This is a very good thread, but let me make the case for micromibility as the future of certain cities. (I include biking, however, whether e-bike or not).
It's not a moral case for fighting global warming, or a personal case for moral superiority. It's just a practical case: in cities that are reorienting around their historical downtowns, and growing, there is not space for enough cars to move everyone.
Nor is there an infrastructure comparable to the NYC subway. Nor can such a thing be built, for various reasons. (Yeah, call me defeatist, but I think I'm right).
Scooters and bikes are taking off in those cities not because everyone's so damn twee, but because they are vastly more convenient than the bus or train for so many trips.
Cities that make a real committment to building safe bike lanes that are either grade-separated or bollarded, and educating drivers about actually looking before they open doors or turn right, can move more people in the same space.
This is valuable! They should make that commitment.
Also they should teach bike and scooter riders that they are not some special class to whom traffic laws do not apply, and ticket freely!
Anyway, micromobility is overhyped, but also great, and good for cities, and if all the bike and scooter companies go out of business I will probably buy one rather than go back to riding the bus. #TheEnd.
