Friday 3 July 2009

Why Words Matter.

Following on from the last post about the use of the term "new" by Cycling City to describe existing cycle routes that are being upgraded, which provoked some interesting responses including this coverage in an online cycling magazine (thanks to Noel for that link), I thought it might be productive to explore why the meaning of words, semantics, isn't merely a matter for "sterile and pedantic" debate as suggested by Cllr Jon Rogers.

First a dabble in the theory. All our thoughts and actions are based on ideas which are formulated with words. If words don't have agreed and recognised meanings then we cannot use them with any precision. If we cannot use words with precision then the ideas based on them become amorphous and ultimately meaningless. Then our thoughts and actions have no solid basis, which leaves us prey to the shysters, snake oil salesmen and politicians of this world. If that makes any sense you might like this piece by Charles Eisenstein, kindly flagged up by Tim Beadle and others via twitter, which takes the theme much further.



Now for a practical example. Yesterday Jon Rogers, who I'm still convinced wants to be as open and transparent as is possible, answered a query about the Hourbike scheme raised on the public Bristol cycling Campaign forum, saying (in a series of responses which I've amalgamated)-
I had a briefing this afternoon about imminent HourBike launch. Small private company that has been quietly trialling up at UWE between Parkway Station and UWE.

Officer response..."It's not part of the Council's Cycling City programme, but a private initiative started before the Cycling City funding was announced and consistent with our aims to promote and increase cycling. As part of the programme however we are also looking at the options for wider access to bikes, of which hire on a bigger scale is one."

Hour Bike is privately funded. They have, I understand had a grant of £4k, with further £4K for launch and £4k due next year - total £12K from Council investment. Would you like me to ask if that is counted as part of the council share of it's investment in Cycling City?
But then quite a lot more information emerged from another source. It seems this "privately funded private initiative" is mostly funded by public funds (from Bristol City Council, the University of the West of England (UWE) and First Great Western) and originated from publicly funded research at UWE. So Jon Rogers might well be pondering what 'private' means in that context. Clearly the officers giving him advice have a very different idea of the meaning of the word to me.

We also learn that another £20k of Cycling City money was allocated to the second phase of the Hourbike project. How does that fit with the £12k funding (which may or may not be Cycling City money - we still await a response on that point) reported by Jon Rogers? Some people need to be reminded that Cycling City money remains our tax money, however many different agencies it's passed between, and we're entitled to know exactly what it is being spent on.

The Cycling City launch press release said -
And there are new plans for a 24 hour automated bike hire scheme called ‘Hourbike’, providing bike locations (docking stations) across Bristol City centre and further afield around Parkway Station and the University of the West of England. This is subject to agreements on funding by the operator.
So is it right to say that the Hourbike scheme is not part of Cycling City? The Cycling City PR materials seems to say that it is. The funding seems to say that it is. But the officers say that it isn't. Who should Jon Rogers believe? Who should we believe?



My interpretation of this is that Cycling City are distancing themselves from the Hourbike scheme, presumably because they don't think it's viable or simply aren't prepared to pump prime it to the level where it could be viable. The Hourbike map suggests just three new locations in central Bristol to go with the four existing locations at Parkway (above) and UWE. That looks like little more than a token gesture to me.

But of course if Cycling City were honest and open about these things we wouldn't need my 'interpretations' or speculation, rumour and guesswork. We'd have the facts, based on words with agreed meanings. Surely Jon Rogers must be beginning to appreciate the logic of that.

15 comments:

Bigwok said...

Hourbike just seems to be taking forever to install, I suspect that they have limited staff and resources.

I have actually registered. Through that process I discovered that the administrateive support for the system is actually just one person.

A fellow cyclist told me that he watched them install the hub in the centre. In short 3 guys watched one guy dig the holes. Apparently even a council officer was present to ensure that they weren't positioned to the close to the trees.

Having contacted hourbike it appears the inital delay in the city centre (they were supposed to be installed in November 2008) was that they decided to upgrade the technology and the manufacturing process has delayed them. Know they are clearly available how long does it take to install a dozen hubs?

When I contacted hourbike they said that they had plans to install hubs at Templequay, Broadmead, Queen square etc. My Bristol map for cyclists 2008 actually shows the locations of the proposed hubs. I just checked online but the BCC website must have a different/older map because they are not shown.
This map shows 15 hubs including:

Temple Meads
Temple Quay
Anchor Square (Harbourside)
Broadmead West
Thunderbolt Square (Queen Square)
Broadquay
The Centre
BRI
Triangle
Wine Street
Jamaica Street
SS Great Britain
Create Centre
Bristol Zoo
Filton Abbey Wood Station

Given the media interest in this scheme, even if the council aren't responsbile for its delivery, you would think its in their interests to ensure it succeeds. Especially if the Council are contributing to the capital start up.

How about installing the all the city centre hubs and then some in suburban local centres along some of the strategic greenway routes?

woodsy said...

"This map shows 15 hubs including:

Temple Meads
Temple Quay
Anchor Square (Harbourside)
Broadmead West
Thunderbolt Square (Queen Square)
Broadquay
The Centre
BRI
Triangle
Wine Street
Jamaica Street
SS Great Britain
Create Centre
Bristol Zoo
Filton Abbey Wood Station
"

At the present rate of progress, how many centuries will these take to be installed?

Chris Hutt said...

Thanks for that info Bigwok. The current version of the Bristol cycle map doesn't appear to show any bike hire outlets, even the privately run one at the Ferry Station. It's viewable here -
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=29893344

Jon Rogers said...

Hi Chris

I have responded to your substantive points on another thread, and said that I agree. I am sorry that I got a bit tetchy!

Words do indeed matter and I have asked officers to tighten up on such words. Perhaps, the old habits from the previous administration are not always easy to break.

Finally, I am fully supportive of Hour Bike.

Jon

Bigwok said...

At the current rate, any interest there is in Hourbike will have died.

The it's "New infrastructure" statements are simply spin to cover the fact that progress on cycling city is slow.

Its year one and i'm sure we realise that the majority of improvements will need some lead time.
I just hope that decent new schemes are being taken forward and actually materialise in year two and three. How can we make sure this opportunity is not lost?

Chris Hutt said...

Jon, thanks again for taking the trouble to respond.

Please don't worry about sounding 'tetchy' or anything else. It's understandable given that you're caught in the middle on this, trying to respond to criticism but also to give positive leadership. That can't be easy and I know I couldn't do it (at least not to the satisfaction of anyone being lead by me).

Of course the function of this blog (and this blogger) is to look critically at Cycling City and other activities of the City Council with a view to exposing lies, hypocrisy, greenwash, unwarranted secrecy, etc. and that will continue, as I'm sure you would expect.

Perhaps the end result will be better than it would be otherwise. Certainly the council are going to have to think more about the veracity of the claims they make, particularly with regard to Cycling City, which is no bad thing. And it may provoke some to think again about some of their outdated attitudes and ideas, which would be good.

Although you may not always be able to say what readers of this blog might want to hear, I'm sure they all appreciate the fact that you take the trouble to read people's comments and to post your responses. That's a whole lot better than being ignored.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Hourbike will materialise given the long time it has taken to get this up and running. Similar schemes work elsewhere and should be piloted for Bristol. I've remain a strong supporter of cycle hire in Bristol and look forward to this becoming a reality. One thing that needs to be addressed is ease of obtaining membership (short stay visitors and tourists especially) and payment.

Mark Bradshaw

Bigwok said...

Membership is an important point. The current arrangement will not work easily for Tourists and visitors. Given the primary leisure locations the system may serve, getting this right is crucial.

In Paris I'm reasonably sure that people can simply use a credit card to access the bikes. This approach seems sensible, not sure how the Hourbike Smart Card can enable easy access.

All I can think of being able to get the smart card at stations and tourist information.

Chris Hutt said...

Mark, it seems to me that Hourbike won't 'work' (be economically viable) unless it launches with a credible number of outlets (hubs?) which doesn't look to be the case.

But even if launched with a credible number of outlets it might still fail, so there would then be a big risk involved.

So should public money be used as risk capital for such a speculative venture, particularly bearing in mind that it will be in direct competition with established commercial bike hire outlets like Ferry Station?

Personally I don't see why public funding should be used if there is a reasonable prospect of the private sector meeting whatever demand there is, as Ferry Station for example is doing.

MJ Ray said...

I'm a frequent visitor to Bristol for both business and leisure. I sometimes use the train into Temple Meads (or more usually Bedminster, where cycle access is easier) but I'm sick of the two-bikes-per-train restriction on Great Western. Where can I hire a bike as a visitor?

The Bristol Cycle Map I have shows hb symbols but I couldn't find them when I looked. Now you're saying I can't even turn up and hire them? Incredibly stupid. Does the council have shares in FirstBus or taxi companies?

Tim Mueller said...

I live in Bedminster and would love an hourbike station near my home or somewhere between my home and the city centre, and I'd even contribute a bit of money (maybe a hundred quid or so) to the cost of setting up such a station nearby. In short, I wonder if some sort of 'neighbourhood scheme' would be feasible, where people pledge money, and the company or the council will put in the rest to set up a station at (pre-defined) location X if enough money has been pledged to provide for part or all of it. Might be a viable way to increase coverage.

Chris Hutt said...

Hi Tim,

I think the business model would allow for something like that, although I expect the 'sponsorship' for a hub would be in the order of £1,000. What advantage would it have over smply owning a bike yourself? Is it that you haven't anywhere to store a bike?

Tim Mueller said...

> What advantage would it
> have over smply owning a
> bike yourself? Is it that
> you haven't anywhere to
> store a bike?

Well, I have nowhere to *securely* store a bike (thanks to the planning officers and Barrats), and a number of bikes have already been stolen from the place where I'd have to keep it, including my girlfriend's.

Also, I don't really want to worry about keeping the bike in order and all that. If I want to go somewhere, I want the bike to be ready. If you don't use your bike every day, the tyres will often need re-inflating etc., so you always have to plan in an extra 10mins before you're actually on the road.

But even if I had a bike, it'd be nice if friends or my now bikeless girlfriend could join me going into town by bike, without having brought their own bike.

Lastly, I'd just consider having such a station in the vicinity a 'public good', which I'd be happy to contribute to to some extent to increase the viability of the scheme as such for it's own sake, regardless of whether I have any immediate use for it myself or not.

Chris Hutt said...

Hi Tim,

If bike theft is such a big problem where you are, how long do you think the Hourbike bikes would last?

The hire charges are just nominal (first 30 mins free, then just £1 for each hour) so I can't see how the scheme can ever cover it's operating costs. It's going to be another money pit for the council and I guess even they will get fed up with the Hourbike scheme eating up the cycling budget every year.

So I'd advise anyone against investing in it unless they come up with business plan that doesn't depend on endless public subsidy.

Tim said...

Chris: sure, but what I was suggesting wasn't really 'endless public subsidy', just a contribution to the initial start-up costs to give the scheme the critical coverage/mass it (IMHO) needs to succeed. And I wasn't even necessarily talking about public money - I said the council OR hourbike might want to put up the rest. As for their businessplan, I have no idea how it is supposed to work (compared to, say, bcn's bici or the scheme in Munich), but I assume the hourbike folks have thought about that.

I don't think bike theft is a bigger problem in my area than anywhere else in Bristol, but chances are that a nice-looking mountain bike (however cheap) is going to be nicked before those decidedly un-sexy^Hfunctional looking hourbikes, no?

In any case, it was just an idea. It would be a shame if it failed just because coverage remains too poor for it to be useful to anyone.