First the shit show, then the good news show
The new year started in a minor way for (sustainable) mobility on all fronts. From thousands of abolished bus stops, over absolute traffic congestion records and children killed to closed ticket offices at the SNCB. It is exactly as if all parts of our derailed mobility system were shaken up even more by the perfect shitstorm over the past few weeks.
Should our policymakers have listened to the 'weather forecasts' of mobility experts? Perhaps ... Or in the meantime, would they just count on Jan met de pet to forget all the woes by the election? Will we let ourselves be captured by this kind of cynical, political marketing or will we vote for real solutions this year?
Is it of not wanting to or not being able to? Katrien from Political PR already suspects that the ivory tower too often selectively blinds our politicians. However, they cannot be forgiven for not seeing that people do rely on public transport. That there are people who do not (want to) take their children to school by car. That parents are worried to death about the risk of their little eyeballs being run to death. And that not everyone can just use apps and ticket machines. Oh well, it might be a bit much for those poor policymakers to grasp in one legislature, let alone solve or even straighten out what has been skewed for years.
We too easily fall for short-sighted whore politics while years of neglecting our public transport is quietly having irreversible effects. We are led to believe that soon all problems will be solved if we obediently ask for our €5,000 premium to buy our own electric car. But the only effect is to make traffic jams electric. Traffic jams into which even that stray electric bus from De Lijn, nota bene made in China, is entangled. Traffic jams that are also made longer every year because politicians in this country think it is a revolutionary idea to pay people in cars instead of with money. And if their system of salary cars could then inadvertently have a 'positive' effect on climate targets then that too is negated.
Lacking the will to turn the tide?
The growing reflex of pull-your-plan-and-if-that-doesn't-fail-is-your-own-guilt is quietly damaging all aspects of our society. Social housing? No job? Then shuffle to the back. Public transport? Only if hyper-efficiency is the norm. Education? A bonus system will fix it all. A ticket office? But ma'am, there's an app for that these days... It is becoming more and more normal to wonder out loud whether people really have so few options to get anywhere, or even worse, are really poor or needy enough to enjoy quality services or social security.
But there are bright spots. It's about something again. Public transport (or the lack of it) is about tongues again. We cycle to work more often than before. Despite all the obstacles, there are brave parents who take their children to school by bike. And the number of public transport users is back to pre-corona levels. Does that mean that all those good souls are just too quick to be satisfied? Surely not. But the cynic in us is toying with the idea of asking all those good people to crawl into the car en masse on 9 June or 30 October. Let's see if everyone can fulfil their duty to vote then.
Forget it!
Yes, a lot of people have been walloped over the past month by that avalanche of misfortune, injustice, grief and short-sightedness. But whether they will have forgotten all that by the time they start colouring a ball in June or October, politicians should not really be comfortable with that. Forget it! This 'perfume de crise' is not so easily washed away with the freshly boxed good-news show that is coming anyway in the next few months. No, that perfume can easily linger until the voting booth. And then it is up to all of us to turn up our noses at old wine in new bags and opt for 'the good stuff'.
And yet there they are, those good ones. Policy-makers with a vision that extends beyond the next ballot box, to say the least. Who dare to say that there are no easy solutions to difficult problems. And that those solutions may not be supported or applauded by everyone either. But that they nevertheless stand for a policy that will ensure that a liveable world will soon be left for people of all abilities and not just for the happy few. A world with Vision Zero zero traffic deaths. With a fair social safety net. With climate-smart infrastructure. With no transport poverty and with sustainable means of transport that give everyone the chance to get where they need to go. The solutions are known, let's work on them together. A warm call to general common sense not to forget January's indignation when we vote later. For the good ones, of course. For those with real solutions, with a disregard for symptom control and entrenched systems.
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