Vote Bike!

Vive la Belle France! Vive la Revolution!

Cargo e-bike

The French are launching a new revolution. A transport revolution, whereby people can trade in their old, gas guzzling automobiles for e-bikes and cargo bikes. There is still some way to go but there is a clear intention to create enabling legislation that will allow the scheme to proceed. You can read about it here: https://www.bikebiz.com/france-set-to-include-e-bikes-in-car-scrappage-scheme/

If only we could see this sort of forward thinking here in Australia, and in particular around Hobart, where our beautiful city is being spoiled by traffic congestion. 

Hobart arterials

Back in 2017, the ABC reported that Hobart ranked third out of ten major cities in Australia on the amount of additional time it took to get to the CBD compared to other times of the day. And yes, you guessed it: only Sydney and Melbourne were worse. Our traffic congestion has significantly worsened since then. 

What we need is a paradigm shift amongst commuters away from driving themselves to and from the city in single-person journeys to using alternative transport options, and to put pressure on all levels of government to support this shift. One option is to ride a bike. It's not so easy for people living on the other side of the river from the CBD because of the narrow shared bike/pedestrian paths on the Tasman Bridge. But for people living in suburbs north and south of the city the Intercity cycleway and increasing number of bike lanes makes this option much more viable.

Now Hobart is quite a hilly place and not as easy to get around by bike as lots of other places. The solution for your average person? An e-bike, especially a subsidised e-bike. We also need lots more workplaces supplying areas like the one at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies where employees can park their bikes.

IMAS bike storage

For a lot of people the idea of getting rid of their car - or at least avoiding its use to get to work - is difficult to grapple with.  On that topic, here's a video on how and why to go about replacing your car with a bike:

What is the perfect urban utility vehicle for use in cities of the future? This video makes a strong argument for the an e-cargo bike. It's a much watch, especially the latter part when you get to see the workings of this particular high tech e-cargo bike:

Obviously you can't carry large items on a cargo bike. However it's also clear that you can carry a lot of stuff, certainly enough to fulfil your weekly shopping needs. If an e-cargo bike is an interesting concept for you, this article from ebiketips presents what they see as the nine best as of April 2020.

Hobart is such a wonderful place to live. I for one would like to see it stay that way, and become even better still. I have a vision of a city with very little car traffic in its centre, plenty of people wandering around in pedestrian-friendly areas, excellent public transport and LOTS OF BIKES! We can all help that happen if we VOTE BIKE at the upcoming state election.