Dewey
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Dewey
Participant@dasgeh 190363 wrote:
Hotels. Seriously, it would be great if we could get some snazzy Bike/WalkArlington brochures about transportation options and how to use them, and get them on those car-free diet kiosks. Makes sense to wait until Arlington makes the pilot final, which should be by next January, though they could start planning now.
Good idea, maybe also feature the rules & descriptions of bicycle infrastructure in regional tourist publications, the Visit Alexandria website does some of this though doesn’t mention scooters, but the official DC tourism and Virginia state tourism websites could also do with updated information.
Dewey
Participant@dasgeh 190363 wrote:
Hotels. Seriously, it would be great if we could get some snazzy Bike/WalkArlington brochures about transportation options and how to use them, and get them on those car-free diet kiosks. Makes sense to wait until Arlington makes the pilot final, which should be by next January, though they could start planning now.
PS. sidewalk scooter riding will be legal July 1
The Virginia state legal change continues to permit localities to enact sidewalk bans on e-scooters (but not e-bikes):
§ 46.2-903. “No person shall ride or drive any vehicle other than…(iv) a bicycle…(vi) an electric power-assisted bicycle, or (vii)unless otherwise prohibited by ordinance, a motorized skateboard or scooter on the sidewalks of any county, city, or town of the Commonwealth.”
§ 46.2-1315. “Any county, city, town, or political subdivision may (i) by ordinance regulate…the operation of motorized skateboards or scooters, bicycles, or electric power-assisted bicycles for hire.”Have you heard if Arlington is considering lifting its scooter sidewalk ban when the trial is evaluated? I’d like DC to include scooters with ebikes if/when reconsidering its sidewalk ban for commuters needing to use the Potomac bridge sidewalks.
May 3, 2019 at 2:05 pm in reply to: Cyclists kill more people than motorists in Holland for the first time in the bicycle #1098273Dewey
ParticipantI have no words, this is why evidence based policy decision making needs to return to fashion
May 3, 2019 at 11:37 am in reply to: Cyclists kill more people than motorists in Holland for the first time in the bicycle #1098259Dewey
ParticipantMeanwhile there are 15,000 Golf cart accidents/year in the US…
The Dutch have in the past year responded by banning Class 3/speed pedelecs from bicycle paths, introduced a higher helmet standard for speed pedelecs, invested in bicycle safety research technologies like steering assist, while European brake manufacturers like Bosch and Magura introduced ABS for ebikes. Dutch bicycle infrastructure might have a tiny bit to do with such enviably low road accident death rates compared with here in the US where we have horrendous rta death rates of 10,000/year by cars, if only someone had written a book explaining how the Dutch did this and how ebikes increasingly play a part in getting more people on bikes. Ebike riders are older and need more help to ride heavier ebikes safely, help is on it’s way.
Typical Daily Fail yellow journalism.
Dewey
Participant@lordofthemark 190263 wrote:
e-scooters are only ridden by joy riding tourists.
Not only but also…
I was reminded this week there are visitors who have never seen an electric scooter or bicycle infrastructure. A father and daughter riding 2-up on an e-scooter up and down the sidewalk outside the Residence Inn Ballston nearly rode down my 3-year old after she climbed out of her bike trailer and turned around to walk across the sidewalk into a restaurant. Unsure how outreach about the no-sidewalk, no-passengers, rules works for people who can’t recognize when a protected bike lane is right in front of them or that it is the authorized place to ride.
May 2, 2019 at 4:54 am in reply to: Best innovative thinking behind a e-assist design I’ve seen thus far. #1098185Dewey
ParticipantIt won’t work as advertised though. Justin LeMire Elmore posted on the Endless Sphere forum about regen on a ride around hilly Vancouver and got about 11% efficiency on a 7km ride with 10 stops and 77m of elevation change on average generating just 6.5wh or less than 1 wh/km. The Zehus motor in this ebike is a 28v motor with a 20a controller and a 6.8ah/190wh battery. Justin’s motor simulator doesn’t have a 28v motor example but for comparison sake a 24v motor with a 20a controller requiring 480w of peak power when climbing hills consumes about 6wh per km, so run all the time this bikes battery would be drained in 31.6km but even with this regen system keeping the motor turned off and only using it say 25% of the time will discharge the battery eventually as the motor consumes considerably more energy than you might get back using regen. If you like mostly pedalling and don’t want pedal assist just a throttle boost to get up hills a much less expensive option that would give you more torque push up hills would be to use something like a Hill Topper Ranger kit which uses a standard Bafang brand 36v geared front hub motor wheel and costs <$700 with battery. The Zehus motor is an all-in-one hub motor with controller, battery, and motor packed around the hub as in other similar designs like the Copenhagen wheel. They’re not very popular because the heat generated by the motor can fry the controller electronics and because of the limited battery range for the price but have some niche uses, eg folding bikes because there’s no wires strung through to get in the way when folding the frame. Montague use the Copenhagen wheel on their folding bikes in the US and the Zehus on the same bikes when sold in the EU. The fanciest looking ebike I’ve seen using the Zehus motor is the Coco-Mat Penelope made of ash wood.
Dewey
ParticipantPlausible, recently in Clarendon I saw an electric scooter riding on Wilson with a Trader Joe’s shopping bag hanging off each handlebar.
Dewey
ParticipantWonder if he hit the raised brick pavers in the median on Wilson heading East, one time crossing against a bunch of people I clipped one edge with my (thankfully unoccupied) trailer which promptly overturned causing much anguished cries from onlookers while I sheepishly picked it upright and pushed my bike to the sidewalk.
Edit: Nope, the photo appears to show the incident at the corner of Irving and Wash Blvd
April 26, 2019 at 7:53 pm in reply to: I’m moving and I can’t commute by bike anymore. Help me find a solution? #1098041Dewey
ParticipantHella heavy though at 66lb for that folding ebike! Bike Friday e-pakiT is spendy but weighs 26lb so when the batteries run out you can pedal like a normal folding bike.
Dewey
ParticipantRegarding the decision to temporarily withdraw CaBi+ ebikes this article in the Post makes depressing reading: that there isn’t safety oversight or a channel for communicating safety data between electric bikeshare operating companies. Uber/Jump reportedly fixed the problem in their bikes, the Shimano manual says the hub of their front Inter-M roller brake needs the wheel hub to incorporate braking power modulators so Uber must have found a way to retrofit the power modulators into the motor hub – that they failed to share with Lyft/Motivate either the existence of the problem or their technical solution demonstrates a need for better regulatory oversight. Hope they do the right thing by anyone injured, and they fix the problem toot sweet so they can get CaBi+ back on the streets.
Dewey
ParticipantArlington ebike trail ban next, come on DES you promised Bill Shatner!
Dewey
ParticipantThank you NOVA Parks!
And the promise of more to come…
“Regarding allowing e-bikes on (Arlington) County trails, we’ll look at it this summer during the evaluation of our shared mobility devices demonstration project,” said (Arlington DES) department spokesman Eric Baillet.”
Dewey
ParticipantFire breaks out at NY Citi Bike hub after e-bike battery charger bursts into flames.
Whoops, shades of the fire in 2015 that gutted Hybrid Pedals in Arlington. More seriously given the NY Citi Bike fire involves the same operator as CaBi, Motivate, I hope they consider installing a battery bunker or other storage room with a lithium extinguishing system at Capital Bikeshare warehouse/maintenance facilities and carry Class D dry powder extinguishers and battery storage ammo cans in the rebalancing trucks.
Dewey
Participant@Dewey 187088 wrote:
why couldn’t the County simply wait until it is determined whether they need to change their pilot rules and County Code to comply with HB 2752 which if voted into law would change Virginia law to include motorized skateboard or scooter among vehicles “deemed not to be a motor vehicle”?
HB2752 was passed by the VA legislature and signed by gov Northam last Thursday 3/21/19. In Virginia electric scooters and motorized skateboards are now no longer classed as motor vehicles and are permitted to ride on sidewalks unless prohibited by ordinance (Source: revised VA Code § 46.2-903 Riding or driving vehicles on sidewalks), presumably this last revision means Arlington may continue to ban scooters from sidewalks.
Nova Parks last week discussed and passed changing NOVA Parks regulations related to ebikes, no minutes available online yet but presumably took into account the public comments/feedback.
In Maryland HB 939/SB 935 remain on track for the state to enact this year the BPSA/People for Bikes 3-class model ebike legislation.
Dewey
ParticipantThanks Judd, given NPS controls the Virginia MUP/trail approaches it will probably take Congressional action to effect change for Potomac river crossings. When Maryland (Virginia maybe next year) adopt the 3-Class model ebike legislation, that will legalize Class 1 and 2 ebikes riding on trails and MUP’s unless localities choose to prohibit them, it’s unclear if that will oblige local jurisdictions to review their reasoning and change the regulatory wording to explicitly call out Classes of ebikes and electric scooters to which a ban might continue to apply. I believe it’s worth making the regulatory changes to DCMR & Arlington County Code now to apply a consistent region wide legal framework for Class 1 and 2 ebikes and electric scooters enabling riders to commute safely and legally to and from the District then transition to on-street bicycle infrastructure when we reach the other side. As Buschwacker points out, encouraging more commuters to choose Capital Bikeshare Plus or dockless electric scooter should hopefully mean more people on bikes and scooters advocating for safer cycling infrastructure. It might also encourage more electric bike and scooter riders to consider taking out liability and/or personal injury insurance. There is no justification for denying legal protection from driver’s lawyers when we ride in the street.
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