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nucleative

Why do you or why don't you use an ebike for your commute? (self.ebikes)

submitted 1 year ago by nucleative to c/ebikes

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I live in a city where public transportation is overcrowded, there's constant vehicle traffic, and you can't depend on any commute time for a given day or hour. The average temperature is very high, so walking is a sweaty affair.

The only way I've found to make this city more usable is with an ebike and scooter. It's like the perfect vehicle for these conditions.

However, many people reject the technology and either choose their car or other forms of getting around.

Is it because it's not well understood, or seems too expensive?

I'm curious what sold you on the technology or what is the reason you're not making the leap.

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[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here's the problem-

I have to ride through my subdivision. Not that big a deal.

Down a road with no shoulder. Getting to be a bigger deal.

Down a four-lane highway. Getting to be a super big deal.

Then through an industrial park that semis constantly drive through, also without a shoulder. Pretty fucking stupid to bike there.

Oh, and none of this is within city limits.

One day I hope to work from home the whole time instead of a half-and-half hybrid schedule, but until then, any sort of bike isn't practical. I do have a hybrid and my commute is only 10 minutes long, so it's not a huge impact, but I'm not going anywhere bike-friendly except my subdivision.

[–] nucleative 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you think the major problem with adoption is the infrastructure?

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Definitely, but you can't expect infrastructure like you have in a city that you do outside city limits where both I live and where I work is. At some point, you just can't expect the money to be spent on that sort of infrastructure. I absolutely believe cities should move to be as carless and pedestrian and bike-friendly as possible, but you're not going to see that on county roads or rural stretches of highway.

[–] nucleative 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I totally agree with this, micromobility isn't meant for 5+ miles/kilometers as that's the domain of larger vehicles that can handle speed.

Can I ask why you don't live in micromobility range and how that decision might be impacted of the cost of a car were eliminated?

[–] FlyingSquid 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Again, the place I work is not inside city limits. It's in a rural industrial park. Even if I moved to city limits, it still wouldn't be practical for me to bike to work because it doesn't solve many of the problems and create new ones. You might as well ask why I don't just get a different job. Which is getting to be unreasonable.

[–] nucleative 2 points 1 year ago

Fair enough, it doesn't seem like your stuation is one that micromobility attempts to address.

When I was much younger I lived at a place about an hours drive away from my work a decided that I'd rather pay more to live in a smaller place, closer to the workplace and regain almost 10 hours of my week. It was worth it to me. But I know it's a matter of preference and ability as I didn't need a larger home at the time.

Now that I'm in a city center (of a huge city, metro area more than 10 million people) for similar reasons, micromobility is a natural fit.