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just looking at the thumbnail here...how many servings of the secretary are we supposed to be getting every day?

What cities should do:

- Double down on active transportation infrastructure and transit, not roads and highways.
- Fund e-bike rebate programs.
- Switch municipal fleets, where possible, to cargo bikes. (Parks department vehicles, for example.)
- Expand commuter tax credits to encourage cycling.

I truly shudder to think what our cash strapped district paid for this slop.

"Public agencies stop hiring 'AI-powered' marketing firms to run public engagement process" challenge: fail

Screenshot of a survey question, from a 3rd party survey no doubt paid for handsomely with public money, that reads: "23. Your busy schedule -not a problem at all -small problem -medium problem -large problem -very large problem"

I am a fairly well educated, intelligent person, and I honestly have no clue what I'm supposed to do with this survey question.

Btw I keep trying to like your replies and bsky keeps unliking them yay

...gaining traction.

that's what I'm arguing is the bigger problem, and that's what I think we need to be talking about. They're not trying to ban kids on motos. they're trying to ban all bikes under the guise of safety.

don't get me wrong -- I do think differentiation matters.
I just think (and maybe I'm better understanding your last response now) those of us talking about differentiation are a small group, and those trying to ban anything with two wheels and a motor of any size are very large and increasingly...

I think that's our echo chamber.

Over on the FB the chest-thumping from agencies "going after the kids" on "ebikes" is disgusting.

also frustrating is the fact that our roads are just incredibly hostile to anyone outside a car.

honestly I feel like emotos are an edge case and a potentially willful distraction from the bigger problem of horribly dangerous road design and horribly dangerous motor vehicle operation

the emotorcycle issue is worth conversations about.
but the way it's sucking attention away from the much, much bigger problem of cars being too heavy, too fast, and driven too recklessly is as frustrating as the conflation of emotos with ebikes

Warden: Well, I'm going to have to write a citation for fishing without a license

Woman: I'm not fishing though!

Warden: No, but you have all the equipment

Woman: Fine, but I'll have to report you for attempted SA.

Warden: I am not going to assault you!

Woman: You have all the equipment

y'all know that joke, right?

the woman takes the rowboat out for a nice relaxing afternoon floating on the pond. hubs' fishing pole was in the boat, but she wasn't using it.

game warden pulls up and asks to see her fishing license.

Woman: I don't have one, but I'm not fishing...

banning #EBikes based on their *potential* to go fast is like that old joke about the woman who took her husband's rowboat out on a pond and got pulled over by a game warden for not having a fishing license.

I'm fine with saying nobody can ride bikes on pickleball courts. Hell, we spent our whole childhood knowing we couldn't wear street shoes on the gym floor in PE. It's ok to say, "no, you can't do that here on this very special purpose-built place."

but that's not where this is headed.

The very notion of rules to make sure #EBikes can't go "too fast" is absurd until we've had serious, meaningful conversations at the highest levels of leadership about doing the same for cars.

Are we going to make big strong quads illegal? Downhills? Skinny tires?

These are not frivolous questions.

Especially since we all know that's what's killing kids on bicycles is, by and large, things that are not bicycles.

Or if there's a downhill on your route that'll let you coast faster than 35.

There are lots of ways someone on a bike can go fast. Are we going to make them all illegal? Even if that someone isn't actually going fast?

Unless you're speeding on your bicycle, which is highly unlikely on roads signed at 35mph, getting pulled over to have your motor tested is an unconstitutional search, at the least. Even if your motor can go faster than 35. Or you're super fit and have legs that can go faster than 35.

"you need to learn how to use gAI or you'll get left behind!"

counterpoint!

the absolute fastest way to render yourself unemployable is to build your skillset around a tool that does your thinking for you, that everyone has access to, and that one company can change or take away at any time

If somebody's gonna pull me over on my bike to test it to make sure it doesn't have more oomph than somebody else decided I'm allowed to have, we're gonna have some problems

FOR REAL

It's asking far too much

Oh.

#BikeSky #ChapelHillNC #GlenLennox

My first ebike was an 80 lb cargo and whoo boy I would not have survived, literally, without that throttle.
My newer class 1 is lighter and much more fun to ride, but even with the hill start feature, I still miss the throttle when I've got a passenger or load of groceries

So, some class-1 bikes are starting to add "Hill start" to try and address this. IME it's kind of unintuitive to use and not nearly as powerful as a throttle, but it does help a little

I also really wished that whatever reckoning we're having about e-bike speeds was connected more to road safety generally

We're arguing about 20 mph vs 28 mph for e-bikes while many places in the US don't have speed limits under 25 mph and cars/trucks have no speed limitations whatsoever

Y'all. It's here.

#Coffee

I'll look!

#2, that throttles can be a significant mobility aid, is HUGE. Especially for folks who are using their bike as a car replacement, and may thus be carrying heavy loads. It's HARD to start a loaded bike from a stand still. A throttle makes it doable for a lot of people.