People say cars give you freedom and while in a lot of places that you can’t get anywhere without one by design that may be true, being able to get around under your own power has always felt like freedom to me.
I moved lived rurally most my life and now I live near a downtown core. I still miss the country but i do love being able to walk to the majority of my needs.
When I’m in my car, I feel trapped into going to places with decent parking lots. When I’m in my bike, I can go anywhere. I park right next to the entrance of stores, I can ride into and across parks, I can stop right next to the lake front, etc. Oh, and I never need to fill up gas or plug in my bike, I just hop on and go.
While I like to cycle, I also like to go places. Where I live, some places are just too far to get to by bike (I don’t have a shower at work and 70km one way is a decent ride).
To me a car provides a considerable amount of freedom. A bike provides me a different kind of freedom.
It’s really just situational mode of transport. If everyone ride a bike for trip shorter than 10km, if there’s great public transport and bicycle infrastructure to support the biking system, and if places are build in way that’s easier to have public transport to serve, then car will have the kind of freedom it promise.
Still, motorcycle does solve the issue, it’s a middle ground for car and bicycle, it can go long range with less emission, it can free up a lot of space that car will take, and it also help you explore places. In Malaysia, there’s almost an equal amount of car and motorcycle on the road. Sure, it does have problem with people riding like a racer and weave around due to not having enough enforcement, but I’d imagine the traffic get worst without it. And it’s not like car didn’t do that as well.
People say cars give you freedom and while in a lot of places that you can’t get anywhere without one by design that may be true, being able to get around under your own power has always felt like freedom to me.
It gives you freedom to drive to the next gas station.
I moved lived rurally most my life and now I live near a downtown core. I still miss the country but i do love being able to walk to the majority of my needs.
Exactly.
When I’m in my car, I feel trapped into going to places with decent parking lots. When I’m in my bike, I can go anywhere. I park right next to the entrance of stores, I can ride into and across parks, I can stop right next to the lake front, etc. Oh, and I never need to fill up gas or plug in my bike, I just hop on and go.
The main downside is all the cars in the way.
While I like to cycle, I also like to go places. Where I live, some places are just too far to get to by bike (I don’t have a shower at work and 70km one way is a decent ride).
To me a car provides a considerable amount of freedom. A bike provides me a different kind of freedom.
It’s really just situational mode of transport. If everyone ride a bike for trip shorter than 10km, if there’s great public transport and bicycle infrastructure to support the biking system, and if places are build in way that’s easier to have public transport to serve, then car will have the kind of freedom it promise.
Still, motorcycle does solve the issue, it’s a middle ground for car and bicycle, it can go long range with less emission, it can free up a lot of space that car will take, and it also help you explore places. In Malaysia, there’s almost an equal amount of car and motorcycle on the road. Sure, it does have problem with people riding like a racer and weave around due to not having enough enforcement, but I’d imagine the traffic get worst without it. And it’s not like car didn’t do that as well.
I’m in the market for an electric motocycle that can travel highway speeds and gave a span of at least 200 km for commuting.
Needs to be privacy friendly though. So no apps or accounts. Just a key and a simple dashboard.
Unfortunately i still haven’t heard of any electric motorcycle that can travel such range. You have better option for ICE one though.
What if you were to go half and half with a motorcycle?
you’re right, in that context a car provides a different kind of freedom. it shouldn’t be like that though.