SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Getting around on a bicycle can be an excellent way to clean up our daily commutes and errand runs, but sometimes you need a little bit of a boost, which is where electric bikes come in. And sometimes you need a little more space to haul groceries and gear with you, which is where cargo bikes come in. Combine the two, and you've got an efficient and fun way to not only get from point A to point B, but to also get the shopping home in a single trip without having to stack boxes and bags on your rear rack until you're wobbling your way precariously down the road (been there, done that).
The capital of Norway, Oslo, is looking to get more of its citizens out of their cars and onto bikes, and more specifically, onto a set of wheels that is made to haul more than just a single person, in the form of grants covering part of the cost of an electric cargo bike. Last year, the city council offered residents a financial incentive toward buying an electric bike, up to 20% of the purchase price of an e-bike, capped at 5000 kroner (about $600). Now that effort has been extended a bit into an electric cargo bike grant program, which will cover part of the cost of purchase of one of these electric workhorses.
Is it the cost of cargo bikes that keeps people from buying them, or the lack of secure parking in city apartment buildings?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @12:57AM
Or the 55mph traffic in front of my house?
Or the lack of protection from rain?
Or poor traction on ice?
Might be nice on those few pleasant days of summer.
(Score: 1) by DeathElk on Friday February 17 2017, @03:58AM
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @05:28AM
Since you've posted that link multiple times, I'll critique it.
Most of the URL is noise.
Aside from the search string, the only parameter that is necessary is &tbm=isch (Image search).
...and that only needed to be there ONCE. 8-(
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 17 2017, @08:46AM
Or the 55mph traffic in front of my house?
Most (all?) European countries don't allow > 50km/h (31mph) in urban areas (where most bike traffic would be). In non-urban areas there are often separate bicycle lanes if there is much bike traffic (at least in The Netherlands). Also, in the Netherlands, bike riders are well protected by law. If you hit someone on a bike with your car (even if it is not your fault), you'll have a lot of explaining to do and in worst case you could loose your driver's license.
Or the lack of protection from rain?
There are rain suits that protect you against it. Also, most of the times it doesn't rain. A guy here in the Netherlands had co-workers saying more or less the same to him when he mentioned he always drove 20Km on bike to work. He started actually measuring how often he would be in rain, turned out to be a lot less than his colleagues thought.
Or poor traction on ice?
I think Norway (as many Northern European countries) have governmental services that keep roads mostly free of snow and ice, especially in cities. Also, average daily temperature in Norway is only 3 months a year below 0 degrees C. That would be the same excuse to not take solar panels, because they would not work at night.