Cargo bikes are the future of deliveries!
I've been saying this for some time now. Never thought I'd see a US department say the same — but the NYC Department of transportation just did! And it's not the first time I've seen them post some really good stuff about bikes. This gives me hope.
Here are more info: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2024/e-cargo-bike-on-city-streets.shtml
There seems to be some good, some bad.
I'm really interested in this part: "The rules also establish new curb regulations — a "Commercial Bicycle Loading Only" zone — to allow dedicated space at the curb for cargo bikes to load and unload goods." That's a brand new idea to me, and I really like it!
"In 2022, cargo bikes made more than 130,000 trips, delivering over 5 mill packages. This demonstrates their effectiveness for making deliveries and resulted in the reduction of over 650,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of emissions generated by 1.6 billion miles driven by an average gas-powered passenger vehicle"
Sounds like we need to do something about all those gas-powered vehicles! E-bikes can take over so many trips, private & commercial, if we choose to facilitate for it
Except e-bikes, like Tesla’s, have an annoying habit of spontaneously combusting.
@WmShakesp3are @forteller @bmacDonald94
More or less frequently than gasoline vehicles? And ebikes don't abuse apostrophes.
@WmShakesp3are @forteller @bmacDonald94 e-bikes in this use case are replacing cars and trucks which definitely have problems with spontaneously combustion too (and hybrid and ICE at a much higher rate), though battery standards reduce most of the battery fire risks, e-bikes obviously need less battery, and more stable batteries than Li are being developed.
@Neblib @bmacDonald94 @WmShakesp3are @forteller Thank you. “Compared to what?” is a question that people don’t ask enough about e-bikes or alternatives to fossil-powered anything.
@Neblib @WmShakesp3are @forteller @bmacDonald94
Better batteries are urgently needed for multiple reasons: charging rates, the environmental impact of battery manufacturing, spontaneous combustion, etc
@WmShakesp3are @forteller @bmacDonald94 Except that ICE cars, which e-bikes and Teslas are meant to replace, are about TWENTY TIMES more likely to spontaneously combust. So solely from a combustion danger standpoint, EVs and e-bikes are the way to go.
@forteller ok, get them charged without using fossil fuels and I'm getting one