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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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Here's the thing: it substitutes for a lot of trips of a several miles or less. That's enough for a lot of people to replace much of their driving.
In the U.S. most places outside of urban centers are pretty inhospitable for bikes. Even if I did have the range to replace most of my trips (I don't), I wouldn't feel safe doing so. That aspect gets a brief nod in the article but it doesn't even begin to cover situations like winter weather, or any adverse weather in general. This is the same nonsense over and over, placing the impetus for change on the individual where systematic change is required instead.
Like we say in the Netherlands: you aren’t made of sugar, are you?
Winter is something you deal with by switching to metal-studded tires and dressing appropriately. For men, that often means stuffing a wind-blocking layer between your underpants and pants to keep your genitals from getting cold.
Yes, it helps to have the systematic change...but that doesn't happen until at least some people start riding and agitating for it.
Ain't nobody gonna pay to build bike stuff if nobody rides. Quit whining and show up so we can make the systematic changes necessary.
I was more thinking about light rail
I'll take it
Buy me an e-bike.
Be the change you want to see
Quit whining and buy me a bike
get a job ya bum
Be the change you want to see and buy me a bike. The government and fossil fuels industry won't make changes to the infrastructure that enables and protects their investments until they see a critical mass of unarmed cyclists, at which point they'll throw their hands up in the air with a wimpy utterance, "Aww man! Shucks!", press a button, and poof! Bike lanes everywhere and SUVs 2/3rds their current size. People will magically work within 5 miles of their home and no need or service will be further than that either.
So quit your winning, quit being a bum, be the change you want to see and buy me an e-bike!
I understand the reluctance from people in the US. Much of the cost of car ownership happens no matter how much you drive, so switching to an ebike for some trips may not save money for a very long time if you have to keep the car. Also, riding a bike (even a class 4 ebike) in many places can be really scary. I live in Denver, and there are parts of the city that I wouldn't go with an ebike, and Denver is one of the better cities in the US for biking infrastructure.
If you can get to a point where you can rely on rentals and ride share for your car needs, getting an ebike makes sense. Otherwise, it's going to be a hard sell for a lot of people.
Most people live in some form of family/marriage situation (they may not be legally family/married, but they have lived with the same person/people for years and plan to continue that). Such situations can generally get rid of one car for a bike, sharing the other car(s) for the trips that they cannot bike for. It is more work to share a car instead of each person having a car. I know a lot of two driver families that have 3 cars just because if one car breaks they want a backup, they can get rid of the backup if they would bike for more.
Most already have a bike (not ebike, but a regular bike is good enough), it just doesn't occur to them they could ride it for errands instead of just trail rides on a nice saturday.
I totally agree. If you can replace a car with a bike or ebike, that's going to be financially worth it. Then the only questions become about safety and infrastructure.