Stop-motion animation Katie Cycles to School starts the countdown to the fourth Pedal on Parliament on 25 April 2015.
Pedal on Parliament (PoP) is the non-profit protest group reminding Scottish politicians that they’re still not doing enough to support cycling in Scotland. The highlight each year is a mass ride through Edinburgh of several thousand people—ex-transport minister Keith Brown reckoned that PoP3 last year was the biggest demonstration ever seen outside Holyrood.
After another year of dismal progress, the next ride on 25 April 2015 will no doubt see even more people descend on the capital. PoP have started the countdown with the release of their rather cute animated video, “Katie cycles to school”.
I really rather like it.
The call to action is unassuming; quietly setting out the benefits to families, to small businesses, and to the spaces we live and work in that mount up once we make a solid investment in quality cycle infrastructure. It’s positive, friendly and accessible—neatly dodging criticisms often levelled at campaigners for cycling.
Tea and cake all round, people of PoP.
The cut-paper feel is perfect – so much so that I wish the photos at the end had been left out. Leave the viewer in this world of school projects, blue skies and daydreams; then staring at a black screen wondering how we’re making such hard work of this as a nation.
After all, when it comes down to it, making Scotland bike friendly isn’t hard. Any child could tell you that they don’t want to ride their bike between buses and cars.
We need the guardians of our taxes to realise that the longer they delay the investment in active transport infrastructure that Scotland desperately needs, the bigger the problem they’re creating.
See you on the 25 April.
