Comments on The Urban Country Bicycle Blog: Sunday Afternoon Traffic in China

One compromise to counteract the enthusiastic embr...

2012-01-14T21:51:32.980-05:00

One compromise to counteract the enthusiastic embrace of motorcycles would be mopeds and especially, electric bikes. Certainly my partner in Taipei area and Changzhi, did see use of motorcycles more heavily there than in our big North American cities.

See his blog posts here in: http://www.thirdwavecyclingblog.wordpress.com

However there is hope, that already some other Asian cities have made some great strides in certain areas of their cities for cycling infrastructure, Seoul and Changwon.

" . . .it would be hard to argue that these e...

2012-01-14T13:51:46.227-05:00

" . . .it would be hard to argue that these electric scooters are more harmful to the earth than a mid-size automobile."

Perhaps, although perhaps not for all of the reasons you think; and of course, as you imply, better is not the same thing as good.

Something to consider: What is the affect on the vehicle of transporting 4 or 5 people when it is designed to accommodate 1 or 2?

" . . .if everyone in China lived like us Canadians (or Americans), we'd be in much bigger trouble..."

And yet China is the world's number one polluter, at least in part because of ways in which they do not live like us, bearing in mind that a certain amount of China's pollution is actually our pollution displaced . . . and around we go.

There are very few gas-burning two-wheeled vehicle...

2012-01-14T12:16:04.435-05:00

There are very few gas-burning two-wheeled vehicles here nowadays. I think the government banned them because they are a rare sight nowadays.

I agree with you that electric vehicles don't ...

2012-01-14T12:14:38.676-05:00

I agree with you that electric vehicles don't solve the problem and they merely shift it outside the city and typically into the countryside where the electricity generating stations exist (which are often fossil fuel burning plants here in China and in much of the United States).

However, I think it's fair to say that a small, lightweight electric scooter would create far less pollution from its electricity generation than what an automobile would generate from both its exhaust pollution and fossil fuel extraction, refining, shipping, etc. I've seen families of 4 or 5 people on a single electric bicycle (or scooter) and it would be hard to argue that these electric scooters are more harmful to the earth than a mid-size automobile. It's certainly not a perfect solution, but if everyone in China lived like us Canadians (or Americans), we'd be in much bigger trouble...

My apologies for the double post, the first gave m...

2012-01-14T11:14:44.905-05:00

My apologies for the double post, the first gave me a system error message, but it appears to have taken anyway. I cannot clean it up from my end. James, would you be so kind?

"Those motorbikes in the pictures aren't ...

2012-01-14T11:10:27.541-05:00

"Those motorbikes in the pictures aren't helping the air quality at all either, unless they're all electric."

You will find the answer to this by reading the article.

"It's well-known these days that motorcycles pollute more than cars do."

It's well known in the state of California. Other places it's well known that they don't necessarily and that this . . .

"Motorcycles and scooters are, on average, about twice as fuel efficient as cars. Compact and lightweight, their internal-combustion engines do a better job of converting fuel into energy that makes the vehicle move. But extracting more energy from the fuel has a downside. It produces greater amounts of a smog-forming emission called oxides of nitrogen."

. . . is pure nonsense. It's author ought to be sentenced to taking Physics for Poets and maybe a bit of basic logic.

You cannot extract more energy from a fuel by converting less of it to energy.

It is also well known these days that electric vehicles do not reduce pollution, they merely displace it. Important to the air quality of a city, but not to The Planet. Depending on the fueling process they may even increase total pollution.

"Those motorbikes in the pictures aren't ...

2012-01-14T11:01:16.887-05:00

Those motorbikes in the pictures aren't helpin...

2012-01-14T10:35:38.511-05:00

Those motorbikes in the pictures aren't helping the air quality at all either, unless they're all electric. It's well-known these days that motorcycles pollute more than cars do.