one thing they don’t mention in this article, is that bikes also cause essentially no wear and tear on road surfaces compared to cars and trucks, and re-paving is a pretty oil intensive and expensive process. the long term oil savings of reducing car usage in favor of bikes should therefore be even greater than their numbers suggest.
They also just need less street to begin with because they take up less space. Considering that it’s the ‘need’ to shoehorn in wide roads and parking lots that makes places car-dependent in the first place, the positive impact of more people switching to bikes is even greater than “even greater!”
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how tf are you gonna bike in the country
Get a mountain bike?
they’re illegal on the US interstate system. i don’t say this because i think riding from Chicago to NYC on a ebike would be fun or is a good idea but because lots of people use the interstate to go one of two exits from the suburbs into the city.
the interstate system needs a bike lane
Yes, or a nice “green lane” separated from interstate but as efficient.
In Europe we layed out intercity bikelanes on secondary roads, it is very efficient as there are less traffic lights than roads.
Plus, I would prefer not to breathe gas vapors and tires wear during my daily commute, especially with kids to bring to school or activities
In America, we layed out highways to segregate and displace minorities and maximize economic gains related to the consumption of oil.
Riding a bike on I-95 would be miserable due to the noise and wind, but also amazing biking past all the traffic.
One other nice thing about electric bikes is they’re extremely simple, enough that a moderately savvy individual can convert an ordinary bike into an e-bike with a kit from Bafang or other manufacturers. Converting a gas car to electric is much more complex, expensive, and time-consuming.
NGL I’m really close to convincing myself to buy an electric bike
In all honesty I’ll probably do it this spring once there’s less ice
The cycling infrastructure sucks where I’m at so weather is something I have to factor for
But even riding it only 2-3 days a week it’d pay for itself surprisingly quickly in gas savings
