There is a tendency for officials to view pevs as toys. Far from viewing thiefs as horse thiefs, they are viewed as simply a nuisance. Little resources are afforded these tasks in the police world.
What is needed is draconian penalties on those found, AND FIND THEM. Many of us would use electric bikes to do our shopping etc, if we didn’t sweat EVERY time we lock our pride and joy up. This is not an extravagant expense if less crowded roads, and less pollution is truly our goal. This will require teaching our populations to honor these forms of transpo, and to involve all of us in fighting the thieves.
Unfortunately, there are political factions dedicated to thwart any and all things green, as evil, or unnecessary. If the dutch society, with its vast bike infrastructure and safety is evil, I say to go on with our bad selves.
I feel that my life is at risk, at EVERY light, on my board, waiting for the light to change while the person in the right lane wants to turn. While I understand that this is mostly CALIF, it is emblematic of the intolerance of all things green.
Businesses must involve themselves, with bike racks that are prominent and under constant view. Perhaps we also should have gov non profit insurance available for those green commuters. Which would draft us all in watching out for theft. To limit those gov costs.
As it stands, my full sus ebike is USELESS to go anywhere and DO anything. Sure I can use it for exercise, but most businesses, and even grocers, disallow me to walk my bike thru the store. Of course they will use the excuse that they are not insured against damage to persons or property by such a contraption, ignoring the huge heavy basket careening around the aisles.
Truth be told, I would turn in my board in a minute, for my ebike, if it was convenient and safe to operate. Unfortunately, universal health care is one of those things. As a crash could be life changing.
It is time for humans to start to act responsibly, and make the SMALL sacrifices that are necessary to improve our cultures and societies. God knows the sacrifices that were made, to institute automobiles as the ONLY game in town. HUGE sums have gone into parking, maintenance and safety for our cars. PEVs not so much. It is going to be up to the KIDS, the ones ridiculed for their proclivity for shunning the expense of a car. The ones that seek a life balance that was considered slacker by us relics. And we early adopters must become more militant in our shove towards respect and tolerance.
There is no one but ourselves to blame, and no one but ourselves to depend on. And we are already far behind. Last but not least we need repair infrastructure, as sending our PEV back to china is a no go, and the pace of mfgs to do warranty work or paid repairs is glacial.
Till then, our transpo are toys, and fun, not life changing.
ezpz