The secret to a better city is a two-wheeler
E-bikes get cars off the road and reduce pollution—and that's only part of why places like Denver are giving them away.
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/6623846
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Here's a story I have for you: A couple of days ago I was calmly walking home with my wife when I heard a little bell ring behind me accompanied by an annoyingly high pitched "Make way, pleeeease". I turned around to see, I shit you not, at least ten assholes on bicycles on the fucking sidewalk. Naturally, I reacted the only way a sensible person would by yelling "Fuck off. You're on the sidewalk." and kept strolling home followed by a line of jerks on bicycles absolutely shocked that someone disliked their behaviour. Giving motorcycles to idiots who think they can do no wrong because they're not in a car is not the solution. Stop glorifying bicycles and start pushing for walkable cities.
Here's a story I have for you: There's this jogger in my city who really is a jerk. Pedestrians always think they have the right of way, stop advocating for walkable cities, he doesn't deserve accommodation. \s
Sorry you had that experience, but while that sucks for you, it is irrelevant: People can be assholes no matter what transportation they choose. I must assume you did everything right then, but you can just as easily imagine a pedestrian asshole in that situation, just by changing the location to a state where cyclists are required to use the sidewalk. Or specifically Denver like in the article, while pedestrians have the right of way in Colorado, cycling is allowed, so 1 pedestrian holding up 10 cyclists for no good reason is a jerkish move.
So I think it is OK to advocate E-bikes here as they put people who live in somewhat car dependant places on the right path, even if a walkable city is the goal.
Pedestrians do have the right of way, specially on the sidewalk. It doesn't matter if you think it's a jerk move. A pedestrian crashing into another person also can't do anywhere near the damage someone on a bike can. By your same stupid logic, cyclists shouldn't use the road because they hold up traffic.
Sorry if it wasn't clear, my logic was never "cyclists should be able to bully pedestrians because cyclists are faster"
My logic is: It takes like 10 second for an pedestrian to step to the side, let 10 bikes pass, and then move again like nothing happened. Or literally no time at all if they just don't take up the whole sidewalk and the bikes can pass safely. The cyclist in general also wants to have a safety gap to the pedestrian because a crash is just as dangerous to both parties. That is entirely different to bikes on the road, which need a minute and a lot of energy do accelerate again, and if a crash happens, only the cyclist is in danger, so drivers can get sloppy.
And it does matter that I think it's a jerkish move, because all I saw in your comment was "sometimes, cyclists are assholes". If there is anything more there, let me know, because I can't see anything else in your anecdote.
I specifically avoided, not only calling cyclists assholes, but calling the people in my story cyclists. It also takes like 10 seconds for a cyclist to get off of the cycling path to allow a line of 10 cars that have invaded it to pass. That's entirely not the point. If a cyclist is aware that they should keep their distance from a pedestrian, then they wouldn't be on the sidewalk or they would get off the bike and push it, which is what the law says. There's no ifs or buts. Giving motorcycles to people who don't understand that and calling them "ebikes" will just endanger everyone.
