01.1 - Selling the Idea of Cycling - DCC-UMX

Distinguish between facts and feelings

Discussions are often about economy, health, traffic not about emotions.

Dutch Cycling Vision: free document to learn facts about cycling.

Be prepared with the right information and keep in mind who you're speaking to.

Know the right facts

There are many effects, on:

• Cars
• Economy
• Health
• Environment
• Justice
• Quality of life

Effects on cars

People believe that removing driving lane increases traffic. Not true if rebalance with new modes of transportation.

Biggest weapon is change mode share.

We need to move people from cars to other forms of transportation.

Effects on Economy

People are afraid of change. Status quo is very powerful.

Research shows that business owners don't really know how their clients are coming to the store.

In Dublin center a research showed that merchant percieve a greater percentage of costumers arriving by car as compared to other modes of transportations.

On top of this, cycling has a lot of positive benefits on society.

In 2011 study in ???, showed that cyclists saved the city a lot of money on health.

Effects on Environment

Designing a city is giving people the option of choosing other modes of transportation.

Effects on Justice

In the US, people that are actually cycling, are the poorest ones.

Price per year of owining a car vs owning a bike:

Effects on Quality of life

Notice how much people do NOT experience delays when biking. Also it's cheaper.

Personal vs societal gains

Finally, you should distinguish between personal gains and gains for society as a whole. In order to be effective, you should know what facts are relevant to the person you are speaking with. Policymakers may be interested in societal benefits: the big picture. A resident might want to know what cycling means for themself in their daily life.