Quaxing 101

You may have no idea what Quaxing is and could try take a stab in the dark and use it in a sentence, but unless you ride a bike for utility purposes, you probably haven’t heard it, yet.

It is gaining momentum though - so much so that it made it into the New Zealand papers before I finished this blog!

The first use on twitter was back on April 26th with users responding to a blog post by Auckland transport blogger @bythemotorway but in the last week it has taken off.

So what is Quaxing?

It all stems from a twitter conversation Auckland councillor Dick Quax (@dickquax) who suggested that the idea of people doing their shopping by bicycle or train (ie any way other than by car) was fanciful. To many people, the idea of doing a huge weekly shop without your car is not even considered. In many countries around the world, it isn’t the norm however. It is also quite short sighted to think everyone has a car, especially some lower socio-economic demographics, or those who live in the inner-city with no need for a car or those that choose not to. It’s the great “I do this, so I just assume everyone else does too.”

So Quaxing originally meant:

to shop, in the western world, by means of walking, cycling or public transit

Quaxing however, has now been embraced by the non-sports cycling community. Australia was quick to latch onto this new term, but people who engage in quaxing as part of their regular day around the world are starting to take to it too. It's not just bike riders either, but they seem to be the majority. It has taken on its own more expansive meaning, that is inline with active transport - it just has a better ring to it.

There have been pictures and comments from around the globe showing how living without car reliance isn’t fanciful at all. To see what I am talking about, search #quaxing via Google or Twitter. From picking up wine by bus, to walking to the gym, to riding to work, it looks like an awful lot of people do this quaxing thing.

Now, I couldn’t imagine anything worse then doing a whole week’s worth of shopping in one go, or having to drive round and round in a car park every time I went somewhere. To me, that sounds horrendous, yet I know millions of people do it every day. Quaxing won't work for everyone, but it would work for more than who do it now.

I am not saying everyone should get rid of their cars, that’s a ridiculous assumption. But, for short trips, even doing grocery shopping, bicycles, public transport and feet, work quite well.

Dick Quax for his part is taking it in his stride, but suggests he was misconstrued in his meaning and that he actually engages in Quaxing, though he didn’t call it that but we all know he was thinking it.

PS. That is actually my bike after a shopping trip.