> But in practice these "solutions" actually seem to spend their miserable
> short existences looking for a suitable problem to solve.
It isn't enough to develop better bikes, I certainly agree with you
there. What I see though is that government must step in to deal with
the "network" side of things. Bicycles are dangerous, when they have
to share road space with cars doing 100 km/h. Build bicycle lanes and
make car drivers drive more slowly, and it's suddenly a lot less
dangerous. And there's safety in numbers. 1000 times as many bicycles
on the road doesn't multiply accidents by a factor 1000, not least
because car drivers learn about cyclists' behaviour.
they will certainly not be
> changed by a "better bicycle" that shaves perhaps 20 seconds off your 20
> minute commute.
A reduction from 1 hour down to 30 minutes is easily feasible. But
this doesn't just require better bikes, it also requires good cycling
infrastructure. I do think that there is a role for government support
to get the market going. I've been skeptical about that in the past,
but well, I suppose I've changed my mind somewhat. I am a much greater
proponent of policy instruments involving subsidies for cars/bikes/
solar panels/CCS coal fired power plants than I used to be. When
economists favour carbon taxes, I wonder, whether they don't miss the
value of technology development, and proving things, even when given
the circumstances it doesn't pay for the individual until quite some
time has passed and lots of other individuals have made similar
choices. Sometimes, a big company can push something like that
through, with a big initial investment to get the market going; but
that only works, if the company can then hugely profit from the
change; if most of the benefits are socialised away, then why should
the company bother?
Coming back to bikes:
I also think the government can hammer motorists in the name of
safety, in particular I want automatic speed limiters put into cars
that make it impossible to driver faster than 30 in a 30 km/h zone.
And I want bicycle paths to separate the bicycles from any traffic,
where speeds above 30 km/h are allowed.
I think there is a niche for small cars / fast bicycles, but a key
plank in getting that niche to work in practise has to be to ensure
that they can be ridden safely and the people at fault (ie
irresponsible car drivers, who drive huge vehicles at huge speeds and
thereby force everybody else into an arms race of heavier and heavier
cars) are made to take their responsibility.
> (Perhaps it is overkill, but for the sake of completeness I might as
> well point out that the vehicle Heiko is interested in would undoubtedly
> be /slower/ on my commute.)
I've got a commute of 35.5 km. Cycling that takes me an hour an forty
five minutes, unless I've got the wind at my back, then I can do it in
an hour and twenty five minutes, but it'll take me two and a half
against the wind.
I live that far away from work, because it's the difference between
paying 20% or 40% of my net salary on rent, and I get a tax free
commuting allowance that entirely pays for the commute.
I car pool, so I cycle the first six kilometers and then hop into a
colleague's car. Most days anwyay. Public transport would take me two
hours, car pooling comes to 55 minutes. If I drove myself it might be
40 minutes.
I want to avoid that, and that's why I am seriously thinking about
spending 5000 Euros on a bike that would cut the one hour and fort
five minutes to 55 and then I am both flexible and avoid the car
altogether.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated
venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of
global environmental change.
Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the
submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not
gratuitously rude.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
