Cycling in Japan

[Luke Briner]

I visited Japan last year and was extremely impressed with their transport policy. One of the main things that strikes you is that everyone cycles. There are reasons it happens there and some of these could be used to encourage more cycling here.

Cyclist are treated like kings. You can cycle anywhere and mostly this is on pavements, even the narrow sort that we have in England. You are even allowed to cycle inside shopping arcades so none of this second-class road user experience (like Martin's photo telling cyclists to give way to cars) and no obstructions to your cycling journey. Cyclists and pedestrians simply co-exist so you do not have to fight with automobiles all the time and you don't incur the anger from pedestrians who somehow expect the pavement to themselves. Also in Japan, space is very limited (like the UK really) so in many areas you are not allowed to park on the road. This means most people cannot own a car even if they can afford one unless they pay extra for private parking facilities. This means you see businessmen in suits with brief-cases cycling, something that is sadly still considered working class or eccentric in this country.

I guess the bottom line as in all of these ideas is the need for willingness from the powers-that-be. It seems that we cannot commit wholesale to e.g. the need for extensive cycling networks and I'm never sure if this is because people don't understand the need, they claim lack of money or there are now so many people in charge, you would need 100 people to sign off even on the simplest schemes. I still think it is mostly a lack of willingness.

[Martin Cassini]

I defend our freedom to choose how we get about, and sometimes, often, the car is unbeatable, e.g. if it's raining, or you have multiple journeys or stuff and people to carry, so road space should not be rationed unfairly. I tend to think a culture of equality and roads designed for equal sharing could avoid the "need" for unreasonable restriction, regulation and coercion. Certainly I think the "stick" should be a last resort, and we should make better use of the carrot. I heard that Japan has air-conditioned buses with delightful attendants.