this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2024
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

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Ebikes, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, longboards, eboards, motorcycles, skates, unicycles: Whatever floats your goat, this is all things micromobility!

"Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones that may be borrowed as part of a self-service rental program in which people rent vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

micromobility is seen as a potential solution to moving people more efficiently around cities"

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Government proposal to double ebike power has received a mixed reception with brands questioning what it will mean for the UK bike industry

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I wish I could read the comments here. Bikes here are capped at 25km/h. I think 30km/h would be nice, cause that's also the speedlimit in many cities here.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's wild. City speed limits here are between 55km/h and 70km/h here.

I've always wondered what the commuting use case for these bikes were since they can't keep up with traffic here. I guess now I know lol.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why do you need to keep up with traffic?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So you don't present a road hazard? Same reason you can't just bicycle down the middle lane of a highway, or why minimum speed limits exist.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Here bikes are fairly common on fairly big 1 or 2 lane rural-ish roads that are around 70 km/h.

Lots of drivers get annoyed but other than that I don't think accidents are particularly common.

In the city the traffic is often slower. Bikes are also often separated by at least a line on the road, ideally trees. Bikers can also often bike on the smaller interior roads that are one lane or even one way one lane.

Suburban environments often have completely separated bike/walk paths.

Bikes aren't a road hazard for cars. The opposite is true though. Fortunately cars often go slightly into the oncoming car lane and/or slow down when there are bikes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Ah, we don't have bike lanes here, pretty much at all. That probably explains it.

Having rural roads at 70km/h is also weird to me. Ours are 90-135km/h, depending on whether there are curves, poorly maintained sections, etc. Most are 105km/h or 120km/h.

We do have plenty of city streets at 70km/h, but nobody rides on them. Like I said, no bike lanes, people will throw things at you if you try.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

What I consider to be rural or country roads can be around 70-90.

Here are images of what I consider to be rural/country roads:

This is a pretty common sight during the summer half of the year:

Another common sight is drivers complaining about them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

In my city there's a large portion where we don't even have sidewalks or crosswalks. You have to risk your life to cross the street without a car or motorcycle.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

My city doesn't have them most places either. Its kind of okay though, because we have massive block zoning, and nobody is walking 8km in 38C weather for a kebab.

Sucks if you're poor though. My partner literally pays more for their car than everything else combined, because they are disabled and cannot work. The car is like $700 and their rent + groceries is $600.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wow. That's really cheap for rent though. Is that average where you are?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

No, they live in an old houseboat parked on some guy's back patio. My rent and utilities on a 1br is $1100 in the same part of town, and average here is probably $1300 to $1700, depending on neighborhood.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

30 kph is fine, but the top speed in the US is 45 kph (Class I vs Class III) feels crazy fast.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Bruh, my electric skateboard can do more than that