As , I’m previous and out of it, so I used to be stunned to be taught right now that there are apparently nonetheless bicycle messengers…
…and so they’re driving pennyfarthings now???
What a world.
I imply positive, there are tons and many folks delivering stuff on e-bikes and motor scooters in New York, nevertheless it’s largely meals supply, which isn’t very attractive, or else stuff like this, which is even much less attractive:
I don’t know if meals supply folks and e-cargo bike supply folks have their very own world championships, but when they do their lack of vogue sense in all probability wouldn’t make for extremely compelling video.
Talking of meals supply the NYPD is seemingly cracking down on unlicensed motor scooters within the bike path:
I don’t like unlicensed motor scooters within the bike path so the vindictive aspect of me is like, “Good, take the rattling scooters!” Nevertheless, the pragmatic aspect of me is aware of that whether or not it’s motor scooters within the bike lane, or bicyclists or working crimson lights, or motorists speaking on the telephone whereas driving, or folks ripping across the metropolis on ATVs and dust bikes, regardless of the tabloid-fodder-nuisance-of-the-moment could also be at any given time, what occurs is the NYPD does a giant well-publicized crackdown in sure places for awhile, then they transfer on, then all of the idiots get again to no matter they had been doing–me included:
That after all is the notorious Tan Tenovo ticket:
Since getting that ticket 5 years in the past I now make some extent of working that mild each single time with a view to get my cash’s price, which leads me to query the effectiveness of crackdowns in the long term:
Additionally, I used to be driving residence from Brooklyn yesterday night, and whereas they might have been cracking down over on the Williamsburg Bridge you’d by no means have identified it on the Hudson River Greenway, the place the contraptions had been coming at me quick and livid. It appears to me that with this kind of factor you want constant enforcement in every single place, not simply in a number of spots at sure instances–which is after all the reasoning behind velocity cameras, that are totally ineffective for implementing folks driving unlicensed motorbikes on bike paths anyway. So on the subject of cracking down on unregistered motor scooters within the bike lane, it’s like how they let you know to maintain killing noticed lantern flies…
…though it doesn’t do shit:
Besides elevate “public consciousness:”
So mainly it’s entomological advantage signaling.
However whereas I agree that there’s in all probability a greater strategy to coping with this downside (or at the very least a simpler one with which to enhance the old school bespoke artisanal enforcement), I’d cease in need of suggesting that the folks driving them are “not conscious of the principles:”
The same old tactic is to deal with them as victims of the meals supply apps, which is already a little bit of a stretch (partially as a result of not everybody on a motor scooter is delivering for an app), however portray them as hapless simpletons on high of that simply appears patronizing:
By the best way, I used to be unfamiliar with Brightside and the Equitable Commute Undertaking, so I checked out their web sites. The story says Brightside is an “city mobility firm,” which made me marvel if Large Scooter is behind all this, however they don’t seem like an city mobility firm a lot as a PR firm:
Albeit one with a give attention to “sustainability:”
In the meantime the Equitable Commute Undertaking promotes e-bike use within the metropolis:
And even gives folks with subsidies and loans to buy e-bikes:
To this finish they’ve partnered with a financial institution, in addition to with sure retailers:
I used to be curious the place their funding comes from, and it feels like at the very least a few of it comes from the state:
Connecting folks with e-bikes appears good, although I can’t assist lamenting that we appear to be dropping sight of how low-cost and obtainable common bikes are and all the time have been, and but right here we’re creating an entire new ecosystem of loans and grants and subsidies and start-ups to switch them with dearer bikes which have tiny motors in them–to not point out sensors to gather information:
I’m not saying it’s dangerous, I’m simply questioning if it’s obligatory:
I although it was speculated to be about one much less automotive, however on this case it’s one much less pedestrian.
