This post makes use of many images that are not mine. Please comment if you want your picture taken down.
Like I’ve mentioned in my About page, Twitter is a wonderful way to find out about things. I’ve come across content that busts myths and shows how things work elsewhere, so I’ve been tagging them with #bikeNYCgoals to indicate that New York City can and should adopt these.
I ended up with many tweets showing … unconventional bicycles. Bicycles that don’t look like the average two-wheeler everyone recognizes nowadays.
Current Notions
When some people think “cyclist”, they don’t think much beyond this:
Obviously, concerns arise. It doesn’t look very comfortable. It doesn’t look cheap, either. And clearly there’s no way to carry stuff.
Memory Lane
The thing is, cargo and effortlessness were standard in the past, even on regular Average Joe bikes.
National Photo Company Collection [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Additionally, there were other types of bicycles that now fit the “vintage” or “classic” categories.
Carry Us Back to the Future
What do we have in modern times (2019) that can carry stuff? We have bikes and trikes that are arguably more capable now than decades ago. Meaning it is still practical to carry loads.
And then some! Portable businesses exist that aren’t on Grumann trucks; they’re on cargo trikes.
Image via Australian Solar Quotes
I have a Pinterest board called “utility bikes” which I try to fill up with business-purposed cargo trikes (and more) during my free time. Check it out:
Trailers
Maybe a whole bicycle built for cargo is too much — or not enough. No worries! Let a separate component carry the weight and tag along right behind you.
Emergency Services
For the same reason bike lanes are blamed for congestion, there’s concern for emergency services whose large vehicles are stuck behind other metal cages that fail to move out of the way.
These would certainly be better on the bike lane than huge and deafening double-digit-ton machines (which should use bus lanes).
Passenger Transport
You’ll be forgiven for wondering how people can cycle together, especially on one bike. Normally, people have to get creative with their regular bikes — or get a unwieldy tandem that requires additional skills and communication.
But this doesn’t need to be the case, as other bikes and trikes are perfectly capable of carrying other people! They come in electric-assist versions too.
Let’s not forget that these exist as well:
Nowadays, quadracycles (that’s what those are called) are mostly found in tourist areas where they are available for rent, but touring models made for personal ownership exist as well.
People with Disabilities
Contrary to a common myth, people with disabilities too are capable of using a cycling transportation system. Many already say that cycling is easier than walking. In fact, they use bikes and trikes as mobility aids.
Some might say that it leaves wheelchair users stranded. Not necessarily! Either they can get going on their own, or they can be carried.
Check out this gallery of cycles by Wheels for Wellbeing, an organization based in the United Kingdom who works to remove barriers to cycling for people with disabilities.
School Transport
Parents can absolutely ride with their children to school. But not every parent will be available to escort. That’s why we have school buses.
… Bike versions of them!
Alternatives include huge, bumpy, fossil fuel yellow buses that may be free to families but are expensive to provide, and special peak city bus service which is also expensive. In New York City, K-12 students get full-fare discounts on transit (so they pay $0) unless they live less than a mile away from school; then they pay half fare ($1.35 in 2019). It may be desirable to shift short trips to something less financially demanding — and more humane.
LEFV
A whole category of “light electric freight vehicles” is being studied in Europe to replace trucks and vans, including cargo e-bikes (already shown) as well as what they call “electric cargo mopeds” and “small electric distribution vehicles” — which digresses from being a bicycle at all, but is still an example of a vehicle smaller than a car, van, or truck doing the same job efficiently and humanely.
In a different source, it is said that 51% of deliveries can be replaced by cargo bike. Not sure that’s the case in New York City yet; I’ve yet to learn how the freight industry works. But the same LEFV study says these vehicles fit the following market opportunities:
- post and parcel logistics — e.g. mail
- food logistics to hospitality businesses, shops, offices, institutions, or simple home deliveries
- non-food retail logistics. Clearly, shops can still get their deliveries.
- construction logistics, especially for small and time-critical shipments
- service logistics — maintenance, cleaning, installations, repairs
This post is about larger bicycles, but the gap between bikes and cars is worth exploring in another post. Other ways to address freight is also worth exploring, like connecting New York City to the rest of the country’s freight rail network, but that too is for another post.
Incompatible with
Now that we’ve explored this variety of larger bicycles, here are some things to not do to enable mass all-ages-and-abillities cycling:
- Narrow bike lanes. Of any type. Width always matters.
- Dismount & walk policies, especialy on bridges. Build proper separated paths instead of narrow shared-use ones.
- Bike routes that put riders away from curbs. Of all places, there should be no cars between bicycles and front doors.
- Forcing people to haul bikes up the stairs of their home because of a lack of residential parking spots for bikes.
The End!
Do you see yourself taking advantage of any of these? If you want to but cannot currently, why not? Do share in the comments below.
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