Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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ebikes.
I know people thag commute 30+ miles a day. Don't know if an e-bike will fix that.
I mean, not all solutions need to solve all problems. Really the solution here is a carbon tax, penalizing the creation of CO2eq directly, rather than playing whack-a-mole with various contributing factors. Then, reform zoning laws and start improving transit/urban infrastructure.
The current sprawling state of US cities isn't something that can be fixed very quickly. But ebikes can do a lot to fill the gap. Ebikes are fast and cheap to manufacture, are democratic, and provide timely transport in an ~15mi radius. Complimenting ebikes, city governments should implement BRT systems. BRT isn't as sexy as trains, but it could be implemented in a month or two with basically no expense via paint and traffic signal programming. Beyond this, what would be amazing is a bus designed for rapidly loading/unloading ebikes, resolving the last mile problem at both the start and end of trips.
So your friends who live 30 miles from work could ebike to the BRT stop, jump on with their bike, ride across town, unload their bike, and ride to work. Or with the zoning changes, they could simply move closer to their work.
Or they could - get this - continue driving their current ICE vehicle until the built environment is sufficiently reformed. Or buy an EV which is designed to navigate the current auto-oriented landscape. That's why the carbon tax is important. Ebikes and BRT might not work for all people in all situations. People need to be free to make their own choices about what works best for them, and that may very well be an EV. Certainly the more radical elements in this sub might hate the idea, but no one who actually knows anything about urban design thinks we're going to be able to snap our fingers and get rid of cars overnight. The point is to make eco-friendly cities that make people happy - and forcing people to commute an hour via ebike in a Michigan winter isn't going to make anyone happy.
But that doesn't change the fact that for a great number of people (and an even greater number of trips) ebikes are not only an eco-friendly solution, but an economical and fun one.