Mavvik

You've just been listing reasons why you cant ride a bike for anything. Just say you dont want to ride a bike.

Panniers? Baskets? Trailers? E-bikes? You already said you have a bike so unless you cant ride it, there are plenty of solutions to that problem

The only person making assumptions her is you who seems to believe im some wealthy city-dwelling socialite who doesn't work for a living. I ride my bike because its less stressful and cheaper than owning a car. I could hardly afford a car if I even wanted to.

You give all these reasons why you cant ride a bike and that's fine, those are your reasons. But you act like everyone else is in the exact same position as you and everyone just simply is not able to ride a bike even if they wanted to. That simply is not true, lots of people are in a position where they can bike but choose not to. Im tired of people acting like the reason they make these decisions is because they have no choice. Maybe thats true sometimes, but most of the times I think its just that people dont want to and we would all be better off if people were up front about it.

OP suggested we focus on bicycles instead of cars and a bunch of people come out saying "well bicycles dont work for me or anybody else" and I have been saying they can work for a lot of people if they just made the effort. This is apparently a privileged position? I didn't realize living in the most populated city in the country makes me a privileged elite but apparently that's all it takes.

In other comments in this thread I've mentioned there's a grocery store very close to where I live, it's about 5 minutes to bike there. But I don't, because even when the weather is nice I still need to haul groceries.

So its not a time issue for you? You just dont want to carry groceries on your bike?

Im confused by your animosity when I mostly agree with you, but nothing I've said is wrong. Different people are comfortable with different levels of risk when biking but that does not mean it can't be done. Cold weather biking is very doable in cities with warm clothing and if needed, studded tires. People go outside in cold weather to walk and for recreation all the time, biking is not some bizarre activity that is impossible to do in the cold. I've biked in places with cold snowy winters and places with mild slushy winters, if theres been a lot of snow that hasn't been cleared yet, I usually opt for transit on those days. If I am not comfortable riding a bike in those conditions though, I certainly wont be comfortable driving.

car-dependency makes biking distances prohibitively expensive in the one way that you clearly have never had to think about: time

This is an argument that I find surprising. Maybe Im not as good at scheduling as other people but if a 5 minute car ride turns into a 15 or 20 minute bike ride, is that really that much extra time? Is your whole day going to be ruined? Or a 15 minute car commute turns into a 30 or 40 minute bike commute, is that extra time really not worth the cost savings? Not to mention the time you dont have to spend at the gym now. There are loads of people that choose to live somewhere where they have to spend over an hour commuting to and from work by car. Personally I think an hour long commute by bike would be much more pleasant.

I see a lot of lame excuses as to why people cant ride their bikes. But most of these are solvable problems. Safe infrastructure is, in my opinion, the only factor that needs to be addressed to get people on bikes. Unfortunately we have administrations that are actively adversarial against this sort of change. Rather than tell people that it is hopeless to try to ride a bike in our society, I am telling people that it is very much possible to make the choice to ride a bike if you are dtermined enough. If people are saying that they cant bike places because its too cold or too rainy or too far, I am going to give them solutions, I am not going to just say that our infrastructure is too awful to support that choice in the first place. The best way to get people advocating for safe cycling infrastructure is to get more people on bikes. Im sorry that you've given up on change.

Nobody is making choices for you. You make your own choices to drive, I am just saying that you can make another choice that would be better for the environment, better for your health, and far cheaper than buying an EV.

is your personal time and effort worthless? How much is an extra hour of your time spent pedalling a bike worth to you?

I find the time and effort spent riding a bike to get places pretty enjoyable and I think a lot of other people too do. Plus it means less time needed at the gym. I dont know where you live, but most people live within 5 km of grocery stores, shops, etc. Which is maybe a 15 to 20 minute bike ride, not an hour. I somehow doubt an extra ten or fifteen minutes to go somewhere is going to ruin your day.

Our country, climate, society and city design isn’t made for lots of biking

I do agree we need more bicycle infrastructure but commuting and shopping by bike are very doable for many different kinds of people. I know this because I do it and I see others do it every day.

Most car trips are under 5 km. That is a distance that could be easily covered by bike in about 15 to 20 minutes. I think a lot of people could replace a lot of car trips with bike trips without much issue at all.

Infrastructure is not the best for cyclists I agree and I dont blame you for feeling unsafe for riding your bike. Everyone has a different threat model though and most Canadians live in large urban areas with large and expanding bike networks that they can take advantage of. That might not mean commuting to work by bike but maybe trips like going to the grocery store or the dentist can be replaced by bike trips.

I do agree that safe cycling infrastructure is one of the largest barriers to getting people on bikes, but let's not pretend that there is some big modern day conspiracy against bike lanes. It's everyday people who fight tooth and nail against every bike lane that is proposed because they will take away parking or driving lanes. Doug Ford might have a personal vendetta against bike lanes but many many people support this vendetta and support Ford because he is trying to remove them.

If you truly live in an area too remote to access any shops or services by bicycle or e-bike, then my post is not meant for you. Most people in Canada live in urban areas and are capable of replacing some car trips with bicycle trips.

Its cheaper to drive than ride a bike? I highly doubt that. Perhaps you should try an e-buke though. You may find that far easier, faster, and more comfortable than a regular bicycle and depending on where you live, it may be faster than a car too.

Regardless, the point isn't necessarily to be doing the thing that is always the most convenient and most comfortable, the point is making choices that are good for the environment and good for both mental and physical health.

I ride my bike every winter, it's really not a big deal if you wear warm clothes. The biggest issues arise when cities dont plow bike paths

Easy solutions to all of these complaints:

bring all those groceries home

Panniers, baskets, racks, cargo bikes if you have very large grocery runs

when it's raining

Wear a rain coat, put fenders on the bike

or -30°C

Wear warm clothes

when I need to give someone a lift

Go for a bike ride with your friend, or call them a cab if they are not capable of it

when I'm visiting a relative who lives the next city over

Rent a car, take a bus or train, or if you are feeling frisky, do an extra long bike ride there and stay overnight

and so forth and so on

All your concerns are very easily addressed, but still glosses over the fact that nobody has said that you should sell your car and do everything by bike. Replace the trips you can with bike rides and you will have more joy in your life while also helping the environment.