People of Mastodon!

I'm researching the growth of ebikes ...

... in cities around the US

I've talked to many people who love them!

But also want to include the perspective of folks who have concerns ...

... i.e. about the speed and weight of ebikes in accidents with pedestrians or other cyclists, and the like

If anyone has thoughts they wanna share, ping me! I'm all ears: [email protected]

Pass this along if you know anyone else with perspective they want to share

#fedibikes

@clive I wonder to what extent this is a regional/cultural/infrastructural thing. In my neighborhood in SF, ~ all ebike use is parents on big cargo bikes, driving like boring, safety-conscious parents. I have family in SoCal, and there looooots of ebike use is teenagers driving pedal-less near-motorcycles like teenagers (while the parents drive SUVs, of course). Both "ebikes" but worlds apart in the experience of people around them.

@luis_in_brief

Yes, excellent point

I think it's highly contigent on this stuff

Here in NYC, it's heavily infrastructural: There was a noticeable increase in cycling propelled by COVID -- plus the consistent rollout of bikeshare stands -- that has continued to this day; it's made a couple of major bike routes in and out of manhattan surprisingly congested during peak periods ...

... with conflicts between bikes and regular bikes

@clive yeah, I wonder how much some of the concern about "ebikes" is really concern about infrastructure. (I hate having to drive on sidewalks, for example, but sometimes that's far and away the safest thing...)

There's also status quo bias. It drives me nuts the number of SFans who genuinely believe that cyclists in SF are as dangerous to pedestrians as cars, when cars have killed nearly 300 people since the last time a cyclist killed a pedestrian in the city. But those deaths are normalized.

@luis_in_brief @clive I seriously think older generations view all cyclists like messengers or roadies from the 80s, swerving about, and in their disdain they are unwilling / unable to acknowledge that e-bikes have fundamentally changed ridership demographics and patterns. *way* more women ride now — I suspect cargo bike ridership is split 50/50 between moms and dads

@burritojustice @luis_in_brief

yep yep -- I believe I've seen stats on ebikes having a higher ridership by women than traditional bikes