Evolution of Pedestrian Mobility
Convenience is the holy grail of many technological innovations. We constantly seek ways to make things easier. In fact, we present ourselves with a widening paradox. Health and fitness is a regular, often bragged about, discussion. It’s a joke that when a person gets up and goes for a jog, they can’t help but shoehorn it into every conversation only for the opportunity to toot their own horn. Move more, do more, work harder… yet at the same time, we are constantly inventing ways to be lazier. Now, even the traditional, fun ways to get out and get some exercise come with their own motors. Thankfully, many of them are electric, so the collateral atmospheric damage is minimal. But now walking, which was once considered a no-complaint, “that’s just life” way of getting around town, is reserved for the inconvenience-able. For the most part, I didn’t think walking was something that needed to be solved. But it has been. And this isn’t the first time.
What’s interesting is you might think these products pertain to a particular, lazier audience. From what I’ve observed, it’s the opposite. Electric urban transportation is popular among the young and active. Some people see it as a way to get more extreme with their sports, others just want to make it from the bus to the office. And many of them make it a point to squeeze in focused exercise before or after circumventing the need to get in a few extra steps. But getting around on some form of electric one wheel or more is becoming more and more popular. It’s common to see a plethora of scooter rental stations in most major cities. I get it. It’s convenient and fun. So if you’re going to hit the gym anyway, why not trade the more boring exercise for something a little more novel.
Truthfully, supplementing walking with powered devices makes a lot of sense when you consider the history of pedestrian travel and city-planning. Less than one hundred years ago, even the major cities were designed with walking in mind. Horse-drawn carriages were the most common vehicle and getting something like that set up for a trip to the grocery store wasn’t really worth the effort. The velocipede (you know, one of those old-timey bicycles with a giant wheel) was created to aid in pedestrian travel. Even more surprising than that is that the motorized scooter, and even an electric scooter, showed up on city streets not long after. I’m talking 1915.
NINETEEN FIFTEEN!
The closest equivalent I would imagine having at the time is a board on two wheels being pulled by a labrador or pony or something. But they were hitting the streets, and the manufacturers were targeting everyone. The electric scooter was the perfect ride to work or the grocery store. Maybe Jimmy or Sally needs to get to school in a jiffy. Well, just have them hop on one of these giant electric engine boards and they’ll be there in no time. Seriously, they didn’t target any particular market, and they never quite found their footing either. Beaches bought an army of scooters for tourists, but cities struggled to regulate their use efficiently and companies didn’t quite know how to make their money back on the investment. Sound familiar? (I’m looking at you, present-day scooter industry!)
But after the invention and wide-spread adoption of the automobile over about fifty years, cities changed to accommodate big vehicles with big gas-powered engines rather than the single rider market. Streets were no longer built with the walking man or woman in mind, but for cars. Space was made for parking, streets widened and cities expanded because the distance was no longer an issue. Fast forward to today, and pedestrian travel seems to be making a bit of a comeback. Well sort of.
Pedestrian refers specifically to walking, but Onewheels, electric scooters, and battery-powered rollerblade type do-hickeys are rising in popularity. People aren’t necessarily reverting to the default travel of the past, i.e. on your own two feet, but adopting an upgrade of the same thing. Accessorizing personal transportation is like a fashion trend, categorized by how many wheels you have and how they are oriented. There are devices built for the sidewalk, the road, and even the “off-road,” many of which are powered with nothing but a battery. Services like Bird and Lime are meeting the demand for a convenient ride for those not quite ready to shell out to own one. It seems that people are willing to get away from the atmosphere-destroying destroying methods or non-electric cars, but they aren’t willing to return to bipedalism. At least not quite yet. So what does a future city look like that’s geared more towards the space between on-foot and in-car? I don’t know. But I imagine it has a lot more charging stations and a fascinating variety of wheels.