This blog was transcribed from an audio conversation recorded on Tuesday, October 1st while riding bikes on the south section of the Razorback Greenway.
Rob: Okay we can go behind her now
Bekzod: Okay
Rob: And then I think if we stay like this far back, this is a good distance
Lainey (Filmer): Let me know if I need to speed up or slow down
Rob: I think we can just match your speed
Rob: Okay let’s just start with what’s your name, where you’re from, and what are you doing here?
Bekzod: Okay my name is Bekzod, I’m from Uzbekistan, that’s a central Asian country, I’m doing a Masters in Industrial Engineering, as part of my Fulbright scholarship. Yeah, this is my second year, second time ever to be in the US. I’ve been to the US in 2017 with a different exchange program while I was in my bachelors, since then I’ve been loving it, meeting all these cool people like you
Rob: [laughs] Super cool, so you’re an international student. You’ve lived in other places in the US. I’m curious what your relationship is like with getting around places in the US and how you transport yourself when you are looking to go somewhere?
Bekzod: So here in Fayetteville I usually walk or if it’s somewhere pretty far and I have enough time then I’ll bike. I don’t necessarily like taking busses or taking taxis or whatever. So therefore, when I was choosing a place to stay, it was kind of a priority for me to choose somewhere that is close by and things are close by
Rob: What side of town do you live on, what does your commute look like? Are you taking any bike paths or sidewalks?
Bekzod: I do take sidewalks because it takes a little less than 15 minutes, maybe even 10 minutes. I don’t usually bike to campus as long as I’m not planning to go somewhere else after school or if I have somewhere else to go.
Rob: Are you happy with the pedestrian infrastructure that we have in Fayetteville and on campus?
Bekzod: Pretty much on campus yes and places near campus are very okay. From time to time, I like taking long walk and sometimes in those cases if I go a little bit more north of Fayetteville, things get a little bit tricky as in I’ll be needing to cross the road and I’ll be halfway and realize there is no more sidewalk and it’ll be a bit scary sometimes. Since I’ve had 1 or 2 incidents like this, I’ve been careful with choosing my route. If it’s like too far, like way too far and I know there’s a possibility that such things might happen, I just take a bus.
Rob: So, you’re someone that is actively transporting or using public transportation, out of necessity
Bekzod: Yes
Rob: Because you don’t have a vehicle, I’m curious, what do you think if you had a vehicle how that would change your lifestyle here?
Bekzod: I wouldn’t say it changes largely, because like most of the time, I’m at school and busy with studies or doing my internship or working on my own projects. So, I don’t need to commute to different places much. So, in that sense, the only thing I think would change would be from time to time I go to different states or cities, that’s been a little bit of a challenge to be honest. There are a lot of cool events happening in Bentonville that I want to attend but I don’t have a car, and taking an uber is super expensive. So yeah, I wouldn’t say it would change drastically in my day-to-day life.
Rob: When you do commute, and you walk or bike. Are you doing anything else when you’re doing it? Are you multitasking like listening to music or podcasts or anything?
Bekzod: [laughs]
Rob: Maybe just observe your environment?
Bekzod: I usually just listen to the audio book that I’ve been meaning to listen to, cause on day-to-day I don’t have time or want to spend time on that. I do listen to my audio books or from time-to-time podcasts. But I’ve been liking listening to audio books. They teach me a lot of stuff. Other than that, if it’s nighttime. When I take a night walk, I talk to my family back home in Uzbekistan, it’s a lot better than just doing a video call at home.
Rob: What does that time mean to you when you’re walking or biking? Is it special to you in anyway or is it just a part of your day where it’s just like I’m just doing this to get somewhere?
Bekzod: Wow [laughs] that’s like an existential question. I hope I answer it to the best of my knowledge.
Rob: [laughs] You can interpret it however you want
Bekzod: It does help for me to just extract from school and all that. Just like to take some fresh air, and enjoy the beauty of Fayetteville because I’ll be leaving soon… I started liking doing this as a hobby a little bit as in taking walks or biking and I hope I’ll be able to do it back home, but the sad thing is we don’t have trails like this. If you want to bike, there are very few places, and they are very small and packed with people. But I hope I’ll be able to keep up this habit and become more of a hobby and maybe it’ll be a good thing to do with my family
Rob: So, what do you think are some barriers for people that are looking to maybe have a little more active lifestyle when it comes to transportation?
Bekzod: That’s a good question… so in the context of my home country it’s the infrastructure. Obviously, we don’t have trails, we don’t have better conditions for those who want to bike to work or bike to wherever they are planning to go. In the context of the US. It’s partly infrastructure because cities are usually traditionally built for cars. But at the same time, I guess people don’t feel safe when they’re biking, there is a chance they might crash or whatever.
Rob: Yeah definitely
Bekzod: Yeah, but the people I know, they do bike or they do walk to their workplaces or the place they want to go because they like to do it. Just like I am, not necessarily for the sustainability purposes
Rob: Yeah, there are so many different reasons or factors going into that decision, everyone has different motivations for why they do the things they do. (passing walker) “on your right”
Rob: Okay last question. What role do you think active transportation will play in the future of this community, in Fayetteville and at the University of Arkansas?
Bekzod: I think there’s a good perspective saying that it’s going to play a huge role as in I think forgot where I read it, but I did read that like the Walton Foundation is investing a lot of money into developing better infrastructure for trails and connecting all those cities within Northwest Arkansas. So that people can bike, it’s going to be essential from a tourism perspective. Cause I know 1 or 2 people from New York that came to Northwest Arkansas for the Natural State and because there is a better infrastructure to do biking and outdoor stuff. For the university I don’t know, maybe develop further programs for sustainability and outdoor activities.
Rob: Cool sweet that’s pretty much everything
Bekzod: [laughs] Sorry man I’m probably like the worst person to ask
Rob: No, that was great. I think you have an interesting perspective… I mean at the end of the day if one person is like oh you know what I can relate to that I don’t have a car here, maybe I’ll try walking. If that happens that’s awesome.
Rob: Cool – we’re done!
By Rob Tinsley, Active Transportation Intern