Originally Posted by
Mobile 155
And evidence either for or against the speculation would be valid topics of debate. Statistics, studies, and community reaction can be used to validate a contention that they are or are not gaining on bicycles.
Obviously the scooter shares were gaining popularity faster than bike shares were. Idk if that's because of Lyme and Bird investing in providing them in ample numbers and charging transit-fee pricing or because people just prefer standing and not pedaling to sitting and pedaling. Anyway, the moment you bring statistics and community reactions, etc. into it, the results are going to be biased by business interests that want to influence the study results, so there's really no point bothering with that sort of thing, not that statistics and community meetings really reflect anything about people's true thoughts and intentions at the individual level anyway.
None of that includes an assumption that most of society is blinded by a grand conspiracy foisted on them by automotive interests, the government and any other fly by night conspiracy someone can dream up.
That's a given. You can't have 100 years worth of automotive culture growth at the scale that has happened without it having culture-bending effects. The conspiracy of the majority is that the individual bends to the will of the majority. It's only a conspiracy to the extent it becomes so taken-for-granted that people stop thinking about it and questioning it consciously.
Links us have been posted that challenge the assumption that scooters are the next salvation of mankind. Nothing has been posted to contradict the assertion that the scooters are causing problems. There is no reason to assume people that resist scooters are somehow less aware of their reasoning than someone that supports dumping the things all over our public streets.
They're just biased in favor of driving because that is the established norm and because it gives them a little climate-controlled room to sit in while they commute. People have already relativist the drawbacks of commuting so most aren't going to jump into an experiment with alternative transportation, even if it offers them the prospect of improving congestion and sprawl overall in the long run. That is why so much time is needed to establish small-vehicle sharing as a viable and reliable alternative to driving.
Some me people like cake and others like pie. It doesn’t have to become a social or political battle if one is more popular than the other.
It's not that equal of a comparison and you know it.