😀🚲You know, if those trips were going to be taken on bikes without motors, they already would. #eBikes are the bikes that don't gather dust in the back of the garage, that actually replace car trips. Some people don't need them, but the people still in cars clearly aren't those ones.
It's not going to get someone into shape to feel defeated on the way home from the grocery store, trudging up the last hill with a laden acoustic bike. Many people are not going to go ride it just for exercise. An easy car replacement, even if you barely pedal, is going to get you more active than sitting in a car. I've heard plenty of these stories from people who were able to gradually get in shape thanks to the assisted moderate effort of regular e-bike use. It just removes barriers.
sanae 
(SF)@enobacon also like convincing other people to get exercise is pretty low on my list of priorities, people can make whatever transportation choices they like that don't involve messing up the planet I'm living on
Daigoro Toyama@sanae @enobacon There are studies that indicate riding an e-bike can get you as fit as riding an acoustic one, or even more fit. The main reason seems to be that as you said, an e-bike will encourage you to ride more and further, thereby resulting in more physical work than just riding an acoustic bike here and there.
@daihard @enobacon either way I think it's pretty unimportant. I actually think the focus on fitness is bad because it cements the idea that riding a bike is something you do for recreation, maybe something where you even drive your bike to the starting point, or as part of a niche fitness oriented lifestyle, rather than a way to get around. It also makes riding a bike sound a lot more challenging than it actually is for people who do not see themselves in fitness oriented subcultures
@sanae @daihard it's hard to strike a balance between talking-up the benefits in terms of public health and individual fitness without making some ideal of fitness seem like a mandate. Staying/getting healthy enough to easily climb stairs is nice, but there is also this pile of money we each individually set on fire every year just to transport our bodies and a bit of cargo (and then again collectively via the DOT budget, to keep individuals coerced into torching their own pile of cash.)
@sanae @daihard the argument in favor of policy which allows for short trips to be largely replaced with e-bikes, does need to be credited with the benefits of an overall healthier population with reduced sedentary disease, added productivity of a workforce that misses fewer days, there's quite a benefit to regular daily activity of moderate effort for 20min etc. IDK, cities not punching themselves in the face with anti-bike infrastructure just pays for itself so many times over. 💸
@enobacon @daihard I feel like it kind of plays into the stereotype that biking is only for athletic young people. This perception has been a pretty major barrier in getting bike infrastructure built. Especially combined with a perception that the purpose of bike infrastructure is to push everyone but the young and affluent out of cities
like one of the great things about ebikes is that they allow more people to ride bikes, including people who *don't* want to be getting exercise (or can't)