by ivanstegic on 12/28/21, 12:11 AM with 61 comments
by dang on 12/28/21, 1:19 AM
"Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
If you want to say what you think is important about an article, that's fine, but do it by adding a comment to the thread. Then your view will be on a level playing field with everyone else's: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
by scrollaway on 12/28/21, 1:06 AM
Cycling infra suffers from a catch 22: if there isn't any, people won't purchase bikes and thus won't bike. If people don't bike, cycling infrastructure isn't in demand.
Shared e-bikes lower the barrier of entry to cycling and thus people push their cities to invest in cycling infrastructure. Which increases cycling as a whole.
E-scooters are horrible but i suspect they have a similar positive effect long term.
Course correction on decades of car dependency may require over-correction in certain cities. E-scooters are likely that.
Here in Brussels, the sudden popularity of e-scooters caused a few e-bike startups to appear and get funding. The e-scooter boom faded but e-bikes gained as a result, and demand for cycling infrastructure is way up. Now the city is seriously pedestrianizing everything, which would not have happened had there not been these low barrier of entry alternatives (public transportation is very mediocre).
by tick_tock_tick on 12/28/21, 12:30 AM
by seoaeu on 12/28/21, 12:39 AM
by Aerroon on 12/28/21, 12:54 AM
The not so nice thing is that they're unreliable. I can't plan to meet someone at 4:30 pm and plan using a shared ebike to get there. The bike is likely going to be unavailable and I would be late.
by dogmatism on 12/28/21, 12:51 AM
by zild3d on 12/28/21, 12:47 AM
What? "Shared e-bike" for me typically replaces "car"
by CatsEyes on 12/28/21, 4:21 AM
For example, one element that's sorely lacking for personal ebikes is widespread security. As things stand now, parking them anywhere in public regularly is a nonstarter due to high value and ease of theft. When a critical mass of personal ebikes makes secured parking services viable, then we have a positive feedback loop that encourages more people to use them.
by schimmy_changa on 12/28/21, 12:52 AM
Another piece not really discussed: shared e-bikes are a gateway drug for buying your own e-bike. You discover the freedom to move about a city without showing up sweaty and it's wonderful. Additionally, more people on 2-wheels / scooters = more support for cycling infrastructure = more cycling!
This type of research is great, but man the headlines suck and are clickbait-y.
by ralusek on 12/28/21, 12:31 AM
This doesn't say what the title says. Surely this basically lies in what they've determined to be the transport modes being replaced rather than the bikes or scooters themselves.
by schwartzworld on 12/28/21, 12:46 AM
by 0xdeadb00f on 12/28/21, 8:52 AM
I hate these goddamn scooters. I swear at peak hour in the city center where I am, where there are heaps of people walking down the street, these stupid goddamn fucking scooters are parked one after the other making the footpath at least 40% smaller. It's so infuriating having to walk around these goddamn things, avoid fucking tripping over them because they're so badly placed.
I just want to get from point A to my bus stop. Is that too much to ask?
by vkou on 12/28/21, 1:06 AM
I'm not particularly convinced by the figure in 5.2. While the personal automobile costs may be accurate per average mile, it's not clear to me if it is accurate per short-trip mile.
by xiphias2 on 12/28/21, 12:49 AM
by thghtihadanacct on 12/28/21, 1:00 AM