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Oxford Professor: Cycling is 10 times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities
(theconversation.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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I can’t see this taking off in my city. It’s tropical here and during the colder months it’s in the 80s.
People are not going to cycle to work because they will be drenched in sweat by the time they arrive.
Given how popular bikes used to be in Vietnam, which is positively scorching most of the time, I don't think this narrative had any credibility.
Besides, with e-bikes being a thing, this take is even less valid
Thats why we need EVs...
Electric bikes are a big help on hilly or hot commutes
The problem with that is they are pretty expensive for people in third would countries.
Well, we're comparing them with (electric) cars here, which are much more expensive.
That's why there is electric scooter.
Just going to point out that it's kind of an unreasonable expectation that people will not be sweaty when it's that hot outside.
There's probably a balance somewhere. When it's that hot, you can sweat walking, but sweat only a little more when biking calmly because you get an extra breeze while doing so.
I'm not a smart person though, maybe theres a place on earth where you wouldn't feel any breeze while biking.
People aren't walking instead they are stepping out of their homes with AC and riding in cars and busses with AC to their jobs which have AC...
Biking is reasonably strenuous exercise. Breeze or no breeze if its hot outside you are going to be sweaty as fuck and after you marinade in that sweat you are going to stink.
That's why you need it in combination with public transit. Even if it's 90-100 degrees I can go for a bike ride for at least 10 minutes as long as I can keep moving and keep the air blowing on me. And I'm not even really in good shape. So as long as you can bike to a bus or train stop in a fairly short time, then hop on that where there's air conditioning, then ride for a while, and eventually take another short bike ride to your work, then it should be fine. Of course during heat waves having a car as back up is definitely good or just to use during the hotter months also works and would go a long way to reducing green house gas emissions from either driving an ICE car or from the energy you use for your electric car.
If you are going to be on the bus you mostly need more busses not more bikes
But bikes solve the last mile problem that people tend to have with busses and trains. Plus they're useful for shorter trips that wouldn't really make sense for a bus or train. So giving better infrastructure to encourage that would definitely help even in a situation where you're taking other forms of transit. As well as with how suburban America is it allows people to get out of the suburbs at a fairly good speed to get to public transit hubs or to stores.
I used to live in a county that solved that problem by having in effect a connecting bus for rural riders it operated a bit like a free taxi you had to schedule. Unlike an uber there was a longer wait as it had to serve many folks so you had to plan on leaving early and waiting but it did work out pretty well and it was anything but a rich county.
Yeah I think they have something similar where I live but I think you have to be an older person or have a disability to be able to use it. Which I think is great for those groups as they are the groups that would have more trouble with biking. But I feel like for a lot of other people if you're not in super rural areas biking is probably a better solution both for the environment and for your own health.
It's the same everywhere though, and people who commute to work tend to have facility in their office(if they work there) to help with that. Else i heard some people wipe it down with baby wipe. If they work blue collar like me then what's to worry?
Also ebike(class 1) help tremendously and also help keep you healthy.
when you cycle regularly, a commute doesn't make you sweat.
When it's that hot, just existing makes me sweat. It's barely 15°C in the UK and I'm down to shorts and T shirt already.
This is not true in my experience cycling in 32°c to 34°c and 75% to 90% humidity environment. 😅 I used to commute daily to school at early dawn and i drench in sweat everyday.
But there's way to avoid that and people tend to commute to work in the morning and evening, where it isn't as hot as noon.
Lol no
This depends on ambient temp and humidity
It depends on whether you know how to pace yourself, which I seem to never be able to learn. I can only go full blast every time, and hence I always arrive sweaty.
Luckily, I only have 5.5 km to go to work, and with my current speeds, that doesn't get me sweaty enough to be unable to air-dry out. Previously, when I had a longer commute of 14 km, I was luckily able to use the showers offered at work.
Been there, done that. Only time I actually sweated was when waiting at intersections, rest of the time the wind from riding kept me dry.
Most places I worked at had showers available for those who cycled a long distance or enjoyed a lunch activity such as running.
Sadly that’s not very common in the country where I live.