet a legal requirement for new homes (The Verge)
Tech forgot its umbrella (TechCrunch)
An Ancient Recipie for Social Success (Naked Capitalism)
Something interesting
This isn’t an image of my collection of Micro Machines. Nor is it a screenshot from the original Grand Theft Auto. This is an image from an article in Axios about the changes in pick up trucks since the 1970s. In the first generation of Ford F-150s in the 1970s, 36% of the length of the vehicle was the cab, and 66% the bed (back). Now, its 67% cab, and 33% bed.
If you do nothing else today, then do this
Thanks to Zac for sharing this article on the cycle mad city north of the Arctic Circle. It reminds me of the wisdom of the great Big Yin:
There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so get yourself a sexy raincoat and live a little!
Mobility Matters 