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As someone with a background in transportation planning, I'm over the moon for increased adoption of electric assist bikes. One of the best correlates for bicy

As someone with a background in transportation planning, I'm over the moon for increased adoption of electric assist bikes. One of the best correlates for bicyclist safety is... how many other bikes there are around. The most plausible explanation for this is the habituation of drivers to the presence of bicyclists. If electric assist bikes add to the numbers of bicyclists on the road, then this is a win. Bicyclists also tend to feel safer and thus ride more when there is dedicated bicycle infrastructure. This is particularly true for certain classes of rider (moms on bikes with kids in tow are considered the indicator species for a healthy transportation system). If electric assist bikes increase rates of bicycling, then it also helps generate the political will to create dedicated infrastructure. This all leads to a virtuous cycle (no pun intended) of more bikes, more safety, more infrastructure, more bikes, greater mobility, more health. Living in Seattle, I can very much understand why the hills might be an impediment for bicycling. We have the technology to flatten out the hills via power assist. Shaming power assist users just hurts the overall bicycling ecosystem. By all means, power up the hill under your own steam, but don't begrudge the person who needs a little help or who just doesn't want to arrive sweaty.

auntienomen 9y ago
Let me also add: E-bikes make for a significantly faster commute than normal bikes. I commute through a crowded and hilly suburb. Driving round trips takes about 25 minutes. E-biking takes about 35 minutes. Biking takes about 60 minutes. It's a very nice compromise between exercise and more time with the kids.
- peatmoss 9y ago
  Exactly—it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be able to power up and down hills at Lance Armstrong speeds. I can travel very long distances up and down hills under my own power... given the right balance of speed and gear ratio. I don't always have the luxury of that time. If I lived further up the hill, or had more hills that I regularly dealt with, I'd very much own an electric assist.
phicoh 9y ago
I wonder what will happen when electric bikes start to dominate. Let's assume that an electric bike can easily do 25 km/h (15 mph) and slower bikes will do roughly 15 km/h (10 mph). In Dutch cities, especially in Amsterdam, you now have a problem with the slower class of mopeds. Legally they can only go 25 km/h. In practice they go faster, but not as fast as a regular moped. But they tend to be as big and bulky as scooters. Too big for narrow cycle paths. So people on bikes feel unsafe. Currently, electric bikes still look like bikes. Just like the really early mopeds. But there is no reason for that. You can make them big en bulky. Completely protect the person riding them from the elements. And then people on regular bikes not only have cars to fear, but also electric bikes. Only solution is to have really wide bicycle paths. Which turns into 'bike streets' where bicycles and cars share the road. And then we have come full circle.
- peatmoss 9y ago
  The problem you describe sounds like a very nice utopia to have here in the United States :-) We have this issue today in Seattle with regular push bikes—no electricity needed. We have people who are more than capable of maintaining speeds in excess of 15mph on facilities like the Burke-Gilman Trail. And those people strike me as jerks when I watch them exasperatedly blow past slow-moving families. Most of the "Burke-Gilman Racing Team" eventually figures out that they'll have a better riding experience mixing with cars on the road. When you have a lot more people riding, you start to see those kinds of norms reinforced. Last, bike-on-bike serious injury / fatality collisions are rare. If, in the United States, we get to this dystopian bicycling hellscape of... Amsterdam... that you describe, I'll gladly throw my all into helping to mitigate the problem you describe.
  - phicoh 9y ago
    Maybe norms work differently in the US. Bikes are the majority on cycle paths. But that doesn't stop 'mopeds' from passing left and right. Car drivers don't have much patience with bikes and mopeds that should be on the bike path but are blocking the main road instead. So the slow mopeds stay on the bike path (where they legally have to be as well). Bike paths are good for avoiding accidents where car and bike travel in the same direction. Certainly outside cities they are much better than having bikes on the road. Unfortunately, they don't help much on intersections. So that's where lots of accidents now happen. In fact they make the situation worse, because when a truck tries to take a right turn, bikes continue going straight on the bike path.

auntienomen 9y ago

Let me also add: E-bikes make for a significantly faster commute than normal bikes. I commute through a crowded and hilly suburb. Driving round trips takes about 25 minutes. E-biking takes about 35 minutes. Biking takes about 60 minutes. It's a very nice compromise between exercise and more time with the kids.

peatmoss 9y ago
Exactly—it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be able to power up and down hills at Lance Armstrong speeds. I can travel very long distances up and down hills under my own power... given the right balance of speed and gear ratio. I don't always have the luxury of that time. If I lived further up the hill, or had more hills that I regularly dealt with, I'd very much own an electric assist.

phicoh 9y ago

I wonder what will happen when electric bikes start to dominate. Let's assume that an electric bike can easily do 25 km/h (15 mph) and slower bikes will do roughly 15 km/h (10 mph). In Dutch cities, especially in Amsterdam, you now have a problem with the slower class of mopeds. Legally they can only go 25 km/h. In practice they go faster, but not as fast as a regular moped. But they tend to be as big and bulky as scooters. Too big for narrow cycle paths. So people on bikes feel unsafe. Currently, electric bikes still look like bikes. Just like the really early mopeds. But there is no reason for that. You can make them big en bulky. Completely protect the person riding them from the elements. And then people on regular bikes not only have cars to fear, but also electric bikes. Only solution is to have really wide bicycle paths. Which turns into 'bike streets' where bicycles and cars share the road. And then we have come full circle.

peatmoss 9y ago
The problem you describe sounds like a very nice utopia to have here in the United States :-) We have this issue today in Seattle with regular push bikes—no electricity needed. We have people who are more than capable of maintaining speeds in excess of 15mph on facilities like the Burke-Gilman Trail. And those people strike me as jerks when I watch them exasperatedly blow past slow-moving families. Most of the "Burke-Gilman Racing Team" eventually figures out that they'll have a better riding experience mixing with cars on the road. When you have a lot more people riding, you start to see those kinds of norms reinforced. Last, bike-on-bike serious injury / fatality collisions are rare. If, in the United States, we get to this dystopian bicycling hellscape of... Amsterdam... that you describe, I'll gladly throw my all into helping to mitigate the problem you describe.
- phicoh 9y ago
  Maybe norms work differently in the US. Bikes are the majority on cycle paths. But that doesn't stop 'mopeds' from passing left and right. Car drivers don't have much patience with bikes and mopeds that should be on the bike path but are blocking the main road instead. So the slow mopeds stay on the bike path (where they legally have to be as well). Bike paths are good for avoiding accidents where car and bike travel in the same direction. Certainly outside cities they are much better than having bikes on the road. Unfortunately, they don't help much on intersections. So that's where lots of accidents now happen. In fact they make the situation worse, because when a truck tries to take a right turn, bikes continue going straight on the bike path.