• SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Bikes on trains should do it. The train gets you within a few miles, the last part can be done with your bike. All the efficiency of a train for long distance, all the flexibility for short distance.

    With pedal assisted cargo bikes people can even haul a surprising amount of stuff. People here are already using those pedal assist bucket bikes for getting toddlers to school.

    • nehal3m@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      You can store most bicycles on trains, where I’m from people have fold-up bicycles that will fit under a seat even just for last-mile transport. Cargo bikes won’t fit on a train though, they’ll block aisles and standing room. I doubt hauling a whole-ass train car just for bicycles is cost effective.

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        It’s cost effective when you take the same amount of cars off the road and factor in what those cars would have contributed to

        • road maintenance
        • road congestion (mental health)
        • environment
      • TheFriendlyDickhead@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        They are very common where I live. They are designed so that people can sit there if no bike is using the space. And usually they are bikes. Still not enough space for a cargo bike, but more than enough for a normal one.

      • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        That seems a classic chicken-and-egg issue. There is no room for cargo bikes because it’s not cost effective. That means people can’t easily take their children and stuff anywhere except with a car. Because everybody uses the car, the train cars are not cost effective.

    • Diurnambule@jlai.lu
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      3 months ago

      Imagine you can rent bike at train station and put them back at the train station. In Luxembourg we can rent bike for 19€ a year.

      • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        And as long as everything you need fits in a backpack that works great. And most people still but a car for the cases where it doesn’t work, and if you have a car anyway, why not use it more.

        But those bikes in docks and the scooters do work great.

      • Valmond@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Yeah but that one day when the bike rack is empty except the one with a flat tire haunts you the whole year though.

        It is a good thing for occasional use IMO, if I go to work every day I prefer the “safety” of having my own bike (I’m 198 too :-)