• pedz@lemmy.caEnglish
    394·
    10 hours ago

    I’ve been car free all my life and not pumping gas into a multi ton vehicle that burns it to move everywhere I go is one of the nice parts.

      • GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        8 hours ago

        To unlock your pedals, please watch this 30 second ad.

        (AD)

        Uh oh! It looks like your ad display battery is low and the pedals cannot be unlocked! Please charge the ad display to use your bike.

        • pedz@lemmy.caEnglish
          3·
          5 hours ago

          This is one of the reasons why e-bikes are not a favorite of mine. Some are obviously fairly simple and not IoT/cloud connected/AI/buzzword, but others, like VanMoof, needed an app to unlock the bike. So it would indeed be easy to display an ad before being able to unlock some e-bikes. They can be like modern cars and spy on their users too. Gotta be very careful when shopping and buying one of these.

      • pedz@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        5 hours ago

        It’s not always easy. I had to move. My new city/region has barely adequate public transit and my country has abysmal train services. So my bike is the main way to move around. It’s really nice for short distances. Even longer ones in summer. I love it. I have panniers, trailers, and pull my inflatable kayak to the lakes and rivers around.

        However intercity travel here is horrible without a car. We have a pretty decent network of dedicated bike paths spreading like a web from my city and going into the countryside, but I don’t always want to cycle 300 km to and fro to visit my parents. Plus, it’s winter right now, so I rely a lot more on public transit, and sometimes it really makes me wish I would have a car instead of having to deal with underfunded transit and bike networks.

        I watch the people standing up in the crowded bus, that has to leave people behind at some stops because it’s full, and I think to myself that society really really wants people to own a car; that transit users tolerate a lot of shit. And unfortunately, using public transit is also being subjected to an insane amount of ads.

        That’s why I love my bike so much. But it would also be hypocrite of myself not to acknowledge that I sometimes stop at gas stations while bike touring, because I also need some fuel, like a sandwich and some electrolytes. There’s going to be ads inside and the cashier might even offer a lottery ticket. No way to escape them.

        Still, if you wish to be car free, I hope you can attain that goal. Because even with that said, it’s satisfying to move myself and my stuff without a car, or not having to constantly pay for gas. In a world where cars are systematic, at least where I live, it feels like an accomplishment to do things without one.

        • SuiXi3D@fedia.io
          2·
          5 hours ago

          Yeah, I have an e-bike I rarely use. At one point I had a job close by and I could bike along some walking trails and through a neighborhood on the street to get there, but when I left and got a new job the place is on the other side of the city. I could use it to make grocery trips, but I drive by the store on the way to and from work. Makes more sense to combine trips. Or I’m shopping on the weekends with my wife, who is disabled.

          Public transit here… exists, but it takes an inordinately long amount of time to get from point A to B. The rail service is a single line and has the same problem, also doesn’t run all day and there’s only maybe two trains.