Perhaps one of the best ways to help conserve our dwindling source of carbon fuel (and save a little cash too) is not to buy a new, more environmentally viable automotive, but to not buy an automotive at all.
Europe is experiencing a huge increase in electric bike sales, exhibited by France’s 40% increase from 2006 to 2007. Electric bicycles are useful for larger urban areas where longer distances and large hills can mean increased work. For professionals in this atmosphere, biking to work can be arduous and untidy. Electric bikes not only move faster and provided added help on steep hills, they still employ pedal-power. The battery is often lead-based with a limited lifespan of about a year, but newer models can go up to 62 miles without needing to recharge.
Most popular electric bike models are Chinese imports, which not only cost less but are better built. The average for a standard bike is about $500, but some high-end models can go for upwards of $4,600, which is still less that your average American commuter vehicle.
Bike sharing is another popular idea in college campuses and urban centers such as Montreal and Vancouver. By signing up to use a bike-sharing program you are given a membership card and able to bike to a designated docking station and leave it. Another program participant can then unlock it, take the bike and move on. Meanwhile other bikes will be left at the spot for you when you exit. Montreal has an added bonus of solar-powered electric bikes in use, making biking about as “green” as it can get.
Bike sharing allows for all the convince and mobility of a bike without maintenance costs or the worry of theft. They also allow for reduced vehicle use and added exercise.
But more rural areas, especially in the United States, still find cycling to be an unrealistic mode of transportation, which is where scooters come into the light. There has been a marked increase in American scooter sales for years now. Scooters are small, and usually only allow for one person, but are perfect for back rural roads and routes, where houses are more than a bike-ride away. Scooters are not, however, conducive to highway driving with a normal top speed of only 50cc. Still, a Vespa scooter can get up to 900 miles on one tank of gas.
There’s more to alternative transport than the bus or the bike, and the best method for choosing is deciding on how much, and how far you travel. Most of these alternatives are best used in urban settings, but by adapting them (with ideas like the motored bike) they can become useful in a variety of settings.
While I lived in Berlin, going around the bike was the best thing. Door to door transportation, no expenses in gas, and very good health. But the advantage is that Berlin is a city planned for bikes, and people are aware of them. In New York, there are still new and people are not too aware of them. I think bikes are the greatest! But I don’t have kids, so my situation is very different from many people.
I would love to get one of these. I live not to far from stores but to far to walk to them so this would be perfect for me.
I believe the idea is good but, until they develop better places for people to ride their bikes, it remains hazardous.
I’ve been paying close attention to the ”bike presence” in New York. While in Manhattan they are much more popular, in the area where I live, it is very dangerous to ride a bike… people are still not used to them on the road.