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Why are two wheelers not popular in denser cities in the US ? Is it due to inclemental weather ? Is it cultural ? In most of Asia where dense cities are the no
by udkl 3y ago
Why are two wheelers not popular in denser cities in the US ? Is it due to inclemental weather ? Is it cultural ?
In most of Asia where dense cities are the norm, 2 wheelers are the preferred way of daily transportation, and it works very well.
- bigyikes 3y agoThey’re noisy, dangerous, and lack climate controls. (It does seem like they’d improve traffic throughput though)
- udkl 3y agoElectrics take care of the noise and climate. Traffic in dense cities flows slow making two wheelers not very dangerous within urban areas over short distances.
- mcmoor 3y agoBy climate control I think they mean that motorbikes are near unusable in rain or in sun heat. Valid point, though the benefits outweigh it for bikers in Asia.
- odiroot 3y agoModern four-stroke low-rev motorcycles/scooters are no noisier than cars. And lorries easily beat them in the noise contest.
- mcmoor 3y agoSometimes I wonder that if every single one/two person car in America switch to motorbikes, it'd already relieve congestion by a good measure.
- livinglist 3y agoNot dense enough
- danielhep 3y agoNYC is one of the densest cities in the world... much denser than many places that use scooters. I guess because the transit is so good?
- wildrhythms 3y agoPlease talk to a bicycle rider in any major city. The problem isn't density; it's the danger imposed by cars combined with poorly implemented (if at all) bike infrastructure.
- afruitpie 3y agoEven in dense US cities, being on two wheels is dangerous. Many people buy a car for safety, which ends up making the road even more dangerous! (To clarify, I’m not taking a jab at people looking out for their personal safety.)
- littlestymaar 3y ago> Even in dense US cities, being on two wheels is dangerous I think it's made particularly true because of the very low requirements for driving license in the US, which end up letting dangerously unskilled people on the road. In 2014 I went from Paris (which at that time hasn't done its cycling transition yet and I was one of the very few cycle commuter in the city by then) to Boston, and it was a terrifying experience despite the city being actually pretty gifted in terms of infrastructures (with the Charles river banks being kind of a bicycle highway). American drivers (or as least Massachusetts's) have very little spatial awareness, they watch the car in front of them and that's it (well, when they are looking at it and not their mobile phone), most of them don't even check before turning and changing lane. As a result I had 3 really close calls over the course of 4 months, when I never had a single situation as dangerous in 2 years in Paris. I also witnessed roughly as many small accidents between cars in that period than in my whole life. I discussed with other Europeans there and the ones who had to get their US driving license told me how lenient the process was compared to the European equivalents.
- ryukafalz 3y agoPut simply: because of the danger posed by all the cars, and the fact that there's typically no place to ride them that doesn't put you into frequent conflict with car drivers.