> If you really don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a $1000 bafang mid drive ebike kit can turn a regular bicycle into a hill crushing monster and can be installed with almost no specialized tools.
I love electric bikes and want to install the bafang kit myself, but lets keep things in perspective - it's not gonna get my pregnant wife to the hospital.
Commenter provided one obvious example.. that doesn't imply a lack of other examples.
Hypothermically cold/wet days, if you suffer a physical injury, going anywhere with friends, trips to IKEA, groceries that last more than a week, vacations, or the reason I stopped cycling:
a car driver randomly forces you to pay for a new bike while also giving you a concussion and 7 stitches to your face then drives away.
Happier now with my 'cage' than with the ego I used to have.
Yes, that was the theory as I understood it at the time. As a single man in my late 20s with a remote job, I moved to the most densely populated neighborhood of the largest city in the region, bought a bicycle and a transit pass, and signed up for a car-sharing service, expecting car-free life to be easy. Instead, I found that it was... possible.
I got through a full year before giving up and buying another car. I have never been motivated to repeat the experience, though I still love city life and try to keep car usage to a minimum, getting around primarily by motorcycle.
There are many people who would happily pay 4 years of car ownership if it means difference between safe birth and unsafe one. If you think its rare mindset, see what happens if (very frequent when I look around) miscarriage happens, how it fucks up people in most fundamental ways and insecure they become.
And obviously there are tremendous use cases to enjoy weekends, do groceries/other shopping, helping friends and family and so on and on...
I come from Europe, currently living in Switzerland which has best rail system in the world and general decent public transport... but still owning a car is a must for 4 of us, travelling anywhere with kids is a chore and amount of stuff for weekend is impossible to carry in public transport (stroller(s), child bed, all clothing, food equipment etc. and thats just kids).
Sure you can spend all weekends in the same place if thats your thing, but it certainly ain't ours, not when we have alps just in the backyard.
With some exceptions (especially in places where car ownership is a real financial/hassle burden like Manhattan), my observation is that people who choose not to own a car even in an urban environment with good public transit end up making a lot of lifestyle compromises. Even leaving aside trips to the emergency room, sick pets, etc., they just don't head to the mountains/beach/etc. because it's too big of a hassle. And especially once you get past a certain age, you can't rely on friends with cars like we did undergrad. Perfectly valid choice but, for the most part, you just don't do things that are a pain to do.
Baby on a bike is easy (well, once they're big enough to hold their heads up). Ours (one and five) pretty much want me to take them on the bike everywhere, unless the weather is brutally wet or cold (< 25˚F for me, though a friend here takes his kid on the bike down to about 15˚).
When the weather's sufficiently bad, we take the BMW with heated seats instead =)
The EU's prediction is that population is about to reach its peak and will then decline slowly until the 22nd century or so. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/D... Imo there will be new niches populated by middle aged and old people with no kids.
I love electric bikes and want to install the bafang kit myself, but lets keep things in perspective - it's not gonna get my pregnant wife to the hospital.