Image transcript:
Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”
Yeah, but am I incorrect that the Netherlands is a fairly temperate place, if not on the cooler side? I don’t think you’ll convince most people to bike to work in the south, in the country, in 95+ degrees fahrenheit heat.
Millions of Chinese, Japanese and other se Asians ride bikes in 90F heat w/ 80% humidity. I’ve done it, its doable.
Just because something is “doable” doesn’t mean millions of people are going to accept doing it.
Ooh well in fact millions of people do ride bicycles for transportation every single day.
In Japan, like many other countries, women ride bikes for everyday transportation. They are so ubiquitous they are called “mamacharis” which loosely translates to ‘Mom-chariots.’
Every train station, shopping center and school in Japan has hundreds of not thousands of bicycle parking racks, similar to what you would find in the Netherlands.
https://www.tokyobybike.com/2009/06/introducing-mamachari.html
https://guidable.co/living/ride-smart-in-japan/
https://youtu.be/AymDGEfJzCc?si=unIgkRkNBSgvQHxl
https://youtu.be/uiQIpvQtO34?si=s98wNEKXsfZT-Rss
https://youtu.be/uiQIpvQtO34?si=Jf_EiuTvm9Izstk0
My wife bought a bike in Japan for $400 and rode everyday, even in the countryside you see riding everyday. It’s totally normal. You see it all over in Asia. So people do ride, even when it’s hot and humid. Often with 1-2 kids on top of groceries, which weigh upwards of 50+ pounds of weight.
Ebikes can work wonders for that, in my experience. I’ve biked to work in 95 and humid weather and wasn’t super sweaty by the end (office job). The ebike allows you to pedal less and get more breeze going past you, which makes a MASSIVE difference in how hot and sweaty you get, especially on hills.
I would not have even considered that with a non-electric bike.
![[meme] Trains -- not driverless cars -- are the future of transportation(lemmy.world)](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f6468af5-8151-4b4c-b339-2fa0b0373c3a.webp){kind=link}