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More Twin Cities families using ‘cargo bikes’ to haul groceries and children (www.twincities.com)
submitted 1 month ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/utilitycycling@slrpnk.net
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[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 19 points 1 month ago

Grandma is 71 and not in the best of health.

“I knew that she probably wasn’t gonna be able to bicycle very far on her own,” Poole said.

She chose a Bunch front-loader, a model with two front wheels and a box large enough for an adult to sit in, so Grandma wouldn’t miss anything.

“We rode her around the parking garage a little, and she was like, ‘This is the bomb diggety.’”

[-] mbp@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 month ago

Grandma sounds like such a cutie

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 16 points 1 month ago

sometimes taking the extreme step of replacing a car with a cargo bike

This is not extreme.

Extreme is when you choose to use a fossil fuel car during the climate catastrophe.

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 month ago

Wait, are you saying carrying multiple tons of steel every time you need milk is extreme?

[-] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

yeah but!!! the rain, it's wet!! and stuffs! Oh !! and red lights ! checkmate

[-] Lemming6969@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Lots of places the nearest Costco is 10+miles away.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 3 points 1 month ago

What's your point?

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 month ago

I like the spin here. Headline should be "Most working middle-class citizens pushed out of the market for new vehicles".

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

grumpy cat saying "good"

You can buy two good cargo bikes a year for the average total cost of ownership of a car. When so many trips are within bike range, why would you not do this?

[-] hash@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 month ago

We still need to fill edge cases. Hiking is really big where I live but you can't take public transit to more than one or two trailheads, and certainly not some of the more remote ones.

I desperately want a nonprofit carshare in my area to fill the gap for this as well as occasional things like moving lots of stuff. Without a cost effective way to get a car when you really need one, people will own a car for edge cases. And when you have a car sitting there... you'll drive it even when you don't need to.

[-] ninjaphysics@beehaw.org 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There's a nonprofit rideshare in Ithaca, NY for inspiration! https://www.ithacacarshare.org/

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Sometimes it's a lot easier than you think to be the change you want to see. You might be amazed at how far you get before you run into significant roadblocks.

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

Sounds like you have a project. :P

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

fwiw there might be platforms that let you just rent out the car when it's not in use, it's a thing here and my landlord company even puts their cars on it!
(It's GoMore, only available in a couple countries but you can look at it for an example of how it works)

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I would choose the healthier option (the cargo bikes). I just don't want to be corralled down a cattle chute where there are no other options. I would also use my vehicle to haul the elderly around, if required (not a cargo bike).

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 10 points 1 month ago

A second car has an annual upkeep cost of $8,000, while a cargo bike can be purchased for $3,000

Kinda sad they didn't say the annual upkeep costs of a cargo e-bike

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 month ago

It's like maybe $200 if you ride a lot and less if you do any of your own work... Which you can because it's a bike.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 1 month ago

Huh, I would expect a yearly tune up to cost $100-200 in labor only.

If you don't do your own work, I'd estimate $1,000 per year in average maintenance for a good cargo e-bike that's used daily.

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The first one is usually like 6 weeks to 3 months and it's free. The next one is usually half price. Here's my receipt for our 3 year after a lot of hard riding:

a receipt listing several bike parts. It's all Dutch. The total is €311

This is the most expensive bill we've had. This year we had to replace the drive train. It was €90.

That bike is only 6k. Why would it cost 1k/yr? It's not a car.

Edit: I lied. I found a bill for like €407. During that service we added a €200 bike alarm. The other year was €161.

And technically, the total cost of ownership is a bit higher. Total replacement insurance for us is like €60/mo or something. But again, you could do absolutely no work on your bike, throw it in the canal, and buy a new one every year, and you'd still be able to buy an extra bike on top of replacing your old one every year with the money you save not having a car.

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[-] artyom@piefed.social 10 points 1 month ago

How much groceries can you fit on a bike? I usually leave with 4 or 5 large bags, and I'm single.

[-] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 month ago

Bag size varies a lot so an absolute number doesn't really help much. 4/5 bags sounds like an insane amount of food for 1 person, so I suspect the bags we get are bigger.

My regular bike has 70L of storage in pannier bags. Cargo bikes will be holding hundreds.

[-] RamenJunkie@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

4/5 seems insane

How many times do you go get groceries each week though?

[-] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Once. Hence my thinking they must be small

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 6 points 1 month ago

About 2 weeks worth for 1 person, about 1 weeks worth for 2 people. On just a normal bicycle with 4 panniers. A cargo bike can double that.

Once you hit large families, you can have multiple people biking to the grocery store together.

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Our Urban Arrow fits 3, maybe 4 kids (ours are 7 and 4, and their friends). We literally moved our entire apartment with that bike.

We also have a cube hybrid longtail. I've put maybe 6 bags of groceries in the side saddle, with my front still open and two kids on the back.

Urban Arrow bakfiets piled high with stuff, in front of a storage unit filled with stuff

[-] moira@mastodon.murkworks.net 4 points 1 month ago

@artyom @silence7 i went to the next town over for groceries because that grocery has stuff the closer ones don't

(this is on a cargo trailer I built but a proper cargo bike would have... better capability, actually)

https://mastodon.murkworks.net/@moira/116354216424031794

[-] turdburglar@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago

there are DOZENS of us!

[-] silence7@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Quite a lot more I think. Not everybody needs a cargo bike, but they're really amazing for moving a couple young kids a couple miles

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

in my fairly generic swedish town there's a whole bunch of people with box bikes, to the point that my dad gets annoyed at them (i think because they tend to be car replacements, so people keep that driver mindset of assuming people will just give way to you and never fucking slowing down).

So yeah i'd say globally there's a whole lot of cargo bike owners these days.

[-] CounselingTechie@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

One of the hardest parts of these articles is that I love hearing about them, hearing how much people are making progress and change, until I see the locations. I love seeing that a metropolitan area has this, and it warms my heart to see people able to make progress.

My bike is not a cargo bike, just a normal city bike with bags on it, which is satisfactory for the 3 miles of highway I have to bike to the nearest store, and then 3 miles back, ever since the one that was closer had closed down. I do this at night, or first in the morning, as where I live during the daytime it reaches over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, over 39 degrees Celsius.

[-] AlternatePersonMan@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Until October. Then comes the snow.

[-] Grass@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 month ago

Never been to twin cities but I'll do groceries via bike in winter. Its a snow bike though.

[-] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 month ago

Don't you have a coat?

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Fins and Swedes bike, you're just cowards. The Dutch bike all year. Freezing rain in the face sucks, but it's better than literally destroying my children's future.

Edit: I live in the Netherlands and bike year round because we do not own a car (family of 4, for the record). Wear a fucking jacket. You're not made of sugar.

[-] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I remember Dutch cycling under the rain, talking with the phone in one hand, umbrella in the other and wearing heels.

They are crazy, in the right way. I miss how bike centric Groningen was when I moved out.

[-] IronBird@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

your not made of sugar

have you seen the standard american diet, they kind of are

[-] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago

Swedes bike in the winter, but only out of spite. Our governments aren't tremendously great at keeping bike paths clear in the winter...

[-] uniquethrowagay@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago

If the conditions are okay for a car to drive, any decently prepared cyclists won't have a problem.

[-] CPMSP@midwest.social 4 points 1 month ago

Eh, usually the snow doesn't stick until late November. We'll get some freakish pop-up storms but it will generally melt away until around Thanksgiving.

And even in the winter, we have very good road crews to keep conditions pretty navigable all told.

[-] suff@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

🚗🚶🚲
"Car" "go" "bike"
lol

[-] DireTech@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago

Cargo bikes are awesome. Plus they hold value pretty well so you can resell them when your kids get to big. I’m the third owner of a cargo bike and it’s been great.

[-] mrlockthorne@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

Man, I'd love to take my kids around town on my bike, but drivers here regularly go off the road and hit cyclists. I just don't know if I'd feel comfortable taking my kids out, unless I was in a protected bike lane. It takes about twenty minutes to get to the park and I have to cross several streets, one of which is six lanes across. And I live in the city. Our city is investing in more cycling infrastructure and greenways, but right now, I just can't. Not to mention when it's over 40°C and 80% humidity, by the time I get to the park, it's time to go home, unless I'm driving. It's just a super complicated situation, I'm in. I do welcome any and all advice!

[-] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Talk more about your problem. Complain as much as possible to your city government. Organize or join a transit union.

It also sounds like your city needs more green space. Yeah, my only advice is, "fight like hell for you kid's future."

[-] mrlockthorne@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Absolutely! I'm a part of a couple different cycling groups, one of which actively lobbies and is the reason our city is actually changing for the better. We're also super behind on our canopy coverage, and topographically I'm surrounded by rivers which increase the humidity. So, when it's hot, it's very hot.

It's one of those things that my grown children will be able to enjoy, but it's shameful it's taking this long. I just wish progress was quicker.

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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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