Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
micromobility.io
Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
1–10 of 34 posts
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#2Seeing tons of really interesting an innovative e-bike designs, its very exciting. Electric cargo trikes are becoming common where I live, for professionals I can really seem them replacing the old 'plumber's minivan'. And we're seeing really cool innovations like Bosch ABS brakes, more efficient motors. Also a lot of opportunities for specialization, now that there is a much bigger market instead of one size fits all there are different products hitting different optimum points for commuters, off-roaders, cargo etc.
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#3Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't.
The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any regulated class (eg. being too new) are illegal by default.
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#4Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't. The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any…
I wonder why velocipede users end up on the sidewalks. Could it be because they do not feel safe on the road, where they should be? Or that bike lanes have no separation from the road and often have larger vehicles parked there?
In general, I suspect someone is purposely ignoring the gas-powered, 3-ton metal elephant in the room (road?).
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#5Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't. The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any…
Agree. For one, even actually commonly used technology in its self-propelled manifestation like bikes attracts riders that are on the low end of driving ability when electrified, making sharing so-far self-propelled pathways with these participants more difficult than before.
For another, there aren't any good niches for, e.g., (pedal) scooters to move in cities so far. This hasn't been a problem, because the ~5 non-children per city using them so far (to use a number verified by a hard statistical method I call "pulling out of thin air") are easily worked around. Electrified "pedal" scooters OTOH are becoming more pervasive, and thus don't fit into the cracks of mobility, as it were. In addition, shared E-scooters are a plague simply by blocking bike and pedestrian routes because the companies externalize their storage to the public - and their users seem to be unable to not be assholes about it, on average. And the mode of transportation they replace isn't driving cars, but walking, public transport and perhaps short bike rides - all without any increase in carrying capacity for the riders. So they actually increase the environmental footprint of mobility, one of the major drivers of electrification, for all the drawbacks they offer...
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#6Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't. The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any…
I wonder why velocipede users end up on the sidewalks. Could it be because they do not feel safe on the road, where they should be? Or that bike lanes have no separation from the road and often have larger vehicles parked there? In general, I suspect someone is purposely ignoring the gas-powered, 3-ton metal elephant in the room (road?).
For some of those EVs, like standing scooters, it's definitely half safety issue. By design they are less safe and stable than bicycles, I've seen multiple crashes (especially on wet surfaces). Plus, as a rider, you might assume someone who can afford a car or taxi would think of themselves as a more important person so you'd rather not slow them down or they might get angry--and they are the one driving a multi-ton metal box soft only on the inside. As a result somehow it's acceptable to inconvenience people who move with less environmental impact and protection (pedestrians as opposed to car drivers), while it should be the opposite.
Re cars, I don't like them and the fact that many modern cities tend to be designed around them. This is at least partially why EVs are used. But that design issue can't be solved quickly, and meanwhile conceding the remaining safe surfaces and normalizing powered transport is moving in the opposite direction of the solution.
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#7Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't. The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any…
it's because e-kickrollers (the sharing kind in particular) are mostly not used properly, either as a replacement for a short (under 10 minutes) walk or as a toy (riding fast, riding with friends in circle etc). if we could somehow cut/forbid such rides we would only be left with people intending to get "from a to b" more efficiently than by car or by bus, and hence behaving better
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#8I'm not actually a huge fan of the word "micromobility". It makes it sound small, like it's only for going just around the corner or something. But long before the introduction of electric bikes, people have already been using regular bikes for lots of travel within cities, and even outside it. Electric bikes make those distances more accessible to people with less stamina, but certainly the faster electric bikes and scooters, and even human powered streamlined recumbent bikes, at perfect for medium-distance travel outside cities.
It's not small-scale mobility; it's just mobility. More efficient mobility. Smarter mobility.
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#9Small EVs and their riders are a city menace. They hardly ever use roads--though they are allowed to, just like bicyclists are--and instead roam the sidewalks, expecting pedestrians to get out of the way and getting angry if they don't. The cities that get it right, in my opinion, divide all vehicles into either unpowered or powered. Powered vehicles use roads and are subject to regulations; those that do not fit any…
There are different kind of small EVs of course. It depends on the role the EV fills. Sidewalks absolutely have to be reserved for pedestrian-level traffic, but people who are unable to walk need to be able to go there, so EVs on the sidewalk should be as small as they can possibly be, open, and go a maximum of 5 kph.
Ideally, all urban street traffic should be slow enough to accommodate all other forms of traffic, so about 30 kph. Large connecting roads where you want cars to go faster than that should have a separation between car-level traffic and bike-level traffic, with bike traffic going about 15-25 kph and being narrow and preferably open, while car level traffic goes 40+ kph and is preferably enclosed.
Of course there will always be vehicles that don't quite fit one of those categories, which leaves the question to what extent traffic design should accommodate those vehicles, and to what extent those vehicles should just try to fit into the category that fits best.
Re: Micromobility: The Obligatory Origin Story
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder why velocipede users end up on the sidewalks. Could it be because they do not feel safe on the road, where they should be? Or that bike lanes have no separation from the road and often have larger vehicles parked there? In general, I suspect someone is purposely ignoring the gas-powered, 3-ton metal elephant in the room (road?).
For some of those EVs, like standing scooters, it's definitely half safety issue. By design they are less safe and stable than bicycles, I've seen multiple crashes (especially on wet surfaces). Plus, as a rider, you might assume someone who can afford a car or taxi would think of themselves as a more important person so you'd rather not slow them down or they might get angry--and they are the one driving a multi-ton…
Actually, I find that conceding the remaining safe surfaces and normalizing powered transport is exactly the solution.
As the general population experiences both the benefits and the drawbacks of powered transport, cities are much more responsive to creating dedicated space for vehicles of this type. Even painted bike lanes are preferable to the usual status quo of rolling the dice in a regular lane against multiple F150 drivers on cell phones on a city street. And as such infrastructure improves further, the benefits of using that infrastructure for the powered transport rider increase dramatically vs competing against people walking on a sidewalk.