Interesting… in the midwest, the burbs would be difficult to cycle for transportation. Stores for example aren’t as crammed as it is in the cities like Chicago, Detroit, and NYC. However in some parts of the burbs there’s plazas right as you leave the neighborhood.
I personally couldn’t use cycling (including motorcycle) as a transportation for just about 99% of the things I do outside of my neighborhood.
I don’t know what that means… not all suburbs are “collar” suburbs. Where I live, the closest grocery store for example, is 3 miles away. Closest fast food is 2 miles away. My gym is 6 miles away. Work is 12 miles away. Mall? Closest one is to the north, 16 miles away and to the south, 22 miles away. Not a single one of these locations would I use a bicycle as transportation. In fact even if I wanted to cycle to any of these places, I couldn’t… I’m not biking 10-20 grocery bags weighing anywhere between 45-90lbs combined. I’m not going to retrofit my gym bag as a backpack and bike to the gym. Hell even if I didn’t have a gym bag, lol imaging cycling after a squat or deadlift day? I’m good.
The point I’m making is, whatever your living conditions are, whatever you use as transportation… is not going to be the same for everyone else. Maybe you’re into the whole vision of 15 minute cities that WEF would love to implement, but it’s definitely not going to happen in our lifetime. That’s an entire restructuring of the lay of the land. Better off colonizing another planet to implement it.
Yep, even people living side-by-side may have very different transportation needs; the goal is to encourage bike use where possible, as it benefits everyone. Bikes don’t have to replace every trip either. An e-bike can do 20mph (i.e. 3 mins per mile) with minimal effort, so the times for some of your trips are quite reasonable:
Grocery: 9 minutes
Fast food: 6 minutes
Gym: 18 minutes (this is a bit high, but it’s also exercise, so it kind of works out)
Cargo e-bikes can handle a 100lb load, so your grocery and gym bags are no problem.
All this is not to say that a bike would be a good fit for you, just that they can handle a lot more than you give them credit for.
just pointing out im in the midwest but yeah the reason I took pains to mention collar was to let it be known how close it was to the city. it borders it. that being said biking was great when I lived in lisle which is near napervilled and when at urbana which is in the middle of the state. so im not sure at what level you consider it a suburb. from your description a bike would be perfect for fast food and grocery trips (maybe doing a daily one over whatever 15-20 bags is for you. for me that many bags would be monthly). I would say the gym but you could cancel that and save the doh if your biking. work is doable but not for the average joe (although the subject here is e-bike and that would be perfectly doable). that would take some dedication. also I don’t only bike for transportation. I think maybe you thought I meant for all transportation. the point of the original posting article is that folks with an e-bike will use it on the shorter trips rather than driving where they might not bike otherwise. it reduces car use, it does not replace it.
There are absolutely people who live in the suburbs and still use some form of micromobility as regular transport. I live in a suburb and commute by bicycle or ebike almost every day unless the weather is really bad or I have to haul something very heavy/big.
I live in the suburbs. Luckily, my city has a somewhat good trail network that can take me 10-15 miles to downtown and I only have to cross a handful of roads at grade. There are places I can’t easily get to with a bike, but the number of places I can get to is much larger than I had thought. A lot of these paths and routes weren’t known to me because they run along creeks and drainages where I can’t see them easily from the road.
On a recent weekday during evening rush hour, I found myself speeding down the freeway at a whopping 5mph wishing I had ridden my bike.
To be fair, there are a lot of places in the suburbs that aren’t bikeable at all, but I think people would be surprised.
I live in rural suburbia and after buying an ebike I almost never drive. That’ll change when winter comes. For now, everything I do often that doesn’t require taking the kids with me, I take the bike. Liquor store, cafe, corner store, park, pleasure ride, picking up a burger or sandwich but not a pizza, exploring, all better on a bike. Better fitness, more enjoyment, and cheaper.
I assume in large cities? In the burbs, people riding bikes for fun… not for transportation.
I live in burbs and use cycle for transit. collar burb though and our public trans is good to.
Interesting… in the midwest, the burbs would be difficult to cycle for transportation. Stores for example aren’t as crammed as it is in the cities like Chicago, Detroit, and NYC. However in some parts of the burbs there’s plazas right as you leave the neighborhood.
I personally couldn’t use cycling (including motorcycle) as a transportation for just about 99% of the things I do outside of my neighborhood.
Isn’t that the problem, though? That cities are built such that the only feasible way to do things in them is to drive?
im in a collar suburb of chicago.
I don’t know what that means… not all suburbs are “collar” suburbs. Where I live, the closest grocery store for example, is 3 miles away. Closest fast food is 2 miles away. My gym is 6 miles away. Work is 12 miles away. Mall? Closest one is to the north, 16 miles away and to the south, 22 miles away. Not a single one of these locations would I use a bicycle as transportation. In fact even if I wanted to cycle to any of these places, I couldn’t… I’m not biking 10-20 grocery bags weighing anywhere between 45-90lbs combined. I’m not going to retrofit my gym bag as a backpack and bike to the gym. Hell even if I didn’t have a gym bag, lol imaging cycling after a squat or deadlift day? I’m good.
The point I’m making is, whatever your living conditions are, whatever you use as transportation… is not going to be the same for everyone else. Maybe you’re into the whole vision of 15 minute cities that WEF would love to implement, but it’s definitely not going to happen in our lifetime. That’s an entire restructuring of the lay of the land. Better off colonizing another planet to implement it.
Yep, even people living side-by-side may have very different transportation needs; the goal is to encourage bike use where possible, as it benefits everyone. Bikes don’t have to replace every trip either. An e-bike can do 20mph (i.e. 3 mins per mile) with minimal effort, so the times for some of your trips are quite reasonable:
Cargo e-bikes can handle a 100lb load, so your grocery and gym bags are no problem.
All this is not to say that a bike would be a good fit for you, just that they can handle a lot more than you give them credit for.
Literally every time, 40 minute ride into work, weights then 40 minute ride home at the end of the day. Light cardio reduces DOMS.
If you can’t function after a leg heavy workout, there is something wrong with your programming.
If you can’t cycle after a workout, the is something wrong with your programming.
My regular bicycle is leg day lol, I ride my ebike on recovery days. Would recommend!
Forcing yourself to stay seated on hillclimbs is basically just repeating alternating one-leg deadlifts.
just pointing out im in the midwest but yeah the reason I took pains to mention collar was to let it be known how close it was to the city. it borders it. that being said biking was great when I lived in lisle which is near napervilled and when at urbana which is in the middle of the state. so im not sure at what level you consider it a suburb. from your description a bike would be perfect for fast food and grocery trips (maybe doing a daily one over whatever 15-20 bags is for you. for me that many bags would be monthly). I would say the gym but you could cancel that and save the doh if your biking. work is doable but not for the average joe (although the subject here is e-bike and that would be perfectly doable). that would take some dedication. also I don’t only bike for transportation. I think maybe you thought I meant for all transportation. the point of the original posting article is that folks with an e-bike will use it on the shorter trips rather than driving where they might not bike otherwise. it reduces car use, it does not replace it.
There are absolutely people who live in the suburbs and still use some form of micromobility as regular transport. I live in a suburb and commute by bicycle or ebike almost every day unless the weather is really bad or I have to haul something very heavy/big.
Read the article. 😊 I mean, it’s even in the one sentence summary.
I live in the suburbs. Luckily, my city has a somewhat good trail network that can take me 10-15 miles to downtown and I only have to cross a handful of roads at grade. There are places I can’t easily get to with a bike, but the number of places I can get to is much larger than I had thought. A lot of these paths and routes weren’t known to me because they run along creeks and drainages where I can’t see them easily from the road.
On a recent weekday during evening rush hour, I found myself speeding down the freeway at a whopping 5mph wishing I had ridden my bike.
To be fair, there are a lot of places in the suburbs that aren’t bikeable at all, but I think people would be surprised.
Skill issue. The only reason people there are like that is because the suburbs were designed wrong.
I live in rural suburbia and after buying an ebike I almost never drive. That’ll change when winter comes. For now, everything I do often that doesn’t require taking the kids with me, I take the bike. Liquor store, cafe, corner store, park, pleasure ride, picking up a burger or sandwich but not a pizza, exploring, all better on a bike. Better fitness, more enjoyment, and cheaper.
Seems to be specific to Saanich, BC. It’s about 2k pop/mi2, which is like medium density suburb (single family zoning with small yards).