Globally, only one in 50 new cars were fully electric in 2020, and one in 14 in the UK. Sounds impressive, but even if all new cars were electric now, it would still take 15-20 years to replace the world’s fossil fuel car fleet.
The emission savings from replacing all those internal combustion engines with zero-carbon alternatives will not feed in fast enough to make the necessary difference in the time we can spare: the next five years. Tackling the climate and air pollution crises requires curbing all motorised transport, particularly private cars, as quickly as possible. Focusing solely on electric vehicles is slowing down the race to zero emissions.
I don’t doubt this at all.
But it’s going to be 10 degreees Fahrenheit on my way to work tomorrow.
Public transit that doesn’t double my commute time is what’s going to get me to stop driving. Not a bike.
Why Canadians Can’t Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can)
Tens of thousands of people cycle year round in Montreal.
Cool, what about those who don’t live within biking distance?
My work is 37 km of rural highway from my house. I biked it once years ago, took me 1h45m one way. Not a reasonable option.
Cool. What about all those people who live within 5km of where they need to go, and are generally alone in the car.
Just because it doesn’t apply to you in particular doesn’t mean you can’t support and champion a cause that would help in the grand scheme of things.
If you’re still interested in long-distance commuting by bike, an e-bike is worth considering.
You’d likely get to work in “around” an hour with little effort. The cost savings from not having to buy gas for those distances would easily offset the cost of the bike + electricity used for charging.
Yes, biking 37km each way is pretty extreme. However, if you haven’t already, I’d suggest questioning whether you should be making some changes in your life. Using rough calculations for a fairly efficient & economical car ($0.25CAD/km for gas, maintenance, and depreciation), your commute is costing you $18.50CAD/day (more if you drive an SUV/Truck)! That means if you could move closer to work so you could bike, you could pay an additional $350/mo in housing and still be ahead. Or, you could look for a new job that pays $4,600/year less net (probably ~$6,500/year gross) and be ahead. And if you could give up your car completely, those numbers could more than double!!
It’s possible after reviewing the numbers, you’ll conclude that it’s not worth it to make any changes in your life, and that’s fine! Work in agricultural and other rural industries is important. It’s just that so many people aren’t even ware how much their 20min commute costs them, let alone what it costs their local government (roads aren’t cheap) or the environment in general.
Here in Nova Scotia, I’m not gear up to ride when slush is falling from the sky and the bike lanes don’t get cleared.
You’re literally describing the issue the video is talking about: infrastructure.
Tampere has improved a lot in the last few years in terms of cycling infrastructure, I now commute by bike all year round, even when it was under -23°C for two weeks at the beginning of this year.
There could definitely be more improvements as segregated bike lane coverage can sometimes be a bit patchy still.
I’m surprised NJB didn’t bring up the point of slush that much, but studded tires might help solve that problem, and this issue is tied up in poor winter maintenance of bike paths. The scariest part for biking in places like Toronto is the potential to slide out into vehicle traffic.
The other day I was going over snow dumps up to my knees like taking a BMX track in a commuter bike…
I watched the video and it had a huuuge hole in its argument.
It basically said one of the key issues is snow removal, then conveniently doesn’t mention how Canada gets more 4X the amount of snow than the Netherlands… Canada doesn’t remove snow as often cause there is more of it…
I live in Montréal. Commute by bike daily. And the city removes snow just fine. Even from bike lanes.
I had a similar experience in Toronto for the years I lived there. But Montréal is better at clearing bike paths.
But it’s going to be 10 degreees Fahrenheit on my way to work tomorrow.
So what? It was like 13 °F here in Atlanta a few days ago and my wife biked to work anyway. And that’s in the South, where we’re not used to it!
If she can deal with it, you have no excuse.
How far is work for her?
Regardless of the weather, biking would turn a 25 min drive into an 1hr 25min ride. I’m already not gonna do that.
I agree with you that better mass transit is needed as much or more than bike infrastructure, but I want to check one of your assumptions.
I bike 9 miles to work every day in 38 minutes, the car trip is 20-25 minutes due to traffic. The key is an e-bike. I’ve put 3k miles on the bike and at this point it has paid for itself and then some. Cars are expensive to drive, maintain, and purchase. My wife and I share a car and I supplement it with an e-bike. Considering she was considering getting an expensive new car before we started sharing, we’ve probably saved $40-50k in the last 3 years by removing a car from the equation. (Cost of car, insurance, maintenance, energy use per mile).
E-bikes use such a tiny amount of electricity, I’ll probably only use two tanks of gas worth of energy in it’s lifetime, maybe less.
Over the course of the next 15-20 years, repeatedly buying and maintaining one less car will likely shave several years off retirement and the biking will keep me healthy in the meantime.
Edit: Like you I overestimated the burden of riding a bike before I tried to make it work. Now that I’m doing it, it’s almost entirely a positive outcome.
It’s not strictly speaking impossible to bike in below-freezing temperatures, although I’ll concede that it’s definitely not as fun as it is in spring/summer/autumn-conditions. It requires winter tyres and dressing approximately the same as for comparable winter sports, with more emphasis on warmer dressing for the extremeties. Hands in particular are very exposed when riding in winter, doubling up the gloves is a wise choice.
Note that winter biking doesn’t have to replace every trip to be useful - I don’t commute by bike in the current conditions, as transit is just a much better alternative during this season. I still use my bike to go shopping and for some other trips, further supporting the possibility of not having to own a car.
Ice, salt, snowbanks narrowing the road surface. I haven’t seen a bicycle in months and I understand why.
It’s definitely not as pleasant, and the required prep has led to a culture of not biking during winter conditions in many places.
Ice is often not a problem with studded tires - it can be, but it’s rarely been my primary concern when out and about. Loosely packed snow - the kind where you sink down a bit - has been far more problematic.
Salt is a double-edged sword in many ways. It will corrode your bike a lot faster, so being good about cleaning becomes more important in winter, and you might want to have a separate winter-bike for the purpose. Salt improves road conditions as far as bikes are concerned though, making it on balance a good thing for the winter biker.
Snow banks narrowing the road surface is also a bit problematic in some places, in particular where there is no bike infrastructure in place. Taking the lane can be necessary in some cases.
And on the flip side of things, I live in Florida and biking as a primary method of transportation in the summer is just insane.
I do bike for exercise in the summer and 15 minutes will leave me drenched in sweat needing a shower.
