From cycling cartoonist Dave Walker
https://davewalker.com/
this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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Fuck Cars
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I mean yeah but also people do leave them littered everywhere
Do they also use the ones that people can ride for free if they know how to disengage the brake? You can also take them way outside their intended zone.
You often get them around Nottingham clicking away. Since Uber is involved, this feels ethical anyway. It is always ethical to steal from billionaires.
In Seattle we throw those green scooters in a pile blocking the garage exit to the ICE facility.
They have their use cases.
Its just a bike. I do not care.
I care. I bike myself. I was walking downtown and some idiot left their bike leaning up against the tree on the sidewalk. Right next to outdoor seating to a small restaurant. Just completely blocking the choke point of the sidewalk. Walking with my kid in a stroller. I could either drop the stroller off the curb into traffic or move his bike to the other side and help everyone else actually walk.
I moved his bike. Which required actually picking it up as the bike wheel was locked. A 50lb electric bike. Not something I'd expect everyone with a stroller or especially a wheelchair would be capable of.
The problem is both. Don't leave your shit blocking where others need to go.
Its especially annoying because it easily fit on the other side of the tree. I just can't imagine why someone would leave it like that. But, yeah, some people are just never taught basic manners.
Having a kid now. I realize that there are so so many adults that just never got taught how to not be an asshole. They have a child's brain.
We have utterly destrpyed the commons, and you wonder why nobody cares for the corporate owned shit they need to rent to get around? It is not a common asset. It is owned and profited from; it extracts from you. It has locking mechanisms. It is hostile even if it's also useful. I don't use the fucking things, but i woukd toss them in the street when i was done, if i did. Live by the hobbesian hell world, get left in fhe street by the hobbesian hell world.
You want people to care about the world, make it for them, make the space their friend, not an enemy or exploiter whose every surface oozes subtle hostility.
So you're lashing out at a proximal cause instead of the larger structural issue, that most of the square footage of our cities is hostile and dangerous to unarmored humanity.
Dude. Be normal. I'm sharing a story about an annoyance of modern US infrastructure (which is obviously the fault of cars).
I'm confused by what conversation you're trying to start here. I obviously acknowledge the issues of infrastructure that lead non cars to have to deal with the frustration of a "choke point" in our sidewalks.
I think you may be just interpreted my comment in the least charitable way anyone could. Because, God damn, I don't think anything you criticized could actually be concluded from what I said.
Not to mention the three word quote you start with. Are you just here to try to disagree with someone that likely agrees with you?
Seriously. Maybe reread this in the AM mate.
Sorry, i still have some shreds of compassion left in me and multiple brain cells. Working on it.
Didnt have shit to say about everything you said. We likely do agree on a lot!
Just enough so you know what im referencing. Any reader would have the context. For brevity/cleanness and because vopy+pasting precisely is tedious in the ux i use. You seem to be interpreting me in a pretty uncharitable light too. Not every disagreement or correction is angry. Not all anger you observe is directed at you. Not all anger requires taking offense.
In China, they have a dedicated lane for parking bikes and motorcycles, as well as riding. The yellow bikes are 2USD/mo. By making bikes as cheap and convenient as possible, at the expense of what could be an entire carlane, they eliminate the demand for that car lane. There is a 2.50 fine if you park outside of the parking area, but youre never more than 10 feet from a parking zone.
That sounds far better than the American solution of leaving them in the sidewalk
You couldnt do that, youd block all the bikes, cars, and buses using that sidewalk.
Sure that's the problem. Not the fact that inner cities are completely clogged up with cars and everybody and everything else has to squeeze into the tiny spaces left over.
They are both a problem. Cars took up most walkable areas and now venture capitalists are exploiting what little is left by littering it with their electric scooters and bikes. Rentals are an important part of a mobility strategy, but they should be run by the government and get their own parking infrastructure.
My inner city is partially pedestrian only and partially streets for bicycles, buses, taxis and people who live there. No through-traffic. Those damn scooters used to be littered everywhere. So the city turned some car parking spots into designated scooter parking spots and they haven't been an issue since. It's not that hard.
Well, yeah, but some soulless husks want to profit. Personally I think we should hold some "disruption" conferences on a remote island, and then "forget" to pick them all up afterwards.
That's a great point. I had a similar realization when riding one for the first time. It was something along the lines of capitalism "fixing" problems that it itself causes. Can't afford a car? Rent a scooter
Don't worry you don't have to pay now either. Just use "After Pay" and you can pay $20 extra in late fees. Or don't. Just keep racking up debt like the rest of society. We really don't care if you pay anymore. We just want a big $ we can show investors so we can all jerk off to the profits we pretend have real material value in the world that is crumbling around us.
Absolutely. They should be municipality owned or operated, and promoted alongside other transit options. It builds a stronger city having several transit options and while also reduces the necessity of car reliance for every trip.
Come the fuck on. You can't be this sarcastic while being an idiot at the same time. If a city is clogged up by cars, it doesn't help that people are irresponsibly parking these e-scooters (specifically the ones you hire for a short period through an app which are prominent in e.g. Sweden). Why let a private company carelessly put a bunch of shit on the limited space available for people?
Two things can be true. I live in a downtown area with plenty of open space for bike parking and kids will leave the rent bikes in the middle of wherever they want
I'm with you on this. We need more space for bike parking AND people regularly park rent-a-bikes like assholes. Like if there's not much room and it's restricting a portion of a sidewalk whatever I get it. I'm cranky but not at the person who parked the bike. So many people in Seattle though stop in the middle of the bike lane and wander off, park in front of wheelchair access, or seemingly go out of their way to ensure the bike is going across the entire sidewalk like a wall
Yeah. Sucks humans can't generally move bikes,
Yeah, if they weren't so lazy they'd just get out of their wheelchair and move the bike out of their way /s
I live in a major city and it isn’t a problem. There are plenty of racks and you cannot park(end your ride) in certain zones.
It is a very solvable problem compared to what is sacrificed to cars
Oh for sure. My deeper point is just that culture is a factor that never really comes up in these conversations and memes. So while yes, the pic is funny, and yes it's getting at the heart of the issue. That doesn't change the fact that some people just dont care and also doesn't change the fact that the transition period away from car dependency is awkward for a lot of people
It gets the conversation started and it’s hopefully a point of inflection for some