GoodGeist
A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government.
GoodGeist
Sustainable & Loud Mobility, with Georgia Yexley
This week we're talking to Georgia Yexley, founder of Loud Mobility, who joins us to challenge everything you thought you knew about how we move around, including feeling joyful about sustainable journeys!
Georgia's journey tracks from a Beijing-based bike-share pioneer to founding her fourth micromobility startup and reveals someone who understands that meaningful change happens when we focus on removing barriers rather than lecturing people about their choices. Her refreshingly human-centred approach rejects what she calls "toxic paternalism" in favour of creating experiences people actually want.
The She's Electric campaign exemplifies this philosophy perfectly – free, fun e-cycle events in local parks with music, refreshments, and space for children to play. The results speak volumes: 60% of participants identify as women or non-binary, and a similar percentage are taking their first-ever e-cycle ride. As Georgia puts it: "We don't tell people what's best for them. We ask, then we co-create."
Beyond specific initiatives, Georgia makes a compelling case for reconceptualising transport as a universal public good – similar to how we view education or healthcare. Perhaps most provocatively, Georgia challenges our societal discomfort with the concept of "fun" in transportation. In a world facing mental health crises and disconnection, shouldn't we be intentionally creating more joyful experiences?
We kind of agree! Listen in to this episode to hear Georgia's take on inclusive, loud and sustainable mobility.
Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Good Geist, a podcast series on sustainability hosted by Damla Özler and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone. You are listening to Good Ge Guys, the message on sustainability which is brought to you by the DNS Network, the global network of agencies dedicated to making the world a better place. This is Damla from Mira Agency, Istanbul, and.
Speaker 3:This is Steve from Creative Concern in Manchester. This podcast series explores global sustainability issues, how they're communicated and what creativity can do to make positive change happen.
Speaker 2:So in this episode we're going to talk to Georgia Yexley, a brilliant and passionate champion of more inclusive, active travel and an influential voice in the world of sustainable transport.
Speaker 3:So Georgia is now on her fourth count them micromobility startup. As the founder of Loud Mobility, on a mission to raise the volume of joyful, sustainable journeys, she has worked across the globe on cities and sustainable travel, is involved in the Women of Colour Cycling Collective and also works as an advisor on diversity in the cycling industry. So, Georgia, thank you so much for joining Damla and myself.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you for having me. It's such a pleasure and such a brilliant introduction, so appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's great. Well, listen, georgia, you've created a world of startups, campaigns, bikes and diversity and, above all, joyful journeys. That's your universe, from what I can see, so tell us about your journey and how you came to kick off Lab Mobility.
Speaker 4:Oh, it's been a wild ride, certainly, chock-a-block, full of joyful journeys. I think that is the north star and has always been the north star throughout my career in this space. I will say I somewhat fell into it. I've spoken quite a lot about this, mostly to kind of emerging professionals or folks that are kind of entering the transport space, that you don't need to be a transport planner, you don't need to be an engineer, you can just be somebody who's really passionate about how people move around the world, who's able to move and where people can go and be safe and enjoy the spaces and places around us to find a way to contribute.
Speaker 4:And I think what really drew me to it was this very quick understanding of it being part of the big three areas of change that we need to survive and thrive on this planet being energy, food and transport and travel. So it felt like the right place for me. I'm definitely a foodie, I'm full of energy, but I think my skill set better suited the transport space to be able to make a difference and and see that difference in my day-to-day work. So, as I say, I kind of fell into. It was when I was I was living and working in Beijing, in China, and these orange bikes started popping up around the city and I was thinking, oh you know, why is everyone buying the same bike?
Speaker 4:all of a sudden, and it so happened that it was the very early days of Mobike, one of the initial bike sharing companies that just exploded and grew so rapidly across the world. And it was a friend of mine, actually, who saw a job ad. I had previously been working different types of startups and changing and moving and adding things as I was learning what I did have a passion for interest in. I'd moved from real techie tech startups to then going into kind of travel, the travel world of travel and kind of integrating that interest and and was doing a lot of work in the space of sustainability. And a friend saw the job ad to to join Mobike and kind of nudged me towards doing it and and I joined really early stages just before the first international launch that we had in the organization that was in Singapore and was with them for about two and a half years of just a rapid expansion up until the point of acquisition and then moved, as you've kindly uh introduced, almost every two and a half years to a new micro mobility startup at the early stages with them through this crazy journey of growth and expansion and delivery and then moving to the next one.
Speaker 4:Because I'm clearly a glutton for punishment and just love that early stage and the build stage Until then, a few years ago. Lots of life change, a lot of reflection and really set up loud to tackle this challenge very vocally and head on of raising the volume of joyful, sustainable journeys, with joyful being the operative word and, as you said as well, it's very much in the space of access and inclusion and that the joyful aspect to it is raising the bar of what we mean when we talk about access and inclusion. That safety and access, like physical access, proximity, these things are bare minimums, not the target. It should be those positive experiences that we're aiming for.
Speaker 2:Well, putting joyful at the heart of it really resonates with what we think of sustainability and I really loved it and I think micromobility world owes a lot to that one friend who saw that ad and send it to you yes, I mean I will say I owe him a lot in general, so but, um, definitely I think it's.
Speaker 4:It's a testament to how important it is to have people around you peers who also are able to reflect and encourage you towards work and, you know, living life in a way that's in alignment with your values. That's such a big thing. That has always paid dividends for me in moving organizations, changing roles, you know, changing even the focus of my role, which is definitely, you know, I change a lot, let's say, but it's always with that moment of reflection on how am I really utilising my skills, how am I practising my values in my day to day? That has never turned me wrong in terms of where it's led me to, is at the centre of loud mobility.
Speaker 4:Was that real deep reflection on is the work that I'm doing day to day in alignment with what I think needs to happen in this space, or how I want to show up in this space genuinely and wonderfully? That's led to being able to focus on all the fun parts and all the joyful parts. I should say this is not without, this is not at the expense of ignoring or steering clear or shirking all of the real challenges and barriers and terrible experiences that are the challenge. Right, that's where the challenge is. But I think it's been refreshing and wonderful truly to be able to focus on the solutions and doing more of the stuff that works and not just continuing to deliver reports on what the barriers are, but actually deliver the work that does, the job of removing them.
Speaker 2:Well, you opened the door to values and core and delivering the work. So could we get stuck straight into the central aspect of your work, Georgia? We need more people on bikes and we definitely need to do a better job of inclusivity. This is your nexus. So what is the diversity agenda for cycling and walking?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, it's really important for us. We work across the spectrum of sustainable transport and it's really about the right tool for the right job With that. Walking, wheeling, cycling are at the top of the hierarchy. They are the most accessible to the most number of people, they're affordable, but they're also the most sustainable. So that's where we spend most of our time and there's so much happening in this space. But there's also a real challenge happening in this space in terms of the way it's valued, the investment that goes into policymaking. So there's a lot of work to do.
Speaker 4:So we tend to really focus on walking, wheeling and cycling for those reasons, to really focus on walking, wheeling and cycling for those reasons. But at the same time, it's not the case that we are kind of playing into this really moralistic view or binary view of what the right tools are for people. It's actually a really big part of our kind of belief system that this very binary reflection of did you get out of a car to get onto a bicycle and that means you've made a good trip is actually a real detriment to the way that we're allowed, we're investing and we're making policy and we're delivering these options to people, because it's just not that simple when we're talking about transport mobility. What we're really talking about is how people are moving, and people are not that simple. We're complex beings. We have different challenges at different life stages, different times of day in different scenarios. So simply measuring good, bad, sustainable, not on these really binary measures, is a real challenge for how we, how we deliver work that actually makes this difference. So there's that aspect to it of we absolutely need more people cycling, but we also need more people accessing whichever tool is the most suitable for them at that stage in that moment and making it easier for them to choose tools that are more sustainable. So it might be. It's totally morally valid and absolutely fine that if you have limited mobility and you're a woman alone at night, that you might want to get in your car to go, you know, 10 miles from A to B along an A road. However, the solution to that is not easy.
Speaker 4:The toxic paternalism, view of behaviour change of. Well, you know we need to educate this person to go and get on a bicycle Rather it's. Well, can we build the infrastructure? Can we tackle violence against women and girls in spaces that we're in? Can we understand what the truth of these barriers are and can we provide other options? So I think this is a kind of leading into the aspect of behavior change that cuts across all of our work, that there's a really important distinction between toxic journalism telling people what they should and shouldn't do and what's right or wrong to behavior change, which is actually a much richer piece of work in a much deeper kind of understanding of why we have certain behaviors, in which scenarios, which people, and then starting to tackle it in that way.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, I think this is really the the key aspect of how this all works with our, our values and the way that we operate, is that we don't. What we don't do is tell people what's best for them. We ask and then we co-create and we absolutely recognize what challenges and we're very vocal about that, but we spend more of our time on delivering the stuff that makes it easier. So, a great example being our she's electric campaign that we've been running over the last two years. Now, this is all about making it easier, more accessible, more inclusive, particularly from a gender lens although everybody is welcome, but particularly from a gender lens, because there is this huge gap in women and men cycling and we have delivered really low barrier events.
Speaker 4:Go to where people are. We make it free, we make it fun, we play music. We just make it easy for people just to try e-cycles and we have seen a huge amount of difference in delivering these types of events. Where we're coming to you, it's like in a local park. It there's free tea and coffee and cake and there's place for your kids to play and there's, you know, lovely cycling instructors around giving you a hand and just giving you any information. We're not selling you anything. We're just giving you a chance to have a really fun day out and we are able to talk about it being fun and that being enough that we see statistics and insights that you just don't see in other cycling events of this sort.
Speaker 4:So we see I think it's now over 60 percent of our attendees are women, identify as women or non-binary. We also see that about the same percent is everything is 60 for some reason, but about 60 of people that are coming it's their first ever e-cycle trip and a lot of folks are telling us like I've been looking for something like this. There's a lot of in in insight around people not feeling comfortable in the spaces that are already there so we make it easy for folks and just by being able to lean into the fun and lean into the conversation with people and making it easy and not putting making it difficult to to join us, we've been able to reach thousands of people, deliver hundreds of test rides all across the uk and we know it works and it. The difficulty is is this kind of work is considered new innovation, unproven. We're like well, it's proven, we have the data, but it doesn't necessarily fit into the same structures and boxes of the stuff that gets funded. £8 million to deliver across the UK, you know.
Speaker 3:So I mean, I did go through a phase, george, on that, quite recently, where, having run many behaviour change campaigns like you have, I went through a phase of actually describing a system change not behavior change and taking people with us on that shift in in what the system delivers. And I think your approach which is fun, it's inclusive, it's asking questions, not thinking that an information deficit corrected will make change happen I think is brilliant. I want to pick up on something you've written which is still slightly theoretical, but I saw you write something around transport being a universal public good and I think that's a lovely way of framing this and it speaks to social justice, justice to mobility as a human right and that far too many excluded from that mobility. And you're addressing that gap, aren't you tell us a bit more about you, this universal public good idea of yours?
Speaker 4:yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that we have allowed transport to move into this place where it's it's not really understood as as part of the part of public realm and public good and what we should be delivering to the, the population. In the same way that we think about access to water, access to education, because it has the same level of impact on our lives, if not being integrated with absolutely everything that affects the quality of life, the well-being of life that we have. It affects what jobs you can get to, which schools you can go to, whether you have access to community, whether your physical well-being and with that public good in terms of the individual good that we experience, there's so much societal good that comes from that. You know, at the moment we're in one of the worst mental health crises, I think, if not the that we've ever experienced in the uk. I mean, it's devastating. There's huge plethora and complex reasons for that.
Speaker 4:Of course, transport is not a silver bullet to solve these social, cultural issues. However, giving people tools to allow them access to community, to green space, to services, has such a huge value to it that we're just not measuring or valuing. And there's been this kind of odd thing gone on with transport, where we make decisions based on decision making frameworks like cost benefit ratios and productivity how quickly are you getting to work? But this is not for me. I think these are entirely the wrong measures for what our transport system should be delivering. Frankly, personally I can care less how quickly I get to work. I don't think anyone has ever cared how quickly I got to work. I think they've cared whether I've done a good job or not and, to be honest, I'm not the person that's at work first thing in the morning anyway.
Speaker 3:I'm going to jump in Georgia, Don't talk to me before 10 am.
Speaker 4:It's not worth it.
Speaker 3:I have to jump in there. So, georgia, can I let you into a secret, because literally not many people know this, and I'm about to say it on the podcast I don't tell the truth about how long my commute is. Which way do you go, though?
Speaker 4:so I say it's longer.
Speaker 3:It's insanely long, and I it's so insanely long that I tell people it's shorter than it really is. So I get on my bike on my Brompton and I cycle over a huge hill for six and a half miles to get to the local train station, and then I and then I get a train into Manchester, door to door. It's an hour and 45 minutes. That's long that's really long.
Speaker 4:I know I mean, but is that your kind of this is the thing, though? I think for some, if this is a good example because for some people that's like oh my gosh, that is in my head I'm thinking that's three and a half hours that I just could be doing something else, I don't know like it on some days. On other days that's three and a half hours that I've got. Think I've actually got thinking time. I've got time to read that book I was interested in. I've had a great cycle. I've actually done my emails before I've got into the office. So I can you know I'm not in that headspace and I can talk to people.
Speaker 4:So it's, it's such a perfect example of it's not good, bad, morally right, wrong how long your commute is, or whether you cycled this day or walked that day. This is such a binary way of looking at the transfers. It doesn't help us understand the value or deliver the value of all the public good or the social good. That could be the focus of how we make decisions, how we invest, how we fund. So I think that absolutely is.
Speaker 4:I'm so glad you shared that because it's a perfect example why we need the system change.
Speaker 4:We need the outcomes, focus and really looking at we've invested in this, we've done this, what has that achieved? And looking at it not just from a perspective of this kind of archetypal man at work transport system that has got us stuck in this place, but actually look at it from the health implications, the well-being implications, the community value, the connectivity value, the educational, the you know people's. There's so much more that we should be focused towards when we think about transport. And even going back to your first question, I think at this point it's very clear why I'm so obsessed with transport, because it is one of the only things that is crossing absolutely every aspect of every individual's life. It doesn't matter who you are, what your background is, where in the world you are. Transport, mobility, how we move, how we access the world around us, has such a profound effect on everyone and we have to stop allowing it to be boxed into this space where it's just about work and speed to be boxed into this space where it's just about work and speed.
Speaker 2:Well, georgia, when I listened to you, I just got this epiphany and I was thinking, when we're talking about mobility and transport and things like that, we are talking with the frames of planning, job, doing something, but no, it's personal. Transport and mobility is personal, personal and it's really personal for you. I can hear it in every sentence. You said I also want to talk about play, because you wrote an open letter on linkedin a couple of years ago about your ADHD diagnosis and, for you, the importance of play. It's something we have turned to a few times on this podcast. We talked about homo ludens, we talked about play and its importance and, particularly when thinking about unlocking human creativity, it is really important. So if you had a play manifesto, what would it be?
Speaker 4:oh my gosh oh, a play manifesto. I mean, honestly, I think I need to write that just for fun. No, truly, I think this is such a great, great connecting thread for everything we've spoken about, because there's there's two sides to this. There's the building that into the work. It was a massive part of that values orientation, of practicing values in a day-to-day work, um. But also in that connection to what we're aiming for when we talk about a good trip and delivering joyful, sustainable journeys, what is a good trip? Well, to us, a good trip is about that personal experience that the person who is moving not the vehicle, not the, you know the system, but the person who is moving is actually having a positive experience. And I think it was. That was the epiphany for me. And in fact, there's a real key moment in my career that kind of brought this epiphany to me.
Speaker 4:I was invited onto news night. It was. I was absolutely fangirling, being interviewed by emily mateless and just very nervous, of course, but we were there to talk about the e-scooter trials and all the kind of polarized discussions that go on around that, and the other person who was invited to speak kind of gave this example of being in the park and she said you saw these guys, these young men, these teenagers, on e-scooters and she said you could see it in their eyes. They were out for fun and that was the point, right, and I was in the in this situation. Yeah, we're all laughing, but it's it's. That's a lot that's allowed to be said. That was seen, as you know, a really hard-hitting point. Well, they shouldn't be just having fun on these vehicles, you know that's, that's not a good use of transport.
Speaker 4:And I thought, well, I was sat there in a different role in a previous company and I couldn't say what I wanted to say, and I thought so long about who could say that, and there really wasn't anyone that came to a public, private Thursday who could sit there and say what I really wanted to say. And that's where we built loud, because what I wanted to say was what is your problem with kids having fun and, to be honest, I have fun on them too and it, just like that was the epiphany of said, where we have such a serious situation going on with people's mental health, with their access to the world, with the support that they have in place, it is absolutely paramount that we are intentional about joyful experiences and joyful journeys and, yeah, that that is absolutely everything that guides all of our work. Is that sense of are we actually improving something for somebody here and are we going to enjoy it? My business partner. I've always said if we're not enjoying the work, we're probably doing something wrong oh, I love it.
Speaker 3:Georgia, um would you believe, I was on news night as well, amazing we have so much in common, steve.
Speaker 4:I know exactly exactly. I was talking Newsnight as well. Amazing, we have so much in common, steve. I know exactly.
Speaker 3:I was on talking about animal rights, animal rights, and I was interviewed by Kirsty Wark, so I had a fanboy moment that was quite a thing.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to. We're going to run over a little bit Damley. You're going to have to forgive me because I just want one more Before I ask our last question of georgia I want to do. We've already asked you to do a manifesto. We've heard amazing origin story for loud on news night. I can just totally picture it. And now I'd like you to do a very quick, very quick crystal ball moment, because you also are looking at all of these micro mobility trends e-scooters. We even touched on things like cargo bikes, electric bikes. You're all over. Where do you think? People in motion, where is human mobility going at the moment? What's the future look like for you?
Speaker 4:Oh, I mean, it's a hard question looking to the future because there's the. You know, I have this joyful outlook and I focus on the positive things, but, at the same time, I'm a human being in the world right now and and there is a lot going on, and it is very difficult to step away from the existential crisis that that brings into everybody's reality when we're living in this reality of today. Right, we have to root this perception of the future and what's happening now and right now, particularly in the UK, we're going in the wrong direction. We're not investing, in my opinion, in the right things. We're taking away the support and benefits, particularly for people who are most affected by being excluded from these spaces. Already there's huge cuts and there's, I think, an absolutely abhorrent situation happening at the moment in the UK for disabled people and, you know, protecting their human rights, to be honest. So it's a really difficult question, because that's the reality, the direction.
Speaker 4:If we continue on this route, I'm pretty scared for what the future is going to be, the future that I want, the future that I am pushing for, and the reason that we need the system change and we need to change the perspective and understanding of what is valuable in how we invest in this is that we need to start investing in innovation, beyond it being the tools, like technology and understanding.
Speaker 4:Innovation is who are we funding, how are we funding them, why are we doing, what are the outputs? And really building more social value and social justice into the measures of success, and being really honest about when we're failing and being really encouraging about where we're doing right. And that means more investment in grassroots, community-led work where real change is already happening, recognition of the people who have been working damn hard for a long time and have been doing it without the support and supporting better. I do think there has been some positive movement towards social value, how we understand it, how we measure it, kind of policy and procurement level, but more needs to be done. So that's the future that I want is to see innovation be kind of pointed towards and funding and policy and procurement level, but more needs to be done. So that's the future that I want is to see innovation be kind of pointed towards and funding and policy and frameworks to be pointed towards social value, social justice and, obviously, joyful journeys, happier people.
Speaker 2:That's another manifesto and I want to title it Don't Stop Till you Get Enough.
Speaker 4:Love that, love that song as well.
Speaker 2:I want to title it don't stop till you get enough love that, love that song as well. Ah, I want to continue, but we're out of time, so I have to ask our final question. Our network is ironically called do not smile, because we need to make sustainability a subject that brings happiness into the world. So what object, place or person always makes you smile?
Speaker 4:oh, I mean, I feel like it feels silly saying this because I'm not there, but it's only because it's raining right now. But it's my garden and I feel, to be honest, I feel bad and like not saying my partner or my mom, but it's almost like a bit of a joke with all of our kind of partners and clients at the moment that it's really odd if you get on a call with me and I'm not sat in the garden. I went to the flat that my partner and I were in during the pandemic. We didn't have a garden. There was a patch of grass across the road that I used to call the garden and go and sit in and watch the buses drive by and whatever and whatever. But so when we moved, that was the non-negotiable because I really recognize the privilege that it is to be at home but outdoors and I would never give that up for the world now because my yeah, my garden is my happy place. Anything can be going on in the world and you'll you'll find me smiling there, that's for sure sure?
Speaker 3:Oh, Georgia, that's lovely. Well, sadly it is raining so you're not outside, so we can't let our listeners sort of imagine you here chatting to us in the garden. But I think I read the weather forecast. I think it's clearing up, so you're going to be in the garden very soon.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I'll be right out there.
Speaker 3:Brilliant. Well, listen, we've had so much fun talking to you, Jordan. It's been absolutely brilliant and totally inspiring the idea of Joyful Journeys. We will all carry that with us. If you're not having fun, there's no point in moving, so just do it, do it, do it. So thank you so much again.
Speaker 2:And Damla, do you want to wrap this up? Well?
Speaker 3:thanks to everyone who has listened to our Good Guys podcast, brought to you by the Do Not Smile network of agencies, and make sure you listen to future episodes, where we'll be talking to more amazing people about how we can work together to create a more sustainable future. So, georgia Damla, see you soon.
Speaker 1:Bye, a podcast series on sustainability Hosted by Damla Özler and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network.
