02-13-2024, 06:17 PM
(02-13-2024, 01:58 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:(02-12-2024, 05:28 PM)plam Wrote: Also again going to point out that (e)bikes are often the fastest way to get around anything that one should consider a city. (Is Waterloo a city? Well...)
This is a good addition but I’m going to throw escooters (the lime things but one you own) into contention. At least for short trips they’re faster because you can carry them into your destination saving on parking time.
One thing the Dutch have done very well on is reducing the parking time for bikes. Wheel locks+ very accessible racks + smartly equipped bike cargo means I can be off my bike an in a door in less than 15 seconds sometimes, where as in Canada between fumbling with a u lock, unhooking panniers, and less convenient parking it’s often more like 1-2 minutes and if there is protected parking, which is nice, it can be even 3-5 minutes to get down into the secure parking area and then back out. It’s why I used a kick scooter (the non e kind) for going to work when my work was a 1-2 minute bike ride away. Yeah, the ride was a bit longer but the end of trip time was way shorter.
Fair enough. Even in 2016 there were tons of people in suits riding kick scooters around Zurich. Bikes are faster than parking but slower than scooters. (I never use panniers but I guess they're slower).