Families switch cars for cargo bikes for daily commute as cost of living continues to bite
www.abc.net.au
Since getting a bike over a year ago, Alice Humble and her family have saved $800 in petrol. They're one of many households choosing cycling as car running costs increase.

So, what’s the take away here ? make it so expensive to live people choose cycling and we get better cities ?

  • Sasha@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    17·
    2 months ago

    It makes my day every single time I go riding through the city and I see cargo bikes. So many families are using them now, it’s rare for me to make a trip to aldi and not see at least one cargo bike locked up.

    • Xyloph@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      Must be nice! I’ve never seen one irl and at their local price, I’m sure it would get stolen in a heartbeat unfortunately. Hopefully it gets more adoption in my area at well someday!

      • Norah - She/They@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        I’m sure it would get stolen in a heartbeat unfortunately.

        This is like saying a car would get stolen immediately. If you can’t afford an adequate lock for an expensive bike, you can’t afford the bike to begin with.

        (Not as in, you’re too poor to buy the bike. As in, it’s part of the total cost of ownership you need to budget for.)

        • Kanzar@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          Bicycles stand out too much in Australia. If it’s unique and cool, people will fuck with it. Furthermore, it’s far easier to physically pick up a bike and chuck it in the back of a van than a car, and not very many people are going to interrupt a thief using bolt cutters, particularly if they’re wearing hi-vis.

          So you’re left with needing angle grinder resistant locks, with none of the portable ones being long enough to fasten around the body and any fixed stand so you have to get creative about where you park, and even then somebody might just unbolt the fixed point. Creative means it might be away from other bikes and or cameras, reducing security.

          Then there’s no clearly visible registration so even if you report a lost bike, nobody will easily be able to tell if the one being ridden by is yours or someone else’s…

          Eliminate theft and you’re still left with vandals, and there are a LOT of destructive people with plenty of time on their hands…

  • theroff@aussie.zoneEnglish
    10·
    2 months ago

    I sold my car last year and barely gave it a secomd thought (I still have access to a car on weekends). Money, environment and space-saving were all factors.

    I don’t think government should be in the business of subsidising driving (which is currently the case in multiple ways). Instead that money should be used to make public and active transport safe, convenient and reliable.

    • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
      21·
      2 months ago

      Many countries were designed for cars… Gonna take gemerations to undo it if the corpos even let us.

      So much grift connected to car industry. in Us, road construction is a good biz … Maintenance is mehh