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I live in Chicago.
I'm not gonna say there's no reason to have a car, but I see no reason for the average Chicagoan to own a car.
The CTA is actually pretty reliable overall The streets are comparatively bikeable The Divvy System (bike share) is well layer out.
Make America Multimodal Again. This. Shit. Works.
I got a bike for <10km flat trips (30 min).
An ebike for longer (10-20km), or hilly, or carrying stuffs trips, or very hot days.
A trailer for groceries.
And I don't like to exercise! But I clearly saw an improvement on my physical and mental health.
My wife as her car for longer trips or when we have to move all family.
Thing is we have a fairly good bike infrastructure (bike lanes everywhere and some bike roads), but not good enough for kids or people who are afraid to share road with cars.
We need more bike-friendly roads (low speed on separated lanes), and make people conscious that car is not mandatory most of time.
Eskate is such a fun way to get around, pretty dangerous though.
I live in one of the most dense cities in the world. I own an ebike, electric scooter board, and an ICE Toyota sienta(basically a shrunken Senna). All 3 vehicles serve a purpose.
Within 10 minutes? Walk.
Between 10-20 minutes walk, electric scooter board
From 20-30 walk, e bike
Over 30 min walk, car.
In-between these, I take the bus or subway, if the stop is close to the station.
Basically, every vehicle has a purpose. Adding an ebike might be good to have in addition to your ICE vehicle.
Which city? Because for most of the densest I'd say 30 mins would be way to bother with a car, and if you're actually living in the city you wouldn't even own a car but maybe taxi makes sense for some journeys.
I live in Taipei.
I see so many ebikes and escooters pop up is there a reason for this? Are people getting them because there's some incentive out there or is it because they're just a cheap way to commute?
To echo the OP's reply below, there are a lot of different reasons combining right now to make them popular.
One of the factors that has improved the most over the last 5 years is how much more access people have to safe and cheap optons. Buying a cheaper e-bike even just 5-6 years ago had you gambling on components and hoping your battery and charger were certified and sourced reputably. And, while you could order online, the experience wasn't always great.
Nowadays it seems like almost everything has certified chargers and batteries, and the overall build quality of cheap bikes and scooters (bikes especially) has improved as well.
Combine that with being able to order a bike or scooter online, ship it to your door in just a week or two, and get going with minimal assembly and adjustment. Boom, that's an attractive option, even before you hit incentives. E-bikes and scooters are so insanely cheap to own and operate compared to a car (even a super cheap car) so it just makes a ton of sense that people would choose them.
Hard to comment on incentives without knowing what part of the world you're in, but yeah they're much cheaper than cars, less effort to use than standard bikes, and in cities can be the fastest way to get around a lot of the time.
Let's not forget the scooters are very compact, you can easily bring one into the office, shop, bus. A bicycle needs to be locked outside, often exposed to the wearher and could be stolen. I'd say it's more of a factor than bicycle costing more effort to move around.
Bicycles also have more moving parts, needs more maintenance i assume than electric scooter that has a direct drive motor with no chain or gears.
I love my electric unicycle
How long did it take for you to get half-decent with it? I have little to no balance, I can't even rollerblade or ice skate, you think it's worth trying to learn?
It seems so practical which is why I wanna keep trying to learn.
I won't lie to you, the learning curve can be steep at first. It took me two to three weeks of practicing a half hour to an hour almost every day before I got it. Like you, I have no experience roller blading or ice skating.
The journey from starting to staying on it for more than five seconds is the longest part, from that to effortlessly flying down the street is much faster.
It's like learning to ride a bike but you didn't do your falling when you were a little kid. And you will fall. Always ride with at least a helmet, wrist guards, and knee pads. And if you're gonna ride anywhere cars can get to you, that helmet should be an ECE 22.06 rated motorcycle helmet.
All that said, I still think it's worth it. It's my main mode of transportation, it's very practical and fun, and at this point riding is second nature to me.
I would recommend looking for a used entry level EUC on craigslist or something first rather than going for the biggest, fastest wheel right away.
Thanks for the response! Mind answering a noob question? Like where did you practice, an empty parking lot or...? Cuz even with helmet and gear, if you did fall, was it OK?
Yeah, an empty parking lot. You might think a field of grass would be better, but in my experience the unevenness of the ground makes it harder to learn more than the softness boosts confidence.
Your falls when learning in the parking lot will be a lot more stumbling and dropping the wheel than anything serious. The wrist guards are especially important because most people's reflex when falling is to catch themselves with their hands, and that can be a problem even at low speeds without guards. You will also bang your ankles on the pedals, which is painful but not seriously damaging.
First, work on just controlling the wheel with one foot while standing on the ground with the other. Roll it back and forth, get a bit of a feel for how it moves.
You're going to want to try and hold onto something when you first try to get both feet on the wheel. In my opinion, this is a dead end and doesn't really help.
Get out away from obstacles and work on stepping your second foot up. The movement you should be going for is a single smooth unhurried step while leaning slightly forward, don't try to rush. This part can take a while and can tire you out more than you'd expect. It's okay to let the wheel fall (that's part of why a cheaper, lighter secondhand wheel is ideal for learning), and it's okay to take breaks. Getting frustrated doesn't improve balance or smoothness.
When you manage to get both feet on the pedals, keep your knees bent slightly, your back straight, and your eyes up. Especially at first your balance, and the wheel responding to your balance, will tend to go where you're looking. Look at the ground, you'll go to the ground. Look forward, you'll go forward.
I want one but it's too expensive.
hello are u doing a bit
No, electric unicycles are great. They're fast, powerful, easy to store and carry onto public transit, controlled completely handsfree, and fun to ride.
Are they different from traditional unicycle? I've seen a guy go around on a wheel with steps just below the axle on either side, mostly enclosed in a fender of sorts, but never anything with a seat.
It doesn't have a seat. This is how it works
Yeah there's a local guy that uses something of the same general design. 50mph is pretty scary though that's unexpectedly high. I'll have to look in to how they handle on hills in either direction and if there is somewhere local I can test ride one.