France Is Giving Citizens $3,000 To Get Rid of Their Car and Get an Electric Bike (thenextweb.com) 178
France is offering residents $2,975 to trade in their gas-powered vehicle for an electric bicycle. The Next Web reports: Earlier this week, lawmakers in France approved the measure in a preliminary vote. The French Federation of Bicycle Users claims that if France does go ahead with the scheme, it would be the first nation in the world to give people money for old cars to put towards new electric bicycles, Reuters reports. However, the organization must be leaving out crucial details as to how it reached that conclusion as there have been other similar schemes.
For example, as Martti Tulenheimo, chief specialist at the Finnish Cyclists' Federation points out, Finland has a similar rebate which citizens have used to fund more than 2,000 ebikes, 1,000 new low emission cars, and 100 public transport tickets. Lithuania also offered such a scheme last year. The nation's Environmental Project Management Agency (APVA) offered residents $1,200 if they traded in their old cars. The money could then be used against anything from escooters, to ebikes, to public transport tickets. The scheme was considered a success with more than 8,500 people applying for the grant.
For example, as Martti Tulenheimo, chief specialist at the Finnish Cyclists' Federation points out, Finland has a similar rebate which citizens have used to fund more than 2,000 ebikes, 1,000 new low emission cars, and 100 public transport tickets. Lithuania also offered such a scheme last year. The nation's Environmental Project Management Agency (APVA) offered residents $1,200 if they traded in their old cars. The money could then be used against anything from escooters, to ebikes, to public transport tickets. The scheme was considered a success with more than 8,500 people applying for the grant.
Plus an extra $250 (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Plus an extra $250 (Score:5, Interesting)
In most of Europe, I think they often do more daily shopping. You go to a shopping market and pick up fresh goods and enough to last you a day or two. Americans will commonly get 10+ bags of groceries when often visiting the grocery store and this is why express lanes exist. If you rarely do bulk shopping, than a bike is generally more than enough with either saddlebags or basket. Daily commutes are also a lot shorter. I do not know if this is as much to do with city design or people's habits of trying to be within a 15 minute walk to work. All and all, many Europeans are probably fine without a car and using taxis/Didis as needed.
China can be a bit different but also has a huge usage for bikes. Generally better transportation and likewise many delivery services. I am pretty sure some of those services are likewise in Europe. I know with Amazon Fresh, they had trucks in the UK before they started testing them anywhere in the US. In China, this process is even more pronounced with small electric rickshaws zooming around the cities. They provide services like food/grocery deliver but also Amazon-like services. I haven't been in a grocery store in the last 6 months but maybe 3-4 times but commonly in little quickmarts.
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In most of Europe, I think they often do more daily shopping. You go to a shopping market and pick up fresh goods and enough to last you a day or two.
Maybe in bed-sit-land (is that where you live?) but not in the wider suburbs where, especially with COVID, people in the UK buy a week's worth at a time or at least half a weeks worth, from a large supermarket. In bed-sit-land there is usually a small "corner" type shop within walking distance anyway, for which you don't need an electric bike, it would just be an encumbrance.
Re: Plus an extra $250 (Score:2)
You are in the UK, so not really Europe. Go back to eating your biscuits which are cookies, and no I don't mean scones.
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A lot of high quality ripe and fresh produce has terrible shelf life and isn't suited to be kept in a fridge. In many cases you have to either eat it raw or use it for cooking within a couple of days. That's how it works in a lot of the warmer parts of Europe at least.
Alternatively you'll have to grow your own stuff like tomatoes which you can harvest when they're just right. But that requires both space, the right climate and, spare time.
If you only go for groceries once a w
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people in the UK buy a week's worth at a time
GP said "Europe" -- the UK is a mere American colony on an island near our shores.
At least in Poland and parts of countries I've seen, you have multiple medium-sized shops within a radius of 1-2 streets around you even in the suburbs, plus smaller shops strewn even closer (although the latter kind seems to be dying). There's hardly any US-style MacMansion suburbs here thus the population density is good enough to not only let medium shops thrive but also outcompete supermarkets.
Another reason is, we eat br
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In most of Europe, I think they often do more daily shopping. You go to a shopping market and pick up fresh goods and enough to last you a day or two. Americans will commonly get 10+ bags of groceries when often visiting the grocery store and this is why express lanes exist. If you rarely do bulk shopping, than a bike is generally more than enough with either saddlebags or basket. Daily commutes are also a lot shorter. I do not know if this is as much to do with city design or people's habits of trying to be within a 15 minute walk to work. All and all, many Europeans are probably fine without a car and using taxis/Didis as needed.
China can be a bit different but also has a huge usage for bikes. Generally better transportation and likewise many delivery services. I am pretty sure some of those services are likewise in Europe. I know with Amazon Fresh, they had trucks in the UK before they started testing them anywhere in the US. In China, this process is even more pronounced with small electric rickshaws zooming around the cities. They provide services like food/grocery deliver but also Amazon-like services. I haven't been in a grocery store in the last 6 months but maybe 3-4 times but commonly in little quickmarts.
Family size (birth rate) is one difference. If you have four children, you're probably not doing daily shopping on your bicycle, even if it's an option. My apartment was close to a small downtown area of the city I lived in, with several small Markets within a 5-10 minute bike ride or 15-20 minute walk. We did that a few times, and then we had children and that was that. I've seen videos of the cargo bikes in the Netherlands where the children sit in the front cargo area. That's fine, but there were moderat
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Daily shopping? Seems a colossal waste of time to me.
I go to the supermarket once a week. I live alone, so a week's groceries can easily be carried on a bike. Once every ~8 weeks I use my car to go to the supermarket and buy non-perishables.
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I don't think this is true for Italy. Else why would the supermarkets mostly sell UHT milk?
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Also, if you work in the same city as you live
Re: Plus an extra $250 (Score:2)
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The schools are also within a few hundred meters from home.
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They walk, take a bicycle, or public transport: or an dedicated school bus.
No idea why you ask, you have no kids, or did you invent teleporters already?
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DAMN, really? You must really hate Democrats if you think it is only the Democrat run cities that have "kids sit[ting] in 1.5hr of interstate traffic to take them to a school 25mi from home".
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Never watched any American TV shows about families with children?
Not all of what they show there are distortions of what is actually happening. From there you should know that a lot of people drive their children to school. And because the working parent (father usually) takes their own car to work, it's often done with a second char that's used by the the other parent (mother usually), which might also use it for groceries while they're at it. If both parents have
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A bizarre concept.
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Most European towns over 100k population will easily support shopping and school via walking or trams/busses. Holidays can easily be done with public transport if you are visiting a city (Venice, Paris, Berlin etc) or a resort (Ibiza, Santorini, Chamonix etc). Otherwise, renting a car when you get there isn't hard.
I didn't own a car until I was 30, and only use it a couple of times a month now.
Re: Plus an extra $250 (Score:3)
Re: Plus an extra $250 (Score:4, Insightful)
In europe, we prefer to go to the supermarket more often, even daily, and buy less stuff each time. The supermarkets are easily accessible by bike. Maybe you'll take the car to the supermarket on a Saturday, but even then I never had to buy more than 6 bags, which fit easily in my hunchback car. You don't need an SUV for that. Also note that a lot of people go to work by bike (about half where I work) and so the short supermarket visit is usually on the way back home in the afternoon.
A lot of small kids are walked to school (like I used to, a long time ago) and after a certain age they are allowed to walk or bike to school alone. Or they take the bus. Very few are driven to school. This is rather the exception if they are running late or something. A lot of people with kids over here have station wagons but as far as I can tell they are mostly needed before the kids go to school. Babies and toddlers have by far the largest space requirements. Usually that's when people decide to buy a larger car.
People that like road trips usually have a VW-bus or something similar, usually modified for camping trips, so there's that... If you take the plane usually you'll try to avoid too much luggage anyway since they can easily double the price of the ticket! And you'll avoid taking your own car to the airport since it can cost a arm and a leg to park it there. So you either take the train, take a taxi, of have someone drive you there. At your destination you can then rent a car as big as you'd like it!
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In Europe we have shops close to where we live.
Sometimes we even use our feet and legs to go shopping.
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I've deliberately reduced my food shopping trips to twice a week because any more than that starts to look anti-social in the current circumstances; but there have been periods of my life when for medical reasons I've gone food shopping six days a week, every week. My pro tip for carrying more than four items is to use a durable bag. That allows me to carry more than one arms-full load in one hand, and an 8-litre (2.x gallon) bottle of water in the other. But certainly things are different in distances and
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And in the US it's usual for a household to have at least two vehicles. My next door neighbor had two college age kids and they have *four* full sized vehicles, and judging from my neighborhood the one car per adult is not uncommon.
good for obesitas too.... (Score:2)
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The French have the lowest obesity rate in the OECD. It's hardly a "problem" for them. But I'm going to guess that the few people who are obese in France won't be the kind to buy a bike.
Re: good for obesitas too.... (Score:5, Interesting)
No. Smoking does not reduce obesity. Quitting smoking promotes obesity as people who are unable to cope with the idea of not having an addiction supplement it with eating. The NIH did a nice study on this (I have it on PDF on my computer but I'm sure you can find it online.
Relationship between Smoking and Obesity: A Cross-Sectional Study of 499,504 Middle-Aged Adults in the UK General Population
" Overall associations between smoking and obesity masked important sub-group differences. Overall, current smokers were less likely to be obese than never smokers but this was not true among younger participants and those living in the most affluent areas of residence. Also, the association was reversed among heavy smokers who were more likely to be obese than never smokers. Similarly, former smokers were more likely to be obese overall, but this was not true of former light smokers, was less pronounced in women and was not statistically significant in the youngest age-group and those who had quit a long time previously. The increased risk of obesity among former smokers decreased with increasing deprivation and was reversed in the most deprived 10% of participants."
If you replace cigarettes with chocolate bars you're going to make the earth quake when you walk.
If you ever want to know why the french have low obesity rates you should have a look inside a french supermarket and open a french cookbook. The isle for packed / frozen meals is vanishingly small.
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As people are on average too fat and as we move too little creating the next wave of illnesses this is a great solution for these problems also.
Speaking of moving too little, let me know how many fat people you have to race in order to beat them to the next ebike trade-in.
The overwhelming majority of obesity, is by choice. And a $3K refund ain't gonna cut it. People would pay $3K in tax penalties just to not change their lifestyle.
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"The overwhelming majority of obesity, is by choice."
Citation please.
Are you a child?
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Why do you need citations for no brainers?
Most obese simply have bad eating habits. People who have wrong gut bacteria or genetic conditions are simply rare.
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Re:good for obesitas too.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Where you see bad eating habits, I see mental health issues that has them eating more than what they require as a form of unhealthy coping mechanism. It's not likely they do it by choice. Most obese people don't like to be obese. They don't like other obese people either because they're obese. And like with most mental health issues fat shaming isn't helping in many cases. It's only making it worse.
I find 'fat shaming' a rather silly and degrading assumption. When confronting the alcoholic, no one is calling that 'drunk shaming'.
No matter what you want to call it, it often does boil down to addiction. And addition is still by choice. An alcoholic chooses to continue to drink because plenty have made the choice to stop drinking. The same applies for 90% of obese humans who are not able to use some metabolic excuse for their condition beyond laziness and a wanton desire to eat shitty food.
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"The overwhelming majority of obesity, is by choice."
Citation please.
Are you a child?
First off, this isn't even debatable. Even children understand how child obesity happens.
Lastly, I'm tired of this lazy excuse. Humans did learn shit before a URL was invented, and you don't have casual conversations with people IRL and demand evidence with every claim. Do your own fucking homework if you're the one demanding the obvious. You act as if fast food and human laziness are unproven theories.
The problem is theft (Score:5, Insightful)
Until that changes, or until vastly more secure bike storage is available, a bike (especially a pricey e-bike) isn't a reliable replacement for a car.
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Sorry but horseshit. Bike theft isn't taken seriously *BY THE VICTIMS* in France. No one even reports it to the police. Hell the only reason I'd file a police report is so the insurance company would buy me another bike.
You compared it to cars, so you do have insurance right?
Yes, I've had my bike stolen before. No I didn't care, I had a new bike with zero expense within a week and no I didn't go crying back to a car as a result.
Re:The problem is theft (Score:5, Informative)
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I have a few friends that all own bike shops, and they were largely sold out of 2021 stock last December. Reports I've seen say there's around a 300 day lead time to build a complete bike. Parts are scarce, containers are at the dock unloaded, the supply chain is still hopelessly fucked. Some shops won't sell you parts unless they're installed AT the shop—they don't want people taking bike chains and selling them for quadruple the price on eBay and leaving no stock for their own customers. It's wild.
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Check out decathlon, french company but stores world wide (no international site so you'll have to find your own local).
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Now would be a good time not to have your bike stolen.
I mean if you want a new bike sure. Go to a thrift shop or a second hand bike shop. I'm sure you can swallow dignity for a couple of days while while you wait for your online order to get delivered. There's no bike shortage, there just aren't many bikes standing around in showrooms which are largely unused due to constant lockdown issues.
These kinds of promotions aren't new. In the Netherlands and Denmark bicycles are 100% tax deductible. In Germany many work contracts will provide you with a fund for bicyc
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There is a big difference between theft and robbed.
You might consult a dictionary.
In case you plan either of the two: you should also check your local laws regarding it.
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First time I've heard of people not caring when they were robbed. Not sure what's worse, the rampant theft or the rampant apathy.
#1: Insurance usually has a deductable that would likely exceed the cost of the average stolen bike.
#2: Insurance companies can and will raise your rates well beyond the out-of-pocket cost if you dare to actually use the fucking thing.
In other words, that's not rampant apathy. It's called greed and corruption.
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First time I've heard of people not caring when they were robbed.
There's things worth giving a shit about and things not worth giving a shit about. A completely minor inconvenience which was resolved with almost zero expense (a phone call, and a metro ticket home and a completely irrelevant deductible about as expensive as a night out with dinner and drinks.) is not worth caring about. That isn't apathy, that is saving all my fucks for a time when they actually need to be given. It is also the fundamental purpose behind having insurance.
I lied a bit. I do own a car (thou
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And exactly how many people do you assume have zero deductible on an object that 95% have probably spent less than $250 on?
Why the arbitrary choice of zero deductible?
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There are 150,000 ICE cars that combust into flames every year in the US.
WTF has that got to do with this topic?
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There are 150,000 ICE cars that combust into flames every year in the US.
WTF has that got to do with this topic?
Dunno. What does bicycle theft, have to do with going green?
Tangents be tangenting...
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An epidemic? There are probably more cars lost to self-immolation than theft.
Nope.
"In 2019, there were around 189,500 highway vehicle fires [statista.com] reported in the United States."
"In 2019, 721,885 vehicles were stolen [iii.org], down 4.0 percent from 751,885 vehicles in 2018." (There were only 33,500 other vehicle fires [nfpa.org] reported in 2019.)
"In 2019, about 56.1 percent of locally stolen motor vehicles could be recovered [statista.com]."
So in short, even if you add up ALL the vehicle fires, AND if you remove from consideration any stolen vehicle which was recovered, thefts STILL outnumber immolations.
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(p.s. I used US statistics for two reasons. First and foremost, because they were available to me in English. Second, because most of the USA has zero safety inspections and therefore you might reasonably expect more cars to combust spontaneously here than elsewhere.)
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An epidemic? There are probably more cars lost to self-immolation than theft.
Nope.
"In 2019, there were around 189,500 highway vehicle fires [statista.com] reported in the United States."
"In 2019, 721,885 vehicles were stolen [iii.org], down 4.0 percent from 751,885 vehicles in 2018." (There were only 33,500 other vehicle fires [nfpa.org] reported in 2019.)
"In 2019, about 56.1 percent of locally stolen motor vehicles could be recovered [statista.com]."
So in short, even if you add up ALL the vehicle fires, AND if you remove from consideration any stolen vehicle which was recovered, thefts STILL outnumber immolations.
If I'm reading your statements accurately, there were 189,500 highway fires, plus another 33,500 fires reported in 2019.
Compare that to 721,885 vehicles that were stolen, but 56.1% of them recovered. Recovery usually isn't an option with self-immolation or other fire damage.
Total actual impact? 316K stolen-and-chopped vehicles vs. 223K torched-and-totaled vehicles.
The difference is, society is very aware of the problem of vehicle theft. Their insurance company is practically forced to remind them of this.
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Those stats also include two silly things that happened to me - once I parked my car over an old cushion that caught fire, and
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And why do they catch fire? Do they just explode? No, mostly it's wiring that catches fire, or the tires, or trash, or the upholstery (smoking causes many of these fires). If the fuel catches fire it's usually because of poor maintenance, a crash, using the wrong fuel, spilling it inside the vehicle (i.e. from a gas can in trunk), etc. But, mainly crashes causing fuel to leak.
Those stats also include two silly things that happened to me - once I parked my car over an old cushion that caught fire, and another time I spilled oil on the engine block. Hardly "self-immolation". Hell, it includes an instance where rats nested under a hood and they caught fire.
Regardless of how many varied excuses you've provided, they all fall under the single category of ICE vehicle ownership.
Want to really get society go Go Green? Force ICE manufacturers to broadcast accurate ownership statistics like cigarette warnings. Stir that conversation up a bit.
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I found the data, and it's over 150,000. But, it doesn't mean very much. Sure doesn't support the implied argument. Damaged wiring catching fire, crashes causing fuel to leak, dropped cigarettes, rats on the engine block... https://www.usfa.fema.gov/down... [fema.gov]
The argument was the alleged and massive problem of underreporting of incidents related to bicycle ownership.
The MSM goes apeshit when a single Tesla suffers enough damage to catch fire. Meanwhile, over 450 ICE cars catch fire every damn day, and yet * crickets * in every news outlet?
Regardless of the Going Green---bicycle theft----underreporting of vehicular issues tangent we're all on here, I merely addressed the actual argument. It's downright corrupt that we're not addressing all of it, especially as
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Great idea (Score:2)
A lot of people keep running old cars just for commuting or going to the local shops, the sort of thing that could be replaced by an electric bike. As long as they combine this with a serious effort to make towns and cities better for cyclists it should work well.
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Yeah, it needs to be thought out. Some people held on to older, dirtier cars in the hope of getting some kind of scrappage scheme.
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you're putting people that have already switched (or never owned a car in the first place) at a financial disadvantage.
No you are not.
The first group exchanges a car for a bike, the second group does nothing.
None of both a financial gain. Unless you have the edge case were one wanted to sell the car, but never wanted a bike and can now resell his car.
The unintended side effect of this kind of policy is that it motivates people to stick with undesirable behavior until you pay them to give it up.
A once in hi
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A lot of people keep running old cars just for commuting or going to the local shops, the sort of thing that could be replaced by an electric bike. As long as they combine this with a serious effort to make towns and cities better for cyclists it should work well.
While I do hope you are right, I don't expect this to really have that much of an impact. People know that cars have quite an advantage of convenience beyond a bike well beyond the cost of gas (air bags and seatbelts for safety, environmental protection from rain/sun/cold, capable of transporting multiple people and hauling large loads, etc.) The ratio of car:bike riders is quite large for many reasons.
I also worry about safety. Eventually streets will be filled with new electric cars designed with geniu
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Yeah, yeah, the Uber thing that one time. But I would trust the Waymo over an unknown human driver to not run me over, right now.
Driving culture (Score:3, Insightful)
Considering how people drive in France, that is one way to solve global warming by getting enough people killed in traffic.
Not a joke. I've been in gnarly situations in my life, including things like almost blowing myself up once when setting up a demolition charge back in the military when I was still too close and getting concussed. That was scary.
But none of that has anything on driving in France. I got almost ran off the road by a bus with French plates on the literal French-German border, and that was a just a start. Driving in Paris was less driving and more vehicular combat. And don't even get me started on how French park. Let's just say that when I saw that, I understood why most cars appeared to have significant bumper damage on front and rear bumpers.
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I live in a Paris suburb, I'd say it's a matter of habit, if You drive there daily basis it's not a big deal. But once You get a couple of weeks off (in France we have 5 weeks of holidays) and drive on the countryside and Then get back in the capital, I'll admit it, it's a bit scary.
The funny thing that in Marseilles things allegedly are even more virile.
But compared to what You'll experience is Mother Russia, french drivers are actually a placid bunch.
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Oh, and I also used to ride in Paris on bicycle before rented ones (they call it velib) appeared.
Now that's something that requires some solid balls.
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Fun part is, I have in fact driven in Russia (E18, E20 and St. Petersburg). It's fucking awful, but nowhere near as bad as Paris. Rules are about as optional as Paris, but at least people don't actively try to fight you on the road for the right of forming a spare lane where they isn't room for one like they do in Paris. And they don't have that weird notion that cars reproduce sexually and consent is optional for that form of sex when parking that French have. Russians actually care about their cars having
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Russians actually care about their cars having more or less intact bumpers.
Obviously the French took the term "bumper", quite literally.
Maybe the rest of us, need to be having a lot more fun in parking lots.
(kidding. my insurance is bad enough.)
Seriously? (Score:3)
I grew up in Greece. I've lived a few years in the US, driven around many states. I've also driven across Europe (between UK and Greece) several times (selecting a different route each time). France is one of the places I enjoy driving - granted, inside Paris it's not great, but it's still better than NYC and driving outside cities is quite nice regarding quality of roads & driver behaviour. Sure, if I had grown up driving in Long Island, where people would just stop in the middle of the road to say hi
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You haven't seen how people drive in China, have you?
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My whole point is that most (if you go by land or population size) of the world drives much worse than the French. I've not seen people drive in China (possibly because the don't have as many dashcams as the Russians), but I've seen how some people fresh from China drive in the US ;)
Re:Driving culture (Score:4, Funny)
The French are not as fussy about having pristine, dent-free cars as some other countries. Of course people on bikes are probably quite fussy about getting dented.
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''The French are not as fussy about having pristine, dent-free cars as some other countries.''
That's obvious. Fuck a pristine Renault isn't worth 5 percent of the credit value. I mean let's face it, Renault.
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The French are not as fussy about having pristine, dent-free cars as some other countries.
Nor apparently about other people's property?
It's one thing to damage your own car, it's something else to damage someone else's.
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I understood why most cars appeared to have significant bumper damage on front and rear bumpers.
If situation allows it, you are supposed not to fasten the hand brake, so one who likes to sneak into a narrow parking spot, can push the cars in front and behind a bit away with his bumpers.
Driving wise, France has improved greatly, but I agree until late 1990s they drove like manic idiots.
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Driving is actually safer in France than in the US, at least when it comes to traffic-related deaths.
Compared to the US, streets are narrower, intersections are more complex with all kind of traffic. Additionally, drivers in Paris tend to be particularly aggressive. Not reckless, but they will cut in front of you given the slightest opportunity. But all that is happening at slow speeds, so while fender benders are common, deadly accidents, not so much.
Each county have a different driving style. I've been to
Brussels did the same (Score:5, Interesting)
Brussels region in Belgium had a similar scheme. It was also successful.
I know of a parent of one of my son's friends took advantage of it. They had an old diesel car with some panel damage. The second had value was less that what was offered, and they were wanting an electric anyway.
With schemes like this, and another one to help scrap diesel cars, I've noticed that the air quality has slowly been improving in Brussels. You used to be able to eat the air, now just drink it. I've spend the last 15 years on/off riding to work, and I really notice the difference.
It's a great idea, and I don't mind some of my tax going towards it.
Costco (Score:3)
I'm not being facetious, I'm serious. You go to your regional bulk store, you need a car to haul that stuff home.
Re: Costco (Score:2)
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Rent a car for an hour or two.
Re:Costco (Score:4, Informative)
Not everyone has space to store massive bulk purchases, especially in cities where biking is the most feasible form of transport.
Supermarkets and some cash and carry places offer delivery (in the UK, no idea about France).
Car clubs exist so you can rent a nearby car and use that.
Some people get cargo bikes.
You get very cheap supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi in heavily populated areas, i.e. near where people live.
If you are one of the 20% of French people live in the sticks and want to buy bulk, then replacing your car with a bike isn't for you.
French delivery (was: Re:Costco) (Score:2)
Supermarket delivery in France is not yet common, though becoming more so - and often only in cities, where public transport is also a strong possibility for carrying your shopping home (and where you are near the shop, so you can go more often).
Supermarket collection (i.e. someone else picks the shopping for you and you collect it at the store) is very common - look for the name of a hypermarket and "Drive" to find the pick-up points. One difference between this and services common in the UK is that the F
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Walmart is the place to buy motor oil, we all know that. But... then you're going to Walmart. And half the time they're out of stock of what you came for.
Last week I went to their website and bought some jugs of oil. Free shipping. Later that afternoon, SAME DAY, the doorbell rings and there are my jugs of oil sitting on the porch. No box, no nothing... they just magically appeared SAME DAY without me having to go to Walma
Can they trade a VSP? (Score:2)
I bet a lot of VSPs have atrocious emissions. Trading a whole real car that can carry four people is one thing, trading a little toy car that can barely transport one is another.
And what of the cars? (Score:2)
1.5% is a success? (Score:2)
Lack of infrastructure (Score:2)
Unfortunately, using your bike to travel in France is suicidal. This is obvious on OpenCycleMap.org if you compare France to Germany, Belgium or The Netherlands.
There are a few bike lanes but not enough to be really useful. Nobody is willing to use his bike regularly to go shopping or work if there are multiple death traps on the way.
Gulf steam effect (Score:2)
With the end of the Gulf Steam that will give Europe winter worst that the America's North-East winter, I don't know how much these ebike will be a good way to commute.
Also... (Score:2)
Also, there is an offer to allow French electrophiles to buy a bridge that connects Manhattan to Long Island, which is used by many on electric bikes.
too bad that's an EU option (Score:2)
It doesn't work so well in a less-dense location like the USA. (same reason mass-transit generally doesn't fly here)
I'd love to be able to bike to work, or take the train to pick up a few groceries, but it's just not practical over here. (it doesn't help that I live far enough North to make bicycling impossible for 1/3 to 1/2 of the year)
And I really don't live THAT far from work. But it's hilly, and the roads are two lane undivided, with no shoulders or bicycle trails to take. And I'd have to pack a cha
donate to charity (Score:2)
In the US I can get a bigger tax write off by donating an old car to charity. Of course that does mean the car will be on the road and still running for years in the hands of a person who is motivated to keep the old clunker running. Obviously worse for the environment, but better for your personally. Just make sure you get your Noncash Charitable Contributions Form 8283 so the tax man is happy.
First nation in the world? (Score:2)
it would be the first nation in the world to give people money for old cars to put towards new electric bicycles
Finland has a similar rebate which citizens have used to fund more than 2,000 ebikes
So if it is the "first nation in the world" how can "Finland [have] a similar rebate"?
Cold Weather (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Not to worry. According to predictions already made by the best climate models 20 years ago, there is currently no rain nor winter in Europe.