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I'd settle for subsidized ebikes and safer bike lanes. Not for everyone obviously, but in my world that would get a lot more people out of their cars. Good publ

I'd settle for subsidized ebikes and safer bike lanes. Not for everyone obviously, but in my world that would get a lot more people out of their cars. Good public transit would be great too though.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
I'm about to move to a bikable area and I am planning to do an ebike conversion. I am suuuper excited to finally have an electric vehicle, and the actual energy usage is super low! A 0.9 kWh pack will take you 60 miles and costs ten cents to fill up. People talk about electric cars versus trains but subsidized ebikes are something we can do now and would make a huge difference! Just the idea that I can ebike to the BART station, hop on the train and end up all over the bay, ebike where I need to go and get back all for a few dollars is exciting.
- supertrope 4y ago
  E-Bikes still depend on municipal bike infrastructure which cannot be individually purchased. Re-allocation of on-street parking to protected bike lanes, traffic calming, legalization of denser housing has to happen at the public policy level.
  - TaylorAlexander 4y ago
    Yes absolutely! I am really pleased to find that the Bay Area governments have done a lot of work there, and I found that they have active plans to continue this build out. But I guess what I am saying is they are much more energy efficient than electric cars, and the infrastructure requirements are way simpler than trains. By the way I just found the mode on Google Maps that highlights bike friendly roads and it is cool to explore. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8149208,-122.2338056,13.13z/data=!5m2!1e4!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8149208,-122.2338056,13.13z/... You can read more about the long term plans to better support bike paths in the Bay Area on the Plan Bay Area 2050. https://www.planbayarea.org/ https://www.planbayarea.org/ For example they are going to expand the bike path on the Bay Bridge that currently goes from Oakland to Treasure Island so that it connects all the way to San Francisco: https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/transportation/bicycle-pedestrian-micromobility/bay-skyway https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/transportation/bicycle-pedestria... I just thought all that was neat. Anyway you are totally right. I just think this stuff is simpler than trains to implement so it is important to consider, though I fully support trains too! A good plan should include both. Also I am not saying we should leave this up to individuals. But for example we have seen huge subsidies for electric cars while subsidies for ebikes have been lacking, with some movement finally towards that direction. I'm in favor of government plans that emphasize the green value of ebikes in addition to trains and electric cars.
lambdasquirrel 4y ago
A longer-term re-think might have us using e-bikes or e-scooters for the last-mile, and using buses / commuter rail to get to nearby waypoints.
- AstralStorm 4y ago
  I'd take busses and rail to be redesigned a bit for bike friendliness. Right now, it's very hard to move a bicycle in these.
- switchbak 4y ago
  That's a good point too. They really have the potential to reshape how we view last mile and short urban trips. With proper support from other transport modes (ie: trains supporting them), this could really open things up.
nortonham 4y ago
why not all of the above? All of these things will be necessary if we want to reduce our dependence on cars, which we need to do.

I'd settle for subsidized ebikes and safer bike lanes. Not for everyone obviously, but in my world that would get a lot more people out of their cars. Good public transit would be great too though.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago

I'm about to move to a bikable area and I am planning to do an ebike conversion. I am suuuper excited to finally have an electric vehicle, and the actual energy usage is super low! A 0.9 kWh pack will take you 60 miles and costs ten cents to fill up. People talk about electric cars versus trains but subsidized ebikes are something we can do now and would make a huge difference! Just the idea that I can ebike to the BART station, hop on the train and end up all over the bay, ebike where I need to go and get back all for a few dollars is exciting.

supertrope 4y ago
E-Bikes still depend on municipal bike infrastructure which cannot be individually purchased. Re-allocation of on-street parking to protected bike lanes, traffic calming, legalization of denser housing has to happen at the public policy level.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Yes absolutely! I am really pleased to find that the Bay Area governments have done a lot of work there, and I found that they have active plans to continue this build out. But I guess what I am saying is they are much more energy efficient than electric cars, and the infrastructure requirements are way simpler than trains. By the way I just found the mode on Google Maps that highlights bike friendly roads and it is cool to explore. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8149208,-122.2338056,13.13z/data=!5m2!1e4!1e3 https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8149208,-122.2338056,13.13z/... You can read more about the long term plans to better support bike paths in the Bay Area on the Plan Bay Area 2050. https://www.planbayarea.org/ https://www.planbayarea.org/ For example they are going to expand the bike path on the Bay Bridge that currently goes from Oakland to Treasure Island so that it connects all the way to San Francisco: https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/transportation/bicycle-pedestrian-micromobility/bay-skyway https://mtc.ca.gov/planning/transportation/bicycle-pedestria... I just thought all that was neat. Anyway you are totally right. I just think this stuff is simpler than trains to implement so it is important to consider, though I fully support trains too! A good plan should include both. Also I am not saying we should leave this up to individuals. But for example we have seen huge subsidies for electric cars while subsidies for ebikes have been lacking, with some movement finally towards that direction. I'm in favor of government plans that emphasize the green value of ebikes in addition to trains and electric cars.

lambdasquirrel 4y ago

A longer-term re-think might have us using e-bikes or e-scooters for the last-mile, and using buses / commuter rail to get to nearby waypoints.

AstralStorm 4y ago
I'd take busses and rail to be redesigned a bit for bike friendliness. Right now, it's very hard to move a bicycle in these.
switchbak 4y ago
That's a good point too. They really have the potential to reshape how we view last mile and short urban trips. With proper support from other transport modes (ie: trains supporting them), this could really open things up.

nortonham 4y ago

why not all of the above? All of these things will be necessary if we want to reduce our dependence on cars, which we need to do.