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> Most people are capable of riding a bike - especially an e-bike - to get to where they're going. I'm getting an electric moped or motorscooter at that point.

> Most people are capable of riding a bike - especially an e-bike - to get to where they're going. I'm getting an electric moped or motorscooter at that point. They are more durable, require less maintenance, are safer and handle adverse weather conditions better, can be more easily insured and are harder to steal. Also they usually cost the same or less than a good e-bike. Problem is the main path to move around a city with a vehicle is still, and will still be in the future, a road. We will simply switch to more eco-friendly vehicles. People will still want to move and carry other people and heavy stuff around without exercising, that is a modern obsessions, but not actually so common as one can imagine. Yes people own bikes, yes they do casually run them once a week or every 2 weeks (especially because kids), but except some notable (small and completely flat) exceptions, like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, in Europe Berlin comes third with 13% usage. And Berlin is considered a bike friendly city. Truth is that if numbers were reversed, 13% of the people used a car in Berlin, we would be saying that __only__ 13% of the people are using a car. In London, a 9 million people city (10x Amsterdam), only 2% of the people use a bike. It means that anyway there are more people using a bike everyday in London than in Copenhagen. I think what we really need, especially in oversized-for-no-reason USA, are smaller cars, like the Citroën Ami which I personally love. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Ami_(electric) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Ami_(electric)

joshlemer 4y ago
Have you thought about something like a RadRunner https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrunner-electric-utility-bike https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrunner-electric-ut... ? It is an ebike but is pretty cheap (less than 2k Canadian Dollars) and has a passenger seat as well. Also has a throttle so you don't have to exercise at all if you don't want to.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  When I'm not walking or using public transport, there are good options for car/scooter sharing here for about 20 cents per minute. Scooters are all electric, like this one https://www.cooltra.com/en/ https://www.cooltra.com/en/
piva00 4y ago
Berlin might be considered bike friendly but it's very far from being a good city to bike in, I regularly travel there with my bike and can compare with other European cities: - You can get around but bike paths on sidewalks are very badly maintained - Bike paths across major streets (such as the lanes on Skalitzer Straße, Karl-Marx Straße, etc.) suck balls. - Cars are often stopped on the bike lane as it's not separated from the road like in the Netherlands, and Germany being so car-centric it's allowed to stop over bike lanes. - There are many cobblestones streets to rattle you around, no separate bike lanes on sidewalks for those. - Often, bike lanes on sidewalks are very bumpy due to tree roots' undergrowth. - Bike lanes in general are very poorly separated from other traffic even though the city has quite a lot of space to properly separate pedestrians, bikes and cars. I do enjoy Berlin to bike as it's extremely flat but the infrastructure is not even close to good. In Stockholm I have some issues with maintenance and some bike lanes in the center but its infrastructure is much more inviting to biking than Berlin. Sharing a 50-60km/h road with cars just separated by a painted line is not great.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  > In Stockholm I have some issues with maintenance and some bike lanes in the center but its infrastructure is much more inviting to biking than Berlin. And yet according to ECF (European Cyclists Federation) Stockholm is stuck at 9% usage. My point is: there are many other factors that drive bike adoption, bike lanes, infrastructures and "they are good for your health" are not enough to convince a majority of the people, apparently. Or maybe, except Holland, 15%-20% is kinda of a hard limit, very difficult to surpass, and we should start considering that in general no more than that will use a bike and plan infrastructure accordingly. Sometimes I have the feeling that wishful thinking takes precedence over harsh reality. The only other country where bike usage is more than 30% that I know of is China, for the opposite reason though, people are too poor to afford to buy a car. That also explains the boom of dirty cheap micro electric cars in China.
  - kafkaesk 4y ago
    Why except Holland? Or parts of Denmark and Germany for that matter? It seems that 30-40% of bike share is definitely already happening in the harsh reality [1]. Add in another 30% walking and public transpor and a majority car-free city is definitely possible. And highly desirable for a myriad of reasons (public health, quality of life, sustainability, energy independence) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_share https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_share
deleted 4y ago
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joshlemer 4y ago

Have you thought about something like a RadRunner https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrunner-electric-utility-bike https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radrunner-electric-ut... ? It is an ebike but is pretty cheap (less than 2k Canadian Dollars) and has a passenger seat as well. Also has a throttle so you don't have to exercise at all if you don't want to.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
When I'm not walking or using public transport, there are good options for car/scooter sharing here for about 20 cents per minute. Scooters are all electric, like this one https://www.cooltra.com/en/ https://www.cooltra.com/en/

piva00 4y ago

Berlin might be considered bike friendly but it's very far from being a good city to bike in, I regularly travel there with my bike and can compare with other European cities: - You can get around but bike paths on sidewalks are very badly maintained - Bike paths across major streets (such as the lanes on Skalitzer Straße, Karl-Marx Straße, etc.) suck balls. - Cars are often stopped on the bike lane as it's not separated from the road like in the Netherlands, and Germany being so car-centric it's allowed to stop over bike lanes. - There are many cobblestones streets to rattle you around, no separate bike lanes on sidewalks for those. - Often, bike lanes on sidewalks are very bumpy due to tree roots' undergrowth. - Bike lanes in general are very poorly separated from other traffic even though the city has quite a lot of space to properly separate pedestrians, bikes and cars. I do enjoy Berlin to bike as it's extremely flat but the infrastructure is not even close to good. In Stockholm I have some issues with maintenance and some bike lanes in the center but its infrastructure is much more inviting to biking than Berlin. Sharing a 50-60km/h road with cars just separated by a painted line is not great.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> In Stockholm I have some issues with maintenance and some bike lanes in the center but its infrastructure is much more inviting to biking than Berlin. And yet according to ECF (European Cyclists Federation) Stockholm is stuck at 9% usage. My point is: there are many other factors that drive bike adoption, bike lanes, infrastructures and "they are good for your health" are not enough to convince a majority of the people, apparently. Or maybe, except Holland, 15%-20% is kinda of a hard limit, very difficult to surpass, and we should start considering that in general no more than that will use a bike and plan infrastructure accordingly. Sometimes I have the feeling that wishful thinking takes precedence over harsh reality. The only other country where bike usage is more than 30% that I know of is China, for the opposite reason though, people are too poor to afford to buy a car. That also explains the boom of dirty cheap micro electric cars in China.
- kafkaesk 4y ago
  Why except Holland? Or parts of Denmark and Germany for that matter? It seems that 30-40% of bike share is definitely already happening in the harsh reality [1]. Add in another 30% walking and public transpor and a majority car-free city is definitely possible. And highly desirable for a myriad of reasons (public health, quality of life, sustainability, energy independence) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_share https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modal_share

deleted 4y ago

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