TDM as a New-Ish Parent
A year and half ago, my partner and I had our first child. As cliche as it is, becoming a new parent does shift your perspective on things and as I’m emerging from the sleep-deprived fog of the initial months of parenthood, it’s more clear than ever the importance that TDM work has on our communities. In no particular order, here are some observations I’ve made:
Complete Streets and connections between neighborhoods are key.
As I think about the childhood I want my son to have, I want him to feel enabled to roam and explore like I did as a kid. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and despite my childhood home having a Walk Score of 3/100, my childhood is filled with memories of biking to school, walking to the convenience store to get a can of Surge and a Twix Bar, and playing a game we called “bike tag” during the long summer afternoons. This was all made possible because there were sidewalks everywhere in my hometown- something that isn’t always true. It was recently revealed that up to 27% of the city of Seattle lacks sidewalks. If you can’t safely walk to the bus stop, the coffee shop, or the grocery store, you’re probably going to drive - making our jobs a lot more difficult.
Kids love bikes - Infrastructure doesn’t love kids.
Few things make me happier than knowing that my son’s favorite way to travel around town is to be loaded on the back of our cargo bike. We go to parks, play dates, and friend’s houses on the bike - all of which is possible because the city I live in has a decent trail system. Unfortunately, things get trickier when we start linking together a few stops on our way home. It’s stressful knowing that roads with paint-only bike lanes have a 35 MPH speed limit. I’ve worried about somebody vandalizing my bike when I have to take up a stall in the parking lot because the bike rack is full, or there isn’t one to begin with. I’ve asked myself while riding “when will I allow my son to ride on this road?” and, unfortunately, since many of these bike paths are not designed with new riders in mind, it will be a while before he can experience the freedom I got. As TDM professionals we need to keep all users in mind. Not just commuters, not just experienced users. All users.
TDM Matters - Even to Normal Folks.
I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with strangers who see our cargo bike at the grocery store saying how they wish they could bike to run errands. These folks don’t know me, and don’t know the work that I do but feel compelled to share their transportation frustrations with me. Transportation Demand Management matters to these people, even if they don’t know what it is. Cargo bikes have the potential to be revolutionary in how Americans travel and reduce their carbon impacts. This will, in turn, slow and diminish the impacts of climate change for generations to come. We need to work (and work quickly) toward our goals to reduce single occupant vehicles on the roads.
Bonus: Vehicles are getting too darn big! This is beyond the scope of traditional TDM, but impacts all of our work. Trucks and SUVs today are as big as WWII era tanks! Their site lines are terrible and they’re actually causing congestion. The bloated size of modern vehicles impacts the work we do and I would encourage everyone to think about how we can encourage car makers to return to reasonable sized vehicles.
I realize none of these observations are new or revolutionary, but they highlight how the work we do matters. With an all-hands-on-deck approach we can make meaningful and impactful changes in our communities that can make foundational changes to the life of future generations. I find that inspiring, and I hope you might too.
Billy Duss, TDM-CP
Customer Success Manager
TripShot