[novantadue]

Its really silly. Its not for going long distances and it doesn't solve last mile problem, because well you could just walk 1 mile and wouldn't need to lug 200 pound monstrosity onto the bus. I think the bicycle will never be dethroned as the urban accessory vehicle.

[solardev]

Have you ever lived in one of those cities with e-scooters? In just a few months, they were EVERYWHERE in a way that the Segways never were... buses, bike racks, sidewalks, canals, middle of the road...

Lots of people who never biked used those scooters instead, because 1) they were heavily subsidized by careless VC money and 2) less sweat than biking. Bike commuting always seemed to me like a niche white thing, like urban hiking on wheels, but those scooters, man... EVERYWHERE.

[johnfernow]

> Bike commuting always seemed to me like a niche white thing

Hopefully someone can find some more recent data on it, but as of 2009 [1] the demographics of cyclists in the US mostly matched up with the demographics of the overall population, with a couple of exceptions:

white:

  - % of bike trips: 79%

  - share of population: 75%

black:

  - % of bike trips: 10%

  - share of population: 12%

hispanic:

  - % of bike trips: 8%

  - share of population: 15%

asian:

  - % of bike trips: 3%

  - share of population: 4%

So only hispanics were notably underrepresented, with white, black and asian people being pretty close to their share of the population, and while there was a minor overrepresentation of white people at the time, it was trending toward racial parity (in comparison to 2001 data), and over a decade later I wouldn't be surprised if it's even closer.

For income level, the poorest quartile was overrepresented (31%), but the other three quartiles were pretty close (21%, 23%, 25%).

So with cycling being far less common in the US compared to other countries with safer infrastructure (0.6% of people bike to work in the US [2] compared to 27% in the Netherlands [3]), you're not going to see many cyclists, and since white people make up a large percentage of the population, if you see a cyclist, there's a fair chance that they'll be white. But as the country becomes more diverse (and hopefully more people begin cycling to work), hopefully that perception will fade, and hopefully the trend toward racial parity for cycling continues.

1. https://grist.org/biking/2011-04-06-race-class-and-the-demog...

2. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/05/younger-worke...

3. https://www.government.nl/binaries/government/documenten/rep...

(edit: formatting)

[asdff]

I wonder what the stats are in a more diverse city, like LA? Population wise its 30% white and 50% latino now. Anecdotally I see a lot of latinos riding bikes when I commute to work.

Interesting stats in this article anyhow, especially about how effective bike lanes are at encouraging ridership among underrepresented demographics:

https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/122846/l...

[solardev]

Interesting stats, thanks for sharing!

[xsmasher]

IMO the e-scooter app + sharing model solved the parking and storage problem in a way that Segway did not. You don't need a bike room at work or secure bike parking at the restaurant / movie theater / bar if you can park it anywhere and get a different one to ride home. Also allows one-way trips where you use another mode of transport to get home.

Downside: you might not have immediate availability, but you can always walk a block or two to find another scooter.

[pklausler]

Especially the folding bicycle.