On Sep 7, 5:17 am, James Annan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > What neither contains is research and market development money for
> > better bicycles, which would be high up my wish list.
>
> > I am talking about this kind of entirely human powered vehicle that's
> > significantly faster than ordinary bicycles
>
> >http://www.sunrider-cycles.com/foto-video/index.php
>
> > which I'd love to buy (certainly if it sold for less than 4900). I'd
> > say this a classical case of a market failure, where there is no
> > market because small series production and development costs are too
> > high, and where the state could create one given enough initial
> > incentives.
>
> I've been meaning to write about this for some time, so Heiko's prompt
> is a convenient nudge.
>
> Every so often someone comes up with a new "transport revolution" -
> there was the Sinclair C5, the Segway, and numerous bicycle designs and
> power attachments such ashttp://revopower.com/. Generally they are
> touted as solving the oil crisis, global warming and urban congestion
> all in one.
>
> But in practice these "solutions" actually seem to spend their miserable
> short existences looking for a suitable problem to solve. The
> inconvenient truth is that the world is not waiting for a better bicycle
> to solve its transportation problems, or even a better motor vehicle,
> and Michael's post points out one of the reasons why. The other reasons
> include the inherent laziness of 95% or more of the world's population,
> habit, social pressure and status. I like to think that many of these
> factors can potentially be changed, but they will certainly not be
> changed by a "better bicycle" that shaves perhaps 20 seconds off your 20
> minute commute.
>
> I'm sure they make good projects for engineering students, but I am
> amazed that people devote so much time and energy to solving a problem
> without actually thinking about what the problem is!
>
> (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.)
>
At UNC Chapel-Hill they have made it increasingly difficult to park
near where you work. As a result, most people have to take the bus
from an outlying lot even if they drive a car most of the way to
work. This destroys most of the advantages of driving to work.
I think this is the most effective way to discourage the use of cars
in favor of mass-transit. But I don't think it
would fly politically in many places.
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