1 In brief More JHB GDS 2040 Green Transport 1 Bicycles: a vehicle for job creation? Gail Jennings...

1In brief

JHB GDS 2040 Green Transport

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Bicycles: a vehicle for job creation?

Gail JenningsMOBILITYgail@mobilitymagazine.co.zawww.mobilitymagazine.co.za

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• Less than 1% of people in cities ride as transport

• A sporting culture

• Minimal infrastructure

• Minimal bicycle touring

• High cost of bicycles

• Marginal commuter culture

• No bike share / minimal rental

• No manufacture / some assembly

SA’s bicycle context

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• 15 million functional bicycles in existence

• Sales approx 300 000 a year• Enormous variety of types • Sport related (mainly road

bicycles) 20%• Leisure/touring/recreation

(mountain bikes mainly) 35% • Work/transport of goods 10%• Commuting adults 10% • Children 25%

Bicycle ownership SA

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• Manufacturing

• Assembly

• Touring / events

• Infrastructure / path building

• Maintenance

• Rental / bike share

• Poverty alleviation (reduced cost of transport)

Areas of opportunity

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• Baltimore

• Barcelona

• Portland

• Maine

• Wisconsin

• Colorado

• New UK study (Gross Bicycle Product) – London School of Economics

International studies

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 Estimating the employment impacts of pedestrian, bicycle and road infrastructure•Pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure projects create 11-14 jobs per USD 1 million of spending, while road infrastructure projects create approximately 7 jobs per USD 1 million of spending•Industries that benefit from on-street bike lanes: construction; architectural, engineering and related services; employment services; food services; real estate, services to buildings and dwellings; wholesale trade businesses, management scientific and technical consulting services; accounting, tax preparation, book keeping and payroll services; legal services

Baltimore

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 The Economic Benefits of Bicycling: tourism and events

US Cities

Location Number of jobs

Wisconsin 2 400 (direct)

Colorado 2519 (direct)

City of Portland 600-800 (direct)

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• Creation of demand: Cycle to Work Scheme has resulted in over 400 000 people to date using tax incentive to ‘buy’ a bike

• Touring: 12 600 miles of the National Cycle Network in the UK – 1 700 Cycle Network jobs are estimated to be supported by cycling infrastructure (build and maintenance)

UK

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• 3.7m bikes sold in 2010

• 208 million cycle journeys made in 2010-1

• Net addition of 1.3m new cyclists in 2010 • 200 000 people took part in events across

the UK in 2010

• 22 000 people daily, sharing 5 000 hire bikes through the Barclays Cycle Hire in London

UK - 2

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• In 2010, gross cycling product (GCP) reached £230 per cyclist, per year

• If this growth trend continues, 1m additional cyclists could contribute £141m to the UK economy by 2013 while reducing absenteeism and improving the health

• 23 000 employed directly in cycling economy, generating over £500m in wages and £100m in taxes

• Cycling accessories = £853m a year

UK - 3

Cycling EmploymentSummary 2010

Employment

Sales 20 000

Manufacturing

900

Infrastructure 2 515

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South Africa

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• Demand in SA? Estimate 50 000 a year market to make manufacturing viable

• Shova Kalula: 72 000 of the proposed million bicycles delivered to date (over 10 year period)

• Three bicycle manufacturing plants be established in Gauteng, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (four-staged approach, by year 4, 100% local)

• Cost of local manufacture cannot compete with imports (China) but importation does not contribute towards local economic development?

• But increased USE of bicycles could…

Manufacturing

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• Two assembly plants in SA (Cape Town and PMB– Qhubeka)

• Import CKD from China

• 200 fulltime assemblers and admin staff

• 3 500 ‘treepreneurs’ (100 trees for a bike) and 1 000 waste-preneurs (1 500 kg for a bike)

• 3-person team assembles 20 bikes a week

Assembly

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• Increase in the number of visitors to an area that increases the likelihood of money being spent

• Attract people to visit a region or induce them to stay longer

• Money on food, accommodation, services, souvenirs, etc

• ‘Argus’ Cycle Tour 400 mil ZAR impact for the week

• Social development in the area (eg Sani2C, Imana Wild ride)

Trails, tours,events

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• 700 km of footpaths (and bicycle) in Table Mountain National Park

• Used poverty alleviation funding

• Includes alien clearing

• 100 jobs over 4-5 years paths

• 1 000 jobs a year clearing

• Learn basics of path building

Trail building

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• No current accredited bicycle maintenance training

• No current industry recognised certification process or programme

• Establish outcomes and work with relevant SETA to develop programme

Maintenance

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• Low-tech

• About job-creation

• Helmets

• Indemnities

• Private owned

• High-tech

• No indemnities

• Credit card

• Pre-register

• About 2000 US per bike to implement

Rentals and bike share

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A bicycle rental at one of Cape Town’s premier tourist destinations, the V&A

Waterfront, was renting out one bicycle day, but needs to rent at least six a day to break

even. ‘Not a single local has rented a bicycle.’

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Cheaper options are disadvantaged by their excessive paperwork, the manual recording of customer information, the signing of indemnities, and the slow interface required between customer and attendant.

This means that bike share isn’t the ‘personal rapid transit’ that makes it attractive elsewhere.’

Eric Britton, of the World City Bike Forum

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• Informal bicycle share/rental

• Pedi-cabs

• Maintenance and sales of refurbished bicycles

• Bicycle taxis and ambulances

• Health-care workers

Micro-enterprise

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• Reduced cost of travel

• Increased ability to access employment and services

• Travel further in order to find employment

• Access to education and goods

• Independence and flexibility

Poverty alleviation

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• What do we know?• Not much; paucity of research both in South

Africa and elsewhere• We know what has worked elsewhere, and it

might not work here• But we do know that increased use of bicycles

WILL lead to local economic development, poverty alleviation and job creation, no matter the scale

• Create the demand, facilitate the opportunities, promote bicycle transport and bicycle travel…

Concluding thoughts

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Thank you for your time and interest.