6 mega trends and the future of bicycling in NE Florida

Andy Clarke, of the Toole Design Group team, recently made a presentation at the North Florida Bicycle Club (NFBC) called 'Six Mega Trends and the future of Bicycling in Northeast Florida.' Here’s a summary of the main points, courtesy of the City of Jacksonville.

<h1>2. The rise of autonomous vehicles.</h1>

This inevitably makes it onto the list as rapid advances in technology are transforming the motor vehicle world as we speak. The big question here is not when or if change is coming, it’s “are we ready to manage autonomous vehicles?” so that change is good. Worst case scenario is that largely unregulated driver-less vehicles eliminate “unpredictable things” like pedestrians and bicyclists from the public realm and average vehicle occupancy plummets to well below one person as empty cars circle endlessly on streets using fuel that’s cheaper than parking. Best case scenario is that 80-90% of vehicles are eliminated because of shared ownership and use, freeing up all that parking and extra roadway capacity for something much more valuable. Like human beings, possibly on foot or bicycles. These big decisions, and sometimes deeply ethical choices, are ahead of us…we’d better start preparing.