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Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

tandfonline.com

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Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#2
I bike around SF with my kids in a Cargo bike all the time. The bike is freeing in the city, and the kids love it.

As they’ve gotten bigger and older, I had to put a motor on it for the hills. I hate that bikes are controversial in the City, as they are such a great way of increasing mobility around town. eBikes, are also amazing for this aspect of mobility.

With all the new scooters and rental bikes though, it’s stressing our already limited bike lane capacity, pointing toward what’s been set aside as far too shortsighted.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#4
This is a really interesting read for me, as I'm considering the purchase of a cargo bike. Apparently, I fit the stereotype pretty well -- highly-educated urban coffee-drinker (no yoga, no vegetarianism, though). The cargo bike would solve the problem of hauling hardware-store purchases home with kid and sans car. But they're expensive! 1.5 or 2 thousand dollars! So for now we're making do with the bus and the stroller we found with a "free" sign on the side of the road.

It is important to be thoughtful about the roles various types of transportation play for people of different socioeconomic groups in the US. I take the bus and train often in my town, and it's generally a very mixed population. The train/light-rail is becoming a de facto homeless shelter at night, though. At the same time light rail gets criticized for being for the upper class, rather than efficiently serving the poor, because it goes between downtowns/to the airport/to the suburbs/to the sports complexes. Biking, as well, has huge class and race divides. In the US the weekend spandex-wearer is a huge set of the bicycling public. Everyday commuters are a segment too, and then family weekend bikers, and then people who've lost their drivers' licenses due to DUI/DWI or other entanglement with the criminal justice system. How these communities interact and how they use our infrastructure differently is worth considering when planning new investments or thinking about how to encourage bicycling. The weekend warrior wants a nice scenic 45-mile continuous route; I want a seamless path across the city that doesn't involve battling any cars at highway speeds to get into the left-turn lane; neither of us wants to run over a 5-year-old getting the hang of the bike.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#5

I bike around SF with my kids in a Cargo bike all the time. The bike is freeing in the city, and the kids love it. As they’ve gotten bigger and older, I had to put a motor on it for the hills. I hate that bikes are controversial in the City, as they are such a great way of increasing mobility around town. eBikes, are also amazing for this aspect of mobility. With all the new scooters and rental bikes though, it’s str…

Just give it a few years, the rental bikes and scooters will disappear. OBike has gone bankrupt and many more are to follow. Which is a bit sad of course because the whole thing is such a waste of precious resources for shitty bikes.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#6
post #3

Can someone explain why the title and abstract is in 3 languages (English, French, Spanish), but the article just in English? Is this a new thing?

I'm guessing it's an EU thing to make the article easily discoverable for 3 main EU languages (how the English language thing will work after Brexit, no idea. EU may still have English as an official language for cross border communication).

Many academic people speak English well enough to read the article. I'm guessing from my own struggles while Googling stuff in a different language, that is a different art.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#7
post #3

Can someone explain why the title and abstract is in 3 languages (English, French, Spanish), but the article just in English? Is this a new thing?

This journal is mainly "based" in the UK (look at the editorial board) and I think they include French & Spanish abstracts as a sort of historical courtesy to colleagues. Then the French & Spanish readers can figure out if it's worth the effort to read/translate the English. Many journals used to publish in several languages (or say they'll publish in English and French) and so require abstracts in all "supported" languages, but the language of international scholarship is increasingly English.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#8
post #4

This is a really interesting read for me, as I'm considering the purchase of a cargo bike. Apparently, I fit the stereotype pretty well -- highly-educated urban coffee-drinker (no yoga, no vegetarianism, though). The cargo bike would solve the problem of hauling hardware-store purchases home with kid and sans car. But they're expensive! 1.5 or 2 thousand dollars! So for now we're making do with the bus and the stroll…

yes, they are expensive, but once you have a cargo bike you can carry home a tig welder, alu pipes and all the other stuff to build a cargo bike :D

No seriously, they are expensive but if you look at craigslist and similar, they keep their value if you take care of your bike. and regarding road safety, ride in the right tire-mark left by the cars. you'll be safe from dooring and cars have to slow down and change lanes to overtake you instead of squeezing through.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#9
post #5

I bike around SF with my kids in a Cargo bike all the time. The bike is freeing in the city, and the kids love it. As they’ve gotten bigger and older, I had to put a motor on it for the hills. I hate that bikes are controversial in the City, as they are such a great way of increasing mobility around town. eBikes, are also amazing for this aspect of mobility. With all the new scooters and rental bikes though, it’s str…

Just give it a few years, the rental bikes and scooters will disappear. OBike has gone bankrupt and many more are to follow. Which is a bit sad of course because the whole thing is such a waste of precious resources for shitty bikes.

Rental bikes exist in London and NY for many years now. I'm not sure if the city pays for them or not.

Scooters are also amazingly convenient - see the many articles about them where the author started unconvinced (and don't tell me all of them are submarine). They will survive in one form or another, maybe with subvention by the city.

Re: Cargo bikes as symbolic markers of egalitarian gender roles

#10

I bike around SF with my kids in a Cargo bike all the time. The bike is freeing in the city, and the kids love it. As they’ve gotten bigger and older, I had to put a motor on it for the hills. I hate that bikes are controversial in the City, as they are such a great way of increasing mobility around town. eBikes, are also amazing for this aspect of mobility. With all the new scooters and rental bikes though, it’s str…

I hope u have a big flag. Cargo bikes scare me so much when they are on the road and kids are in them.
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