Bike Month Starts With An E‑Bike Push

Bike's are great, but the problem in New Haven is it's become so dangerous for biker's and pedestrians. Motor vehicle stops are way down under Mayor Elicker. YTD there have been 1,794 motor vehicle stops, down 47% from 3,390 a year ago, and down 66% from when the Mayor took office. And the Mayor's budget, while raising taxes, does nothing to increase traffic enforcement.

The City has rec'd $100 million from the Feds, an INCREASE of $49 million from the State, and an INCREASE of $10 million from Yale. But NO plan to address traffic safety.

I believe the Connex loan is up to a maximum of $20,000, not $1,000

Sorry to say this, but a real bike has just two pedals, and relies on muscle power to make it go. All very baby boomerish. All very simple, and not at all trendy or ego boosting. Just walk in to a meeting after a hard pedal five mile ride, dripping sweat, and anyone feels humble. Now we have the maniac Millennials thinking they are saving the planet by buying electric powered bikes, in complete denial that most electricity is still generated by fossil fuels. Add in a few smart phones so they are "connected" while travelling, again using profligate amounts of electricity, and I expect the next generation of electric bikes will be about $25,000 a pop. Don't buy a cheap one, as you are not being ripped off. Not to mention the designer hard hats, and the obligatory spandex body stockings. Can't look bad on a bike, can we? Oh, not to mention a Mayor who thinks he can get people to believe this fairy tale, and who also thinks he can put taxes up by an astronomical amount. Can't beat good old spend and spend and spend, on nothing, New Haven. There again, maybe it's not such a bad idea, as the city is going under water soon enough, not through spending too much, but through global warming. Well, there we go, too much fossil fuel use, and the Mayor supports this through the use of electric bikes. Keep voting them in.

Chernobyl isn't kidding, that comment is peak baby boomerish. Anyways tho, ebikes are great. I rode a basic one(no throttle or assist levels, it just kicked in when it felt you pedaling) in Reykjavik while on vacation once. It's been burning in the back of my mind to buy one, and last month I bit the bullet. 350 miles on a radcity 3 and so far no complaints. The real selling point I think of an ebike is the fact that if you actually want to just ride a bicycle......you can just turn off the assist and do so. Or if you're feeling poorly, just throttle all the way to wherever you're going.

I hope they follow These Rules.
Get There Safely by E-Bike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QHvm2TZXMA&t=87s

My bad. I was trying to figure out why Mayor Justin Elicker always wears Brown Shoes.A Professor friend of mine who teach at NYU told me when you see politicians in brown shoes.They idolize President Ronald Reagan who wore brown shoes and brown suits.

HAve to agree with the folks who find this a trendy,virtue-signaling, millennial affectation . Now I can hit by a cyclist adjusting their play list while biking. It is probably safer for the pedestrian but I would be much too worried about the dangerous drivers on the road to ever dare venturing off a bike track!

The Mayor needs to take a ride on some of the City’s bicycle land. The long Wharf lane is covered from on end to the other with broken glass. I’m sure it is never cleaned I see the same areas covered from one week to the next. All riders aren’t Manic Millennials some are just older with legs that just don’t have the old muscle power but still ride

What is the City's policy toward the Bike Share stations that are distributed across downtown and a few neighborhoods, but . . . . have no bicycles?

I live in Woodbridge and work in downtown New Haven. I commute to work via ebike. I track my miles using the CTRides app (through CTDOT) and have the following data to share: 1,877 miles back and forth between work (NH) and home (Woodbridge) on an e-bike, 1,679lbs of emissions prevented by not taking a car, 85 gallons of gas not purchased and $1,074 saved.

I'm not damaging the roads of New Haven with a heavy car. I'm not polluting your air as I move through your neighborhoods and I don't take up space on your streets for parking. As for anyone who thinks that having an e-bike motor means you don't have to exert effort, I welcome you to ride up Fountain Street. Even with pedal assist, it is a doozy.

E-bikes are an excellent tool that makes biking accessible for people of all abilities with the added benefit of being a great way to reduce our overall vehicle miles traveled. Pollution from transportation is a leading cause of asthma in CT's cities and we rank amongst the worst air quality in the United States.

p.s. The white cargo bike in the photos is mine. I can move groceries and a passenger. On most days, I can also very confidently say that my commute is vastly better than being stuck in a car in traffic.

I have several colleagues that live a few towns away from work and have switched from auto to to cycling because of e-bikes. Its not about virtue signaling. Its about practicalities of speed, nimbleness and economy, (including environmental economy.)
It always surprises me when car enthusiasts hate on bikes because by opting out of autos, cyclists make more room on the roads and lessen road wear and tear.

E bikes still used electricity which requires fossil fuels in most cases to generate power. Pedaling a regular bike is better for your health.
Plus the e bikes can be dangerous for riders who are unfamiliar with them and their speed and power.
And we definitely don’t need more distractions while driving or riding any sort of bike or vehicle.

I'm not sure how helpful this initiative is — this reads flashy and out-of-touch. Legally, in CT, ebikes require someone to have a driver's license — which many of us in New Haven do not have. People with driver's licenses already have way more mobility than the rest of us. This money could have been used to reinstall some trams that were taken out decades ago or invest in light rail along major commercial corridors — both would reduce congestion in the city and along I-95, and they would reduce travel times, as the bus timetables are terrible time sucks. For Bike Month, why not instead focus on how cyclists are treated on the roads?

1) We won't enforce our way to safe streets. The path to true transportation equity doesn't run through the police station; it runs through the planning department. Design and build streets less convenient for drivers and safer for pedestrians and people on bikes. We know how to do this and there are abundant examples. No arguments against doing so hold any water. If the climate crisis wasn't incentive enough, then let the extremely limited amount of space in our cities and on our roads be the reason.

2) In most cases, ebikes aren't replacements for bicycles; they're replacements for cars. Not everyone who has places to be--jobs to go to, friends to visit, errands to run--wants their trip to be exercise. Some people just want to get from A to B.

3) Yes, ebikes use electricity and yes, generating electricity has an environmental cost. I concede that I am not an expert but I suspect that generally, the environmental cost of generating electricity is less at a single power plant than it is at thousands of little power plants moving all along our streets and highways.

4) Say it with me: ebikes are real bikes. Say this with me, too: there's no such thing as an 'acoustic bike.' There are bikes and ebikes. This is a hill I will die on.

All of that said, I don't own an ebike myself although I have been thinking about getting one for transportation needs. With all respect to TheMadCap, the ones I have ridden are very heavy. It's not a simple matter to just turn it off and ride it without the power assist. I also have questions and concerns about the end-of-life cycle plans and how all of those batteries will affect the environment. But in the end, if tax credits are being used incentivize non-ICE car transportation, they should apply to ebicycles as well as electric cars.

Kate R, what model is your ebike? I am looking to buy one soon, and was hoping to find one late that, that has room for a person and cargo in the back

I’ve not yet taken a spin on an ebike but more and more, I am hearing great anecdotes about them and am considering the benefits as an alternative to short car trips.

It’s unfortunate that some of the comments here don’t pass the vibe check - trying to say ebikes aren’t “real” bikes, that using one is cheating because it’s not 100% powered by a human, or that they’re some technological fad. Transportation isn’t a competition. If using an ebike allows you to make trips that you wouldnt otherwise make on a standard bike, it’s beneficial. If it allows you to not have to use a car, it’s beneficial. If it means you can get across town in dress clothes and not be sweaty, it’s beneficial. It’s really strange to see some of these commenters decrying ebikes for bogus reasons or talking about the Mayor’s shoe color, and it seems like some of them still don’t actually know what ebikes are either.

Car drivers would be wise to realize that the more people replace vehicle trips with bike, ebike, bus, walking, rolling, etc trips, the easier it will be for them to get from A to B in their oversized combustion cage.

$3000 for a bike hooked up to an electric motor the size of a food processor? Bike thefts are bad enough in New Haven imagine what will happen when these expensive contraptions hit the market. Electric motors leave carbon footprints too. Paul Bass would never ride a bike with an electric motor. Paul has street cred, while the Mayor needs to work out those hamstrings.