The contribution of human powered vehicles and new bicycle technologies to mobility in Africa

Dr Peter Cox

Cycles and sustainable development

• What kind of cities do we want to have?– equality of access (affordability and inclusivity) – safe for all (young and old alike) – desirable environments – high air quality – low noise pollution

• Hyper-mobility (too much) is as much a problem as hypo-mobility (too little)

• Cleaner fuels can simply lead to smogless congestion• Well-planned sustainable development holds the

possibility of a ‘leapfrog’ factor - bypassing the wasted years of auto-domination (visible in congested British cities)

Successful examples -Infrastructure and Advocacy

Planning for cycling is not a matter of luxury but a matter of justice

• I-CE (Interface for Cycling Expertise - Netherlands)– Partnering European experience of infrastructure planning with local

development strategies

• BEN (Bicycling Empowerment Network South Africa)– Demonstrating multiple benefits of cycling

• Access to work and education• Increased productivity• Building light engineering

capacity

• Health, fitness and wellbeing• Higher quality public space• Potential for indigenous

production and endogenous economic growth

Barriers: perceptual and industrial

• Popular sterotypes of cycle obsolescence can be overcome by innovative design

• Link cycling with positive social imagery

• High quality and integral infrastructure

• Ambivalence of importing second-hand machinery – only a partial solution

• Current manufacturing investment from China

• Obvious opportunities for introduction of specifically built and designed cycles for African markets

Technologies as social constructions

• The bicycle is not a ‘designed’ technology but arises through a series of compromises and conventions

“…the absurdity of bicycle design progress for the last hundred years or so…

If car design had taken the same route [as cycle design], we would be driving Model A cars with titanium frames and the hand crank would be carbon fibre.”Leigh Wade Bike Report May 1990

Innovations in frame design

Load carrying and work bikes

Future technologies

• User innovators in EU and in Africa tend to be knowledge rich but resource poor

• Co-design engaging with open source approaches

• Creative solutions

Human-electric hybrid vehicles

The Bakmobile

a hybrid power delivery vehicle

• Pedal and electric combined allow much lighter weight than conventional electric vehicles

• Regenerative braking to maximise range

• Potential for solar cell addition to make entirely self-contained vehicle

Opportunities for investment

• Not just infrastructure

• Rider experience matters

• Partnership analysis of needs and solutions enables better planning

• Endogenous manufacture The mayor of Cape Town going by cycle taxi…