As the author mentioned the rise of ebikes is counteracting this, however the ones popular with teens (Surrons and other similar chinese brands) require you to

As the author mentioned the rise of ebikes is counteracting this, however the ones popular with teens (Surrons and other similar chinese brands) require you to cut one wire to remove the speed limiter and then they can do 50MPH. The idea of common spaces in American cities largely died during & after Covid. Anything you did in public (gyms, eating out, public transport, apartment common areas) was suddenly prey to whatever idea a politician had that morning. I think we all remember walking into a restaurant with a mask on, to promptly take it off as soon as you sat down. At the same time as these guidelines were being piled on, basically all laws below murder stopped being enforced. So you had to negotiate a bus full of drug addicts shooting up and riding for free, or leave the sidewalk because it had been taken over by a tent city. Personal transport is required in America, the places with the infrastructure to avoid it dont have the capacity to govern (any big city). The places with the governing capacity (suburban, rural areas) dont have the infrastructure.