Bunnings trip? Lounge suite? A person? No problem. A politician has sparked a surprising online trend after questioning whether people could actually shop by bike.
I didn’t get a pickup so that I could transport groceries but I can’t imagine having to do all my grocery shopping by bike. It’s a +20km round trip and I usually come back with 2 - 3 bags of food which would be impossible to transport by either of my bikes so I would need a third one or a trailer just for grocery shopping and even in that case the issue that remains is that my SO couldn’t come with me unless she also rides a bike.
I mean I could do it if I absolutely had to but having a car makes it so much easier. I tried bike commuting for a while too but quickly realized that it’s turning an enjoyable hobby into a chore that I approach with apprehension, so I stopped doing that and instead only ride bikes as a hobby and for fun.
In your current situation, yes, a car is a lot better. But when it comes to urban planning it’s better to plan a city to have shops closer to people so that they can do their shopping by bicycle or by foot. So when people say, “who would do their shopping by bike” in parliament it’s a rhetorical trick to make you think about how things are now instead of thinking about how things should be in the future for people other than yourself.
Oh yeah there’s definitely a lot to improve. A ton of people would be more than willing to ditch their cars if there was viable alternatives that don’t massively inconvenience our daily lives.
There is a grocery store only about 500 meters from my house but small ones like that are so much more expensive than the one I go to now. I’m easily saving my monthly fuel costs just by shopping there.
You could also spend the fuel money you’re saving in your small local grocery store if you just walk the 7 minutes. Every trip not made by car is a win for the environment.
Grocery trips are just a tiny portion of from where my fuel costs come from. I use the truck for work. I’d save practically no money at all by walking to the store.
Yeah I’ve got grocery stores near enough that I don’t even need cargo space on my bike. Which is good because I don’t have a place to put my bike in my apartment
Having a car makes it easier because society picks up the externalities and hides the harms that you do. So yes, it’ll feel easier because you’re not seeing the whole picture or paying the real cost
I need a car for work so getting rid of it is not an option either way so I don’t feel any guilt about using it to haul groceries. There’s a lot to improve infrastructure-wise to encourage other means of transportation but I don’t see cars as inherently bad. It’s only bad when you force everyone to get one (or two) to even be able to live their lives.
I didn’t get a pickup so that I could transport groceries but I can’t imagine having to do all my grocery shopping by bike. It’s a +20km round trip and I usually come back with 2 - 3 bags of food which would be impossible to transport by either of my bikes so I would need a third one or a trailer just for grocery shopping and even in that case the issue that remains is that my SO couldn’t come with me unless she also rides a bike.
I mean I could do it if I absolutely had to but having a car makes it so much easier. I tried bike commuting for a while too but quickly realized that it’s turning an enjoyable hobby into a chore that I approach with apprehension, so I stopped doing that and instead only ride bikes as a hobby and for fun.
In your current situation, yes, a car is a lot better. But when it comes to urban planning it’s better to plan a city to have shops closer to people so that they can do their shopping by bicycle or by foot. So when people say, “who would do their shopping by bike” in parliament it’s a rhetorical trick to make you think about how things are now instead of thinking about how things should be in the future for people other than yourself.
Oh yeah there’s definitely a lot to improve. A ton of people would be more than willing to ditch their cars if there was viable alternatives that don’t massively inconvenience our daily lives.
There is a grocery store only about 500 meters from my house but small ones like that are so much more expensive than the one I go to now. I’m easily saving my monthly fuel costs just by shopping there.
You could also spend the fuel money you’re saving in your small local grocery store if you just walk the 7 minutes. Every trip not made by car is a win for the environment.
Grocery trips are just a tiny portion of from where my fuel costs come from. I use the truck for work. I’d save practically no money at all by walking to the store.
Yeah I’ve got grocery stores near enough that I don’t even need cargo space on my bike. Which is good because I don’t have a place to put my bike in my apartment
Having a car makes it easier because society picks up the externalities and hides the harms that you do. So yes, it’ll feel easier because you’re not seeing the whole picture or paying the real cost
I need a car for work so getting rid of it is not an option either way so I don’t feel any guilt about using it to haul groceries. There’s a lot to improve infrastructure-wise to encourage other means of transportation but I don’t see cars as inherently bad. It’s only bad when you force everyone to get one (or two) to even be able to live their lives.
20km just to buy groceries. America is a joke
I live in Finland
I’m so sorry
Don’t be. I’m much rather here.