Transcript exported from the video version of this episode - Note that it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:02 - 00:00:22:03
Speaker 1
For all of us. We have a role to play in how we live our lives and how we spend our money in where we work. And everything has an impact. And I think the biggest message I have is all of us look at what's going on around us. Don't ignore it and just stop for a minute and think before you act.

00:00:22:10 - 00:00:42:11
Speaker 1
And if all of us do that, particularly us in the Western world, because we are the ones that are responsible, if we stop for a moment, just think about what we're doing and the consequences of the actions we take. We can get this wrapped up in ten years and find ourselves back on the right path to sustainable coexistence on planet Earth.

00:00:42:14 - 00:01:04:19
Speaker 2
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Active Towns Channel. I'm John Simmerman and that was Will Butler Adams with Brompton and he I'm going to talk a little bit about the magical, fabulous folding bike, the Brompton, which many of you know I do ride and it's not really about the bike, though. It really is about what a bicycle can be for us.

00:01:04:21 - 00:01:27:05
Speaker 2
And I'm super, super excited to share this with you on this. The 200th episode of the Active Towns podcast. Thank you all so much for tuning in a week after week for the podcast. I will be taking a little bit of break in the month of August. I'll be back probably towards the end of the month, beginning of September, to bring us right back into the swing of things.

00:01:27:07 - 00:01:38:23
Speaker 2
But until then, let's get right to it with Will. Will, Thank you so much for joining into the Active Towns podcast.

00:01:38:25 - 00:01:40:08
Speaker 1
My pleasure.

00:01:40:10 - 00:01:45:23
Speaker 2
Will I love having my guests to say a few words about themselves. So who as well?

00:01:45:25 - 00:02:08:02
Speaker 1
So I'm the CEO of a company called Brompton. We make little folding bikes in London. I've been there for 21 years, but in fact, the bike was invented by a guy called Andrew Ritchie in 1975. We just celebrated making our millionth bike there in cities all over the world. And a lot of those are in the US.

00:02:08:05 - 00:02:22:08
Speaker 2
Fantastic. That's great. Now, millionth bike. That's right. And you guys have been on a little bit of a tear with with the millionth bike to talk a little bit more about why that was so special and what you all did.

00:02:22:10 - 00:02:46:06
Speaker 1
So I think for some reason, maybe 5060 depends where you are in the world. Years ago, the bicycle pushed aside. People decided that a bicycle wasn't cool, and what we all really needed was a great big square metal box. It happened to stick out fumes, but we weren't really aware of that at the time. And the bike industry therefore shifted too into recreation.

00:02:46:06 - 00:03:13:06
Speaker 1
It's about road cycling, it's about BMX, it's about mountain biking. But the world of lifestyle, urban living, cycling, just as a as a means of getting around and making your life better. That seemed to disappear, but against the odds. Andrew In 1975, when everyone else was rushing off to bounce down, mountains, decided to get involved in trying to create something that brought a bit of freedom and fun to cities.

00:03:13:08 - 00:03:41:27
Speaker 1
He was way before his time. It took him forever to get off the ground. He was laughed at and ridiculed, but bit by bit, the relevance of the little products he created is becoming more respected and enjoyed all over the world. So for us now, where we're facing fighting climate change, where we have problems with obesity and mental health in our cities across the world, people are suddenly remembering the little humble bicycle actually is pretty cool.

00:03:41:29 - 00:03:56:18
Speaker 1
The most efficient mode of transport ever invented that we all forgot about. And we've been busy trying to shape that tin for the last 47 years and our time is coming finally.

00:03:56:20 - 00:04:09:01
Speaker 2
Right? Yeah. Yeah, I hear you. And it looks like on this little gift that this kind of toggling through we have what I am assuming is the original version and then what it sort of evolved into.

00:04:09:04 - 00:04:41:18
Speaker 1
Yeah, and like all great design, the design is the same. I mean it sort of looks the same, but there is an incredible amount of engineering thought cutting edge technology, manufacturing engineering that has gone into refining and optimizing that design to deliver something that really, really is an outstanding piece of kit. And that would last, you know, three years like most people's phones that they have in their pocket, but 30 years and will become a part of your life.

00:04:41:20 - 00:04:51:16
Speaker 2
Yeah. Now, so you have been with the firm for quite some time, as you had mentioned. What brought you to Brompton in the first place?

00:04:51:19 - 00:05:14:03
Speaker 1
Well, funnily enough, I was I did engineering at uni and ended up working for an American company, DuPont, up in the north of the UK. I've always been slightly Greenie at heart and my feeling was if I was going to do engineering, I could get stuck into the dirt and the guts of engineering and do positive things from the inside out.

00:05:14:05 - 00:05:36:12
Speaker 1
Right, Right. I did that for six years and then I thought I was going to go into an MBA potentially in Kellogg. Funnily enough, I was studying for my Met and life is full of weird coincidences. But I was visiting London because I lived up north, sat in a bus, got chatting to this guy. He started talking to me about this friend of his that invented a bicycle and the rest is history.

00:05:36:18 - 00:06:00:14
Speaker 1
I didn't just ignore him. I heard a little spot went up in my mind. I thought, Hey, why not just meet this guy? And I went to London, met him, and then funnily enough, I thought I'd be there for a couple of years and that was 21 years ago. But despite got under my skin and what it can do and what I've seen it do to societies is so alluring and exciting.

00:06:00:14 - 00:06:02:06
Speaker 1
It's nearly addictive.

00:06:02:09 - 00:06:25:24
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And if we pop on over to the main landing page here for the website, we can kind of take a look and get a sense as to too, what we're talking about here. It is a a pint sized bike and, and I have a Brompton as well, and I've had one for over a decade and it is my go to travel bike and I happen to be traveling right now.

00:06:25:24 - 00:06:42:20
Speaker 2
I'm in Colorado. I'm not in my hometown of Austin, Texas. And so I'm on the road in, you know, when people stop and ask me, they say, well, this is this is cool. What is this? And it looks like it falls. And I say, yes. And I said, This is my travel bike. It literally goes with me wherever I go.

00:06:42:23 - 00:06:56:02
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it's just one of those I think it's such an empowering thing to be able to travel somewhere and know that you have a mode of transportation right there at your fingertips.

00:06:56:05 - 00:07:12:04
Speaker 1
And it's it's what is quite challenging for us and has been you've got it. You've had your bike ten years. But the Brompton is counter-intuitive. It doesn't tell you what it is in some respects. It tells you everything it is and you look at it go, Well, it's got those small wheels. I mean, how is that going to work?

00:07:12:04 - 00:07:31:00
Speaker 1
You're going to have to pedal really hard and then then, well, it folds up. But does that mean it's going to collapse on me? Oh, yeah. And it cost 1500 bucks. What? You know, for that. But it's an incredible piece of engineering. You've had yours ten years, you've got another 20 to go at least, and it delivers value.

00:07:31:07 - 00:07:53:18
Speaker 1
And somehow we're living in a world where we need to buy less stuff. We need to consume less stuff, and the stuff we consume needs to be better, last longer, be repairable. And that's always been our philosophy about trying to make something that really adds value. Because half the stuff we buy, that's being generous, more than half the stuff we buy is oversold.

00:07:53:23 - 00:08:02:09
Speaker 1
We probably never even needed it, and it's cluttering up our homes and we're not going to co-exist on planet Earth if we're just buying more stuff. We never need it.

00:08:02:12 - 00:08:21:23
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I'm glad you mention that because that that's actually something that you highlight on your on your channel, on your your website here. And you go in, if you click on the activism button in here, takes you to this page and we talk a little bit about just what you just said. We need to be buying less stuff, period.

00:08:21:24 - 00:08:38:25
Speaker 2
And in general. And so this really talks dives into and talks about the science, but also talks about sustainability as a commitment that the organization has to say a few words as to what this means to you and to to Brompton as an organization.

00:08:38:28 - 00:09:07:27
Speaker 1
Well, today is the 17th of July 2023. And if you go on to any news channel anywhere in the world today, all you get is extraordinary turmoil due to climate change. I mean, it's flooding in Korea. There are insane records being beat all over the U.S. Millions of people being affected all across Europe. They've got record temperatures. You know, only ten years ago, this was theory.

00:09:08:00 - 00:09:28:09
Speaker 1
We were we were sort of talking about like it might happen. There is no theory now. It's right between the eyes and it's facing us. And we don't need to give up on having fun. We don't need to have some radical change of co-existence on planet Earth and all sort of, you know, go back to living in mud huts and and having hessian underpants.

00:09:28:12 - 00:09:47:11
Speaker 1
What we need to do is just shift how we live a little bit, be a bit more thoughtful, consume a little bit less meat. But the meat that we do consume is really good, really well looked after and delicious. Think about how we travel. I mean, if I were to go to Japan for business, I'm not going to get there on my bike.

00:09:47:18 - 00:10:08:19
Speaker 1
It's going to take me way too long. But but at the same time, we've got cities where the average distance people are traveling is less than five miles. And everybody's sitting there in a in a secluded, you know, suburban, and that is completely and utterly insane. So if we can just be a bit sensible, we can we can do it, we can have a laugh.

00:10:08:19 - 00:10:22:04
Speaker 1
We can live on this amazing planet, we can have fun, we can do silly things, we can spoil ourselves. But we have to shift how we live slightly and be a bit thoughtful about consumption in every regard.

00:10:22:06 - 00:10:37:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, and this part of the page goes into that. That concept of an industry wide approach. Talk a little bit about that and what you all are trying to do, you know, as a part of the industry in the cycling industry.

00:10:37:03 - 00:11:04:05
Speaker 1
Well, I mean, in some respects one of the problems with the cycling industry is, is it is a naturally sustainable green good for you. Motor transport. And that slightly made us think, oh well, we're already goody two shoes. So you know, we're the bike now with no one can touch us. We're perfect. But you look under the cover and you look at the supply chain and you look at waste and you look at logistics and you look at packaging.

00:11:04:08 - 00:11:34:25
Speaker 1
There is so much for us to do, and I think we have to work together and we should be right at the forefront. We shouldn't be stepping back because we're the bicycle. Because we're the bicycle, we should be absolutely at the front of trying our best, not pretending we're perfect because we're not. But getting together and working together on a journey of influencing the supply chain, educating the supply chain.

00:11:34:27 - 00:12:07:16
Speaker 1
Because the reality is, if you think what we're facing globally today, what's it to be like in ten years? In 20 years, it's going to be even more intense and the person who decides whether I or our business succeed or fail is the humble consumer on where when they're seeing their community being affected by floods, by extraordinary heat, they are going to care about where they spend their money, they're going to care about what they buy and who is the company to find it and who is the company behind the company behind it.

00:12:07:18 - 00:12:21:04
Speaker 1
And they're not going to spend their money with organizations that don't care about planet Earth. So if you're an organization and you're not thinking about that now, it's nearly too late. You've got to get on the front foot because otherwise you won't be in business.

00:12:21:07 - 00:12:43:22
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah. And I encourage everybody to dig a little bit deeper into into this particular page on on the website here all be sure to have links in the show notes for the podcast episode as well as on the in the video description below. And, and by the way, this is going to be episode 200 of the Wow podcast.

00:12:43:24 - 00:12:44:22
Speaker 1
So what a.

00:12:44:22 - 00:13:09:13
Speaker 2
Celebration. Yeah, exactly. Episode 200 and and then we'll be taking a little bit of a break in the month of August. So this is actually you had mentioned it is July 17th today, 2023. This is going to be going live on Friday, July 28th, I believe is the date. And in that they don't be taking a break from the podcast for a little bit just to take a deep breath.

00:13:09:13 - 00:13:44:02
Speaker 2
Yes, absolutely. The thing that I really wanted to get to, though, is the fact that, you know, yes, we have this this major challenge ahead of us and we have to move with a sense of urgency. And I see where, you know, the Brompton Bicycle plays a critical role in in being part of the solution because of how it helps empower people to be able to, you know, think of transportation and be able to think of things differently.

00:13:44:05 - 00:14:10:19
Speaker 2
And, you know, in having that ability to make cities work a little bit better and make mobility and transportation work a little bit better. And we know that pretty much through throughout the globe, transportation accounts for about 40% of of our, you know, global greenhouse gases. But ultimately, it's it's got to be about the built environment of the cities that we're in.

00:14:10:22 - 00:14:35:25
Speaker 2
If we're going to be able to really encourage people to ride more often. And that's one of the things that I talk about on the Active Towns podcast a lot, is the fact that we we need to help our cities. We meaning the communities that our communities need to speak up and step up and I'm sure industry has a very big part, a role to play in this as well, encouraging our cities to transform.

00:14:36:00 - 00:14:54:02
Speaker 2
Talk a little bit about that from a personal perspective as well as from an official Brampton perspective in terms of trying to help move cities along because we've got a status quo of car centric design that we have to reverse, and that's going to be difficult to do.

00:14:54:05 - 00:15:23:04
Speaker 1
So I mean, I've been, as I said earlier, in a world where my life is around urban living, of which the the Brompton plays an important part, and I've cycled through Bangkok, through Chengdu, through through, you know, L.A., through Paris, you name it. I've been there in the last 20 or so years. And all I'm obsessed about is that urban dynamic and not just the people that live in the city, but the people who live outside, but then visit the city to do that business.

00:15:23:07 - 00:15:45:26
Speaker 1
So and of course, there is a a feeling sometimes of, well, you know, what are we doing? We've got to wait for the we've got to wait for the politicians. We've got to wait for the bike lanes. Nothing can happen until that's all in place. And the world isn't like that. The world is messy. It's there is friction.

00:15:45:28 - 00:16:11:00
Speaker 1
There are, you know, earlier adopters, there are pioneers. And interestingly, I think every city in the world in the next 20 or so years will end up in more or less the same place, which is a bit akin to the the Berlin, the Copenhagen, the Hamburg, even Paris is moving in that direction. And we're on this S-curve where initially the progress feels very slow.

00:16:11:02 - 00:16:41:23
Speaker 1
Then you hit a critical mass where the infrastructure and the number of people cycling becomes sufficient that all this the the naysayers cannot carry on saying no because the evidence becomes too great. The people driving cars become used to cyclists. Therefore are looking for them, that they're aware of them, that just naturally driving in a different way. Then you hit this tremendous growth curve and then depending on the city, depending on the culture, you'll top out at somewhere between 15, 25, 30% cycling.

00:16:41:25 - 00:17:03:22
Speaker 1
And that's the journey we're all on, exactly how we do it and exactly where we are on the curve is different. Austin, Texas versus L.A. versus New York. You know, Austin is in front, but but different cities are going about it in different ways. But we have to have urgency. We cannot wait for others, least of all politicians.

00:17:03:29 - 00:17:30:29
Speaker 1
They are too short term, too weak. It's just too cold. We those that care need to get out there. We have just come through a tragedy of COVID. But out of that tragedy came this in light Hammond of what cities could be if we design around the human being, if we gave up space, not just the cars that are moving, but cars that are cluttering cities and stopping families and communities having more space for their own living.

00:17:31:01 - 00:17:47:18
Speaker 1
And so it's a universal movement and it needs to be led by the community itself in every way. But don't take an excuse to wait because we've just got to take that first step. And every one of us have an impact.

00:17:47:20 - 00:18:19:29
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I appreciate that. You know, we all individually have a role to play in making that decision to be able to do it. It is incredibly important, though, to to to understand that for, you know, confident riders, especially men, you know, we've been riding we've you know, I've been I've been riding, you know, in this realm for utilitarian purposes, for, you know, a couple of decades easily.

00:18:20:01 - 00:18:49:26
Speaker 2
And it's different though for the interested yet concerned of the people who it safety is huge. You mentioned Paris. Paris is a very good example in the sense that mayor held go back in 2015 made a statement just before the very first car free day that she put forth in September of 2015 and said, you know, we've got a problem when we can't even see the Eiffel Tower through the smog.

00:18:49:26 - 00:19:14:29
Speaker 2
We've got a problem when we've got cars choking and killing the city that, you know, is so beloved. And, you know, she has been, you know, very, very forthright in showing good leadership in fact, I even point to her and say, you know, this is it is a different situation in every location and in. You can't make, you know, 1 to 1 comparisons.

00:19:14:29 - 00:19:32:01
Speaker 2
You know, the Austin city government structure is such that, you know, the mayor can't just say this is what we're going to do. So it's very, very unique in the sense that, you know, she's a strong mayor in a strong mayor system. She can make bold declarations, she can make big, bold moves and she can run on that platform.

00:19:32:01 - 00:19:34:04
Speaker 2
And she got reelected. You know.

00:19:34:08 - 00:19:35:25
Speaker 1
That is the million dollar.

00:19:35:27 - 00:20:02:22
Speaker 2
Exactly. Exactly. And so this is this is, you know, some some photos that I shot from just this past November when I was in in Paris to compare to the 2015. And you're just seeing amazing transformations that are taking place and what I see happening is you're seeing the women writing in the kids writing and the elderly writing.

00:20:02:27 - 00:20:11:14
Speaker 2
And these are all indicators, species, to me, that we're finally starting to get to that ability to have a tipping point, like you said, correct.

00:20:11:22 - 00:20:36:25
Speaker 1
It's just coming. And, you know, we've been through the same thing in London. It's taken us a bit longer. And it started before Boris, in fact, with Ken, who really got going with cycling. Then Boris came in and it's literally it's carried on and accelerated through COVID. The thing to remember though, is the actual facts. Facts are in cities.

00:20:36:27 - 00:20:40:10
Speaker 1
The majority of people do not own a car.

00:20:40:13 - 00:20:41:13
Speaker 2
Right?

00:20:41:15 - 00:21:14:28
Speaker 1
Yet they their family, their relations, their friends are having their lives effective in a negative way due to other people taking something into their living space and making their life worse. Right. So. Right. And that is a black and white fact. So if we start with that, then and this is where the point you made about and Hidalgo in Paris being reelected, what other politicians around the world are realizing is the voter, which quite frankly, that's all politicians care about.

00:21:15:00 - 00:21:15:19
Speaker 2
Exactly.

00:21:15:23 - 00:21:48:22
Speaker 1
Yeah. Actually wants what they're being given in Paris, what they're being given in London, where they can take their children to school, where they see that the air pollution is better than it was ten years ago, which was giving children asthma. And they are well-educated, more so now than ever before, and they are voting. So actually, the smart politician is now including this, this this some policy in their plans and they're succeeding and they are learning from what's happened in London, learning from what's happened in Paris, seeing these people reelected.

00:21:48:28 - 00:22:02:28
Speaker 1
And I think that's what's so exciting. It's finally giving the politicians the confidence to include difficult. Yes, there will always be a vocal minority, Right. But giving them the confidence to take these key steps for better living in our cities.

00:22:03:01 - 00:22:38:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I love this this particular photo to mainly because it also exemplifies the fact that you think Michael Lane is inclusion. Yes, absolutely. And I think this is something that is hopeful for us to lean into in understand a little bit more because especially in North America, one of the most vocal groups to oppose bike lanes going into their neighborhoods or the disabled as well as the elderly, because they don't see it as being something that is for them.

00:22:38:04 - 00:23:01:03
Speaker 2
And so I think it's incredibly important to have imagery and have and and bring this along to say, well, if we do build it properly on all ages and abilities type of of structure, where when there are motor vehicles, they're traveling at very, very low speeds, then it is empowering for everyone of all ages and abilities.

00:23:01:06 - 00:23:30:26
Speaker 1
And I think we need to also remember two other things. One, the the complete transformation of cycling as an inclusive activity with the addition of the pedal assist, suddenly that is bringing people who were a bit intimidated by the distance or by the hills and suddenly they're back on that bike. But also it's not just about bike lanes, it's about designing a city around the people that live in them, you know?

00:23:30:27 - 00:23:57:13
Speaker 1
And Hidalgo, we're using her a lot, but in a she's taken out 70,000 car parking spaces, basically real estate in a city which is being taken up by Metal Box, adding zero value to the community. You take that out. That doesn't mean it's just going to become a bike lane. That could be a bigger sidewalk, that could be space to to, to, to eat outside and enjoy your city rather than to be pushed inside when it's a nice evening.

00:23:57:19 - 00:24:29:07
Speaker 1
So this is about a philosophy vehicle concept, which is how do we give back to the community. And if we keep the car out, which is not the right tool for those five seven mile journeys, which now with an electric assist is entirely doable. If you take those journeys out for the majority and you free up that space, there's plenty of room to add value to the elderly lifestyle, to the disabled, lifestyle, to the entire community.

00:24:29:14 - 00:24:37:18
Speaker 1
There, wellbeing. And I think that's what it's not a singular thing. It's a step back and design your city around the community in it.

00:24:37:20 - 00:25:20:27
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I really appreciate the fact that earlier you emphasized the fact that doing this, although we need to move forward with a sense of urgency, this is an important thing to do. It's still it's still fun. It can be. I mean, that's the inherent thing of riding a bike and you can bring your friends along, your precious cargo here and so, I mean, that is one of the things that I think is is just magical about creating cities for people, encouraging active mobility, getting out, getting more people on bikes is it can be good for our health, it can be good for the health of the economy, of the of the city.

00:25:20:29 - 00:25:26:25
Speaker 2
It can be good for the health of the planet. Oh, and yeah, but by the way, it's also fun.

00:25:26:27 - 00:25:47:23
Speaker 1
Yeah. And also it saves you money. Exactly. Let's not forget that. There you go. Boom. That too. I mean, come on. And the funny thing is, it's something about, you know, when COVID came, people there was just a little sense of community came back and people, they were loud out from there, from where they lived, they congregated on the streets.

00:25:48:00 - 00:26:05:09
Speaker 1
There was a bit of chat again when you were on a bike. And it's not even the same as walking because walking you're sort of in a bit of a rush. But when you're on a bike, you're you're slightly vulnerable. You are in the open. And when you hit the traffic lights, it's amazing how you start talking to people.

00:26:05:12 - 00:26:29:13
Speaker 1
You know, there's a moment at the traffic lights where you chat to somebody, particularly if you've seen them, you know, three or four times in the car. That just doesn't happen somehow in the subway, it doesn't happen, but on a bike it supports this community engagement and just feeling human. And that's what we need in our cities. And we've encouraged over the last 50, 60 years, told everyone to go to the city.

00:26:29:15 - 00:26:36:02
Speaker 1
And yet the city is the least healthy place to live. That's got to change. It does not need to be that way.

00:26:36:05 - 00:26:56:08
Speaker 2
Yeah, Yeah. Well, it's in some ways it's the least healthy place to live. But we do know from an actuarial perspective, from a public health perspective, that when we do have a city that is a walkable city and is increasingly a bikeable city, and I'm yes, I'm thinking of places like Amsterdam and Utrecht.

00:26:56:10 - 00:26:57:08
Speaker 1
Absolutely.

00:26:57:11 - 00:27:04:29
Speaker 2
We know that it's actually just the opposite is the healthiest of places means it less space should be. Yeah because it's it's.

00:27:04:29 - 00:27:25:18
Speaker 1
Rich in diversity. Rich in culture, rich in activity and community. I mean, let's face it, we are the sort of apex animal on planet Earth, surely, where most of us live should be the coolest, best, healthiest place to live. That's surely what we should be doing, and we need to aspire to that.

00:27:25:21 - 00:28:03:15
Speaker 2
Yeah, So I went back to this photo, the activism photo, just because you did bring up parking. And so I wanted to pause on this just as is a wonderful demonstration and activism demonstration here of making that equivalent of one parking space equaled 42 Brompton. Now granted, those were very tightly packed. Brampton's Point It really is, is that yeah, it's pretty darn silly that we, you know, have come to this place where, you know, it's acceptable that private property is is parked out on the curb, you know, in public realm.

00:28:03:17 - 00:28:36:29
Speaker 1
It's hilarious what we did. We did a bit of research. It's like, you know, it's like the drip, drip, drip, the first drip. You don't feel it and then it just becomes the new normal. And no one can see it. And it's right. It's so obvious they can't even see it. It's here. It's conspicuous in plain sight. And what I think we did in the UK, which is just probably something you guys could do in the U.S. and we should be doing what's so magical about real estate in cities.

00:28:36:29 - 00:29:04:01
Speaker 1
You know exactly what it costs. Yes. To go to. We go to the flat that is literally by the the car parking space. You will find out what it cost to rent per square foot, that real estate. Right. And how come we have to rent that real estate when we, the human being, want space, right. But a square metal box which is taking up all space in the public realm is not paying.

00:29:04:07 - 00:29:29:14
Speaker 1
And if it is paying, it's paying basically nothing that is so ludicrously subsidized. And this thing doesn't make the city better. It makes the city worse. And, you know, we are we are not lobbying, but we're putting pressure on government to say because in the in London, you do pay, but you like pay the equivalent of about 100 bucks a year for something if that was a flat, would cost you like 5000 bucks.

00:29:29:17 - 00:29:48:01
Speaker 1
Right. That is unacceptable. It's the public realm. If someone really wants a car charge of 5000 bucks and let's use that money to invest in cycle lanes, to invest in our schools, to invest in supporting the community, but don't subsidize something that is bad for the community.

00:29:48:04 - 00:30:16:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And astute followers of the of the podcast here will know that yes, I have had the opportunity to to interview Donald Shoup, who wrote the fabulous book The High Cost of Free Parking. So I do want to encourage everybody to go back. It's all the way back to season one, episode 43, where I had the Snoop Dogg on and he's just really absolute joy and and pleasure.

00:30:16:21 - 00:30:42:07
Speaker 2
And yes, his views, he is completely brilliant. And it's it's a wonderful conversation because it really hit challenges that that that paradigm as you mentioned, the drip, drip, drip it just kind of snuck in on us. And then we once once we once we feel like this is what is acceptable. Then when it's taken away from us, we revolt.

00:30:42:09 - 00:30:47:20
Speaker 2
And so, yes, it's something we have to deal with and work our way through. So yeah.

00:30:47:23 - 00:31:19:03
Speaker 1
And it's the sad truth of the human race. I mean, we look at someone like Easter Island and basically human beings in a microcosm managed to completely do themselves into extinction. On a little island, you chop down all the trees and they had nothing they couldn't say to way there were no trees to build boats. I mean, this game over and you know, we're not the best at seeing something coming down the track because we're so busy, you know, worrying about ourselves and where we are in 5 minutes time.

00:31:19:05 - 00:31:41:19
Speaker 1
And, you know, this is the moment and we are getting the warning signs. And the great thing is the solution so exists. And that's why for me, in every sort of opportunity I have to communicate about this, we are in control. We have a vote, not only a vote for the politicians, but a vote with what we spend our money on.

00:31:41:22 - 00:32:03:00
Speaker 1
That is so powerful and we don't have to go radical. You just have to be sensible and think about what you want for yourself, your friends, your family and generations to come. And if you take a moment of reflection, you go, This is nuts. And that's another route. And it's a delight.

00:32:03:02 - 00:32:24:25
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I scroll to this photo because I wanted to also pause on something you had mentioned recently, is that we have just, you know, come through the other side of a pandemic and especially during lockdown. One of the things that we really leaned into was was starting to recognize and appreciate our nurses and our medical staff.

00:32:24:28 - 00:32:40:09
Speaker 2
And so I wanted to to talk with you a little bit about what's what's happening here and then pivot over to the Brompton for hire, you know, concept. So talk a little bit about this and then we'll pop over to that website.

00:32:40:12 - 00:33:11:12
Speaker 1
So we managed to keep making bikes throughout lockdown. We didn't stop for a single day. It was turmoil. It was challenging, It was so extraordinary. But by hook or by crook, we got through it. That was a privilege. We were allowed to continue and it stopped our business going bust. But we felt we as a company, there was this real sense of what can we do?

00:33:11:14 - 00:33:28:13
Speaker 1
How can we help in some way, shape or form? There was this real desire to try and contribute. And, you know, we did things like, you know, help made visors and help do smocks. But then we thought, what can we do? And we realized there just were no bikes. You couldn't get a bike for a lot of the money.

00:33:28:15 - 00:34:08:27
Speaker 1
And there were stories of doctors, you know, unable to get around and they couldn't get hold of a bike. So we thought, right, we're going to make some bikes. So we set up a basically Kickstarter. We said that we fund half of any. The money raised double it. We did that, we made 750 bikes and we got those out to doctors, nurses, anybody involved in hospitals, the support staff, anyone who wanted it could, could take a bike and use it and use it for one month, two months, three months to get them by until they sort of themselves out with a bike.

00:34:09:00 - 00:34:33:26
Speaker 1
And actually, you know, we're now, you know, over three years, these bikes and these bikes will last for the next ten or 15 years. And they're all out. They're still being used, being lent to communities, to hospitals, to anyone to encourage them to get back on a bike and realize the joy and sometimes we need just a little nudge.

00:34:33:26 - 00:34:51:07
Speaker 1
We need something to give us the confidence. And once you get back on that bike, you know, people say it's like riding a bike. You suddenly remember the freedom and the joy and the simplicity. And you can't believe how quickly a mile or two goes by and you're there and like, Well, I should have been doing this years ago.

00:34:51:13 - 00:35:04:00
Speaker 1
So it was both for the UK, but as much as anything it was for our staff to just to feel like we've done something to contribute because we all thought we needed to do something.

00:35:04:02 - 00:35:18:11
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So I'm going to pop on over now to the Brompton Bike for hire or bike hire. Talk a little bit about this. What's what's going on here? This seems like at first glance, this is sort of like a bike share.

00:35:18:13 - 00:35:44:07
Speaker 1
So we are lucky. We're we're a private company. We're owned by the inventor and his friends. Me and my friends and our staff now own about 20%. We're not having to deliver quarterly returns where our mission is. We create urban freedom for happier lives. That'll be the measure of success. And a million bikes is getting there. So what we're trying to understand is how do we get more people cycling?

00:35:44:07 - 00:36:13:24
Speaker 1
What what's stopping them Now? There are some things like we talked about infrastructure. We can't do a magic wand. We're not going to deliver that overnight. But there are other things, one of which was was people worried about sweating, worried about distances. Hence we've developed electric bike. But another one is just, you know, when we say to somebody, Yeah, and it's 1500 bucks like what, 15, 1500 bucks now come on, I haven't written a bike for 15 years.

00:36:13:29 - 00:36:33:28
Speaker 1
It's got funny little wheels. It folds up. No, no, no. You must be joking. I mean, yeah. Okay, maybe the good. Think about it. Next year. It's not a priority. So what we thought was, how can we make it so, so, so low barrier to entry, so cheap to let someone have the experience. We don't want to sell a bike to someone who doesn't need one.

00:36:34:01 - 00:36:53:10
Speaker 1
I've said earlier, you know, we don't want to buy stuff we don't need, but there are millions of people that if they realized tried it genuinely, not like around the car park, genuinely took it home, took it into their flat, chucked it in the back of the car, took it on the train, went out for a weekend, really used it.

00:36:53:13 - 00:37:14:03
Speaker 1
So we decided and this is 13 years ago, this is before all the bike share and everyone else rolled in and we've been working on it and making our mistakes. Small We didn't go and raise billions of pounds and let our streets with unthought through systems. We did it very small. We made all the mistakes small. 13 years on, we are growing.

00:37:14:06 - 00:37:34:10
Speaker 1
It's been around. It's a national scheme. There are little dogs. It's like a Coca-Cola dispenser, but it's got a Brompton in. You reserve your bike so you know it's waiting for you. You reserve a lock up, it's empty when you put it back and basically you can pick it up, take it home, and it's going to cost you decrement about seven bucks a day.

00:37:34:12 - 00:37:50:02
Speaker 1
And if you want, you can take it for a week and go to Colorado from Austin or you can go off for a long weekend and take it on holiday with you. You can do whatever you like. You don't even need to take it back to the same place you picked it up. You could drop it off of any of the locations in the UK.

00:37:50:07 - 00:38:18:02
Speaker 1
We have it in Scotland, we have it in Wales. We have it in the UK. And it's a really neat system because the bikes are either in the lock up, neat, tidy, secure or when they're with a customer, they're in a customer's flat or in the back of the customer's car. So they're not littering, you know, space. There are very neat Professor Reynolds solution and, and actually we're now beginning to grow it.

00:38:18:02 - 00:38:50:19
Speaker 1
We're looking at a Singapore where we're looking at Germany, France. So we've spent 13 years getting it right in the UK. We're now ready to start rolling it out globally. So we're trying to do is find ways to allow people to have that experience and freedom of cycling. And we haven't made any money out of this. We've lost money, but we've lost money we can afford to lose because it is getting people to experience cycling and they might take one of our bikes and decide they don't need a folding bike.

00:38:50:25 - 00:39:09:14
Speaker 1
I just go and buy secondhand bike. Great. Yeah. You know, our mission doesn't say we have to sell brought. It says we create urban freedom for happier lives. That is when we all look back and we're about o'clock out of planet Earth looking back and thinking we've made it a little teeny weeny bit better. Perfect. That'll do.

00:39:09:16 - 00:39:46:20
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. And in fact, that's kind of your quote here is that. Yeah, it's you know, it's any bike. We know that it's going to be improving the world a means for improving the world. So that's that's a good point. I want to pop over to the the store too. So I had the opportunity to have some emergency repairs on my Brompton last November in is I was there for three weeks staying in Delft and I would be filming as I'm I'm out there, which is one of the things that I do here on the Active Towns channel.

00:39:46:22 - 00:40:10:20
Speaker 2
And I developed a pretty critical squeak which turned out to be I needed to replace the pivot bolt, you know, for the frame. And because it eventually goes, goes, goes bad, you know, you need to replace it. And so I went to one of the Brompton Junction stores and and so that was fantastic. So this is the Brompton Junction Store in in the United States.

00:40:10:20 - 00:40:49:19
Speaker 2
This is in New York, which makes sense because it's, you know, you know, one of those cities like you were just talking about, which is an ideal place for a Brompton in terms of being able to to utilize transit, being able to fold up, take up into small apartments, things of that nature. I find that it works fabulously well, even in suburban context and environments, too, because you know, it again, it just it's so, you know, flexible and you can kind of see too, just in this image just how well they fold up and tucked away.

00:40:49:21 - 00:41:10:25
Speaker 2
It's hardly any space at all. It's just brilliant. So talk a little bit about the stores and in your commitment, because it's sort of a balancing act between your your dealers that are, you know, independently owned dealers as well as your own branded stores. So so talk a little bit about this story, too.

00:41:10:27 - 00:41:35:05
Speaker 1
So if we're going to reimagine cities, cycling needs to become universal. And unfortunately, our industry is not doing that. Our industry is selling to cyclists in New York, cyclists, maybe about 3% of the population in London knocking on doors.

00:41:35:05 - 00:41:45:02
Speaker 2
So pause right there. Okay, So pause right there, because let's let's actually define for the audience when we see the term cyclist in scare quotes.

00:41:45:06 - 00:42:16:17
Speaker 1
Well, let's let's find out you're going to do that. Perfect. So so the industry is selling to cyclists. We Brompton are selling to people who know how to ride a bike. There is a big difference. Cyclists are cycling two or three times a week and they are they're that converted. They know what a bike is, They're confident. And if you're going to set up a business and somebody goes, Ooh, are you going to market to the 3%?

00:42:16:20 - 00:42:34:22
Speaker 1
Or you're going to, let's say, New York people who know how to ride a bike, it's around 90%. So are you going to set up a whole business talking to the 3% or are you going to set up a business, talking to the, you know, 87% of people who know how to ride a bike but are not cycling.

00:42:34:25 - 00:43:00:13
Speaker 1
And that is where the industry has, in my humble opinion, gone wrong. The industry is very middle aged, white male. It is very techie, blokey, jargony. Most people who really are just lifestyle cyclists, they don't even know how many gears. It's toll then it even then. Are you interested in all that stuff? They're interested in how it changes their life.

00:43:00:14 - 00:43:21:02
Speaker 1
The thing itself is just a thing. It just does. It and it brought and what we are engineers, we are actually interested in the bike, but that's not all that's selling to the customer. We're selling how this changes your life, how it brings this freedom, health, happiness, community. The bike just does its job. It just delivers. Let us worry about that.

00:43:21:02 - 00:43:45:01
Speaker 1
You just get on the hop on and go for it. So what we found was we got so frustrated with our industry that it wasn't talking to the site, to the person who's writing it. You can ride a bike but wasn't. So we needed to re redefine that. That retail experience put off bike shops in high footfall, ordinary retail space, not destination.

00:43:45:03 - 00:44:09:25
Speaker 1
A lot of our IP couldn't afford to take that risk, so we took the risk for them. We made the experience clean like a normal retail experience not cluttered. We made it so that oh my gosh, half the people on the shop floor are women for starters, and their diverse and they're talking to the community that the shop is in, in the city, reflecting that community.

00:44:09:27 - 00:44:34:09
Speaker 1
And you know, you're not going to make much progress in your images, in your store. The people who you're trying to attract are not reflected in your staff or in your marketing materials. People want to see themselves in your product. So we wanted to use our shops to demonstrate to our IBD, who are passionate, fantastic people, but we want to do them so you can take more risk.

00:44:34:12 - 00:44:57:07
Speaker 1
We will. We will do stuff. We will tell you whether it succeeds or fail. We will experiment. If it works, you can take it into your store. You can learn from us. You don't need to take the risk. We'll take the risk. But those stores are there to inspire independent bike dealers, to modernize, to evolve, to talk to a wider audience.

00:44:57:09 - 00:45:23:20
Speaker 1
And we can take more fiscal risk that they can't. And we can take that risk on their behalf. And then the things that work they can. Nick offers the things that don't work, don't bother with it. So that's the aim. It's not about trying to steal market share from all Ibd's we need our IBD. We at the moment we have 11 stores and we sell through 1500 IBD, the Brompton.

00:45:23:20 - 00:45:57:08
Speaker 1
We just made a million bikes. We're not going to be able to manage those customers, a million bikes through 12 stores. That's never going to happen. It's all about delivering a diverse range of stores and different types of stores for different types of customers enabling that completely universal approach to engaging that community. But our own stores are trying to be creme de la creme, trying to take risk, push the limits, try stuff and fail.

00:45:57:11 - 00:46:03:16
Speaker 1
We try stuff in our store. It doesn't work. We're going to fail. But that's fine. And then we share that with all of our IBD.

00:46:03:19 - 00:46:23:27
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I appreciate that. And I see I should have been more patient. I knew you were going to define that or you're sort of known well, and I love this particular image here that I just kind of paused on to talk about that. Yeah, I mean, this is part of it is, hey, join us for a right come together.

00:46:23:27 - 00:46:41:25
Speaker 2
Let's let's explore the city, but let's also explore what it's like to explore the city on a Brompton. And in it is is it is a unique feel and a unique ride. And in people ask me that all the time you mentioned it's like oh those little wheels and or do do do you know it's like, no, no, no.

00:46:41:25 - 00:46:47:23
Speaker 2
It's just like riding a normal bike. But I've got a really short wheelbase. I can turn on a dime.

00:46:47:25 - 00:46:51:21
Speaker 1
Oh, yes, you can. Absolutely. Right.

00:46:51:24 - 00:47:12:13
Speaker 2
So I love this. I love that you've got this, like, you know, a meet up. You can you can come together and be able to explore it. And I think that that is part of what you were talking about before is like being more approachable for people who know how to ride a bike, but maybe they're not currently doing it on a regular basis.

00:47:12:16 - 00:47:34:22
Speaker 1
And you've got to remember, cities can be lonely. Yes, cities can be lonely places. A lot of people move from one city to another. They're moving with their job. They ride somewhere. So let's use a bike to build a community. Yeah, You know, cyclists are like I was saying before you somehow I get chatting to people. I don't know whether I'm in anywhere in the world, any city.

00:47:34:22 - 00:48:00:21
Speaker 1
I get chatting at the traffic lights and Braunton owners are inclusive. They're not trying to get there super fast. They know they're going to get there in good time and they want to share the joy and the fun of cycling with others. And so if we can create a community where someone already has a bike the new to the city they want to meet, some people, learn a bit about the city, or someone's just bought a bike and they're not necessarily so confident.

00:48:00:21 - 00:48:11:26
Speaker 1
They don't know. All the back routes come along to ride, meet some people, share a bit of, you know, stories, go and find a nice coffee, you know, life too short.

00:48:11:28 - 00:48:28:12
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I do want to make sure that I include a photo of my own bike in here. So This is me. This is. This is the shot, literally this morning, just a few minutes before I set up the studio here. In my mind, I try.

00:48:28:12 - 00:48:30:21
Speaker 1
And Pioneer is being put to work. I like that.

00:48:30:23 - 00:49:00:05
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. And I and I love the fact that where I'm, you know, recording this here today in Boulder, Colorado literally my the studio, my friend's house. Ryan Van Duzer is also a YouTube content creator. He lives on a shared space street. So again, this to me exemplifies a little bit of what our future holds as we strive to transform our cities into spaces where people feel welcome, occupying space.

00:49:00:07 - 00:49:29:29
Speaker 2
We need to bring those motor vehicle speeds down. And this really hearkens out to the little ones that are happening in in in the UK the talk a little bit about that, you know from from your perspective because I think it's got to be part of the equation as we try to shift from a car centric world. You know, maybe we do need to be thinking about, hey, we need to slow down a little bit and embrace, you know, a shared space Street like this.

00:49:30:01 - 00:50:11:20
Speaker 1
Well, find off. I think one of the best examples of that was in Barcelona, because Barcelona is designed on a hexagonal grid, which is an unusual grid pattern, but that hexagonal is big. But inside that large hexagonal, there are all these other streets and it got lost in the sixties and seventies, eighties, maybe even nineties. But as we hit the new millennium, there was this realization that actually that a large hexagonal community is for the community, it is for walking, for cycling, for children to run between the streets.

00:50:11:22 - 00:50:33:29
Speaker 1
If you're in the car, you can go down the main thoroughfares and you can get from A to B at some speed. But once you hit inside the hexagonal, you have to go right slow down and there are no pavements. And you know that a child might run out at any time. So it's not even like you're thinking, Oh, I can only ride at 20 miles an hour.

00:50:34:04 - 00:50:55:17
Speaker 1
You're in an environment where a dog might shoot, a child might shoot, you know, somebody is on a bike, you just naturally slow down anyway because it's all going on and you know that you know that you're not the priority. So I think that's what we can do with our cities, which is where we understand that this space is for the community.

00:50:55:20 - 00:51:13:02
Speaker 1
Yes, you may be able to get in your car, but you'll be going very slowly. But it's the last part of the journey. It's only the last half a mile. But that half a mile being given to the community and being universal shared space is worth a lot.

00:51:13:04 - 00:51:47:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I was going to pull up a couple of images, you know, from from the Barcelona area. Of course, they had been going through this process of of creating a Super Neil years and oh gosh what was the other word for for those streets are super blocks you know trying to to create nine block grids where on the interior you have ultra slow speeds and being able to to really encourage, you know, more people.

00:51:47:06 - 00:52:08:26
Speaker 2
So I appreciate you bringing that up. This is a great example as well. Is there anything that we haven't yet talked about that you definitely want to leave the audience with? And I'll bring of a visual up to maybe even prompt this just to get us going, because you just you presented recently this.

00:52:08:28 - 00:52:42:29
Speaker 1
Yeah, I mean, my, my, my main message is that we're here for such a short period of time on planet Earth. I've just been with my parents. Dad's 85. He was my age yesterday, which means I'll be his age, nearly clocking out tomorrow. And we just need to have a bit more urgency. And we need to realize when you meet old people, they're not interested in their wealth.

00:52:43:01 - 00:53:08:05
Speaker 1
They're only interested in all this stuff they've accumulated. They're interested in the relationships that they've made. And probably greatest of all, the positive impact they've had on society and planet Earth. And for all of us, we have a role to play in how we live our lives and how we spend our money in where we work. And everything has an impact.

00:53:08:11 - 00:53:32:09
Speaker 1
And I think the biggest message I have is all of us look at what's going on around us. Don't ignore it and just stop for a minute and think before you act. And if all of us do that, particularly us in the Western world, because we are the ones that are responsible, if we stop for a moment, just think about what we're doing and the consequences of the actions we take.

00:53:32:11 - 00:53:49:29
Speaker 1
We can get this wrapped up in ten years and find ourselves back on the right path to sustainable coexistence on planet Earth. And it's an exciting journey. It's a positive journey. We shouldn't get depressed about it if we take those conscious decisions.

00:53:50:01 - 00:54:18:16
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. And as a veteran Brompton writer, I can, you know, let everybody know, too, that they're incredibly stable in fun environments too. And so when I think of the fact that in that image that we just saw there, that, you know, the bike is made for cities and the Brompton for sure is made for cities. But, you know, I am frequently traveling to rural areas.

00:54:18:16 - 00:54:45:24
Speaker 2
I was just in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I was just out riding it on gravel roads. I mean, it's it's an incredibly stable machine. So don't think that it's only for cities. It's it can be you know, it's very, very versatile. And and what I like about that not to be a commercial for Brompton but is just to point out that it's it's more versatile than you might believe it to be.

00:54:45:26 - 00:55:10:10
Speaker 2
And it's not about the product. It's really about how bikes can be solutions in general. To your point earlier, is it doesn't matter which bike and it really is a matter of getting more people on bikes more often for more meaningful trips and destinations. And you mentioned it earlier, a significant percentage of our trips are inherently bikeable. They're short trips.

00:55:10:10 - 00:55:14:07
Speaker 2
And so that's the key thing that we need to do.

00:55:14:10 - 00:55:44:05
Speaker 1
I couldn't agree more. It's it's in our hands. This is the most efficient mode of transport ever invented. What are we doing? Spending billions on flying taxis when right under our nose is the humble little bicycle? It makes us feel childish again, gives us a sense of joy and freedom. If you do nothing else, get on a bike and remind yourself of the fun and freedom of cycling.

00:55:44:07 - 00:56:02:26
Speaker 2
Yeah, I love that. That you homed in on the fun and freedom in what's you know, what's better than having, you know, that choice of mobility and that sense of freedom of being able to do that. So I love that. I can't think of a better way to to end episode number 200 of the active Talents podcast.

00:56:02:29 - 00:56:07:17
Speaker 1
You will be will absolute pleasure.

00:56:07:20 - 00:56:11:27
Speaker 2
Thank you so very much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast today.

00:56:11:29 - 00:56:13:12
Speaker 1
My pleasure.

00:56:13:14 - 00:56:30:03
Speaker 2
I thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Will Butler Adams and if you did, please give it a thumbs up or leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, please do subscribe to the Active Towns channel. Just click on that subscription button down below and ring the notifications bell.

00:56:30:06 - 00:56:51:27
Speaker 2
And if you're enjoying my content, please be sure to pop on over to the Active Towns page and the support button. There's many ways you can support. You can be a patron by me across coffee, go on over to the active towns, store and buy some streets or for people schwag. You get stuff out there and again, thank you all so much.

00:56:51:27 - 00:57:09:10
Speaker 2
I can't tell you how much this means to me. And until next time this is John signing off. I wish you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers. Oh, and I almost forgot. I have to thank Ryan Van Duzer for lending me his studio. The welcome to my house.

00:57:09:10 - 00:57:09:29
Speaker 1
I'm glad you can.

00:57:09:29 - 00:57:29:22
Speaker 2
Do it here. And my house is your house. Mi casa su casa. Thanks again. Thank you so very much, Ryan. This was a huge help for me because I really wanted to support my friend Bruce Wilson out at the Boulder Park Triathlon yesterday. And so this really helped out a lot. So thank you so much. Got it. My really appreciate early.

00:57:29:22 - 00:57:31:02
Speaker 1
Welcome. Okay.

00:57:31:04 - 00:57:55:15
Speaker 2
All right, guys. Seriously, that's it. We're gone by and again, sending a huge thank you to all my active town's ambassadors supporting the channel on Patron. Buy me a coffee YouTube super. Thanks as well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the active town store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated. Thank you all so much.