The Bicycle Today

This last chapter brings the story up to the present: how bicycles are used in cities, what e-bikes have changed, how cycling looks in Scotland and Edinburgh, and what the whole sequence from The History of the Bicycle 1 to The History of the Bicycle 7 teaches about how inventions develop. Figures and policy details are flagged for checking.

Cities and Cycling

• After the car. In the middle of the twentieth century, many countries gave priority to motor traffic, and everyday cycling fell sharply in Britain and elsewhere (check the dates and figures).
• Different paths. The Netherlands and Denmark kept or rebuilt cycling through separated cycle tracks and traffic rules, while others did not (check the history of the Dutch campaigns of the 1970s).
• Hire schemes. Public bike-share schemes, which spread through many cities from the 2000s, make a bike available for short trips (check, as several schemes have changed or closed).
• Reasons given. Health, cost, congestion and air quality are the arguments most often made for cycling, and safety and weather the most often given against it (check any statistic).

The Electric Bicycle

A small motor and battery that help the rider when pedalling are the biggest change to the everyday bicycle since the safety bicycle. Electric assist makes hills and long distances easier, widens cycling to older and less fit riders, and has made cargo bikes practical for families and delivery (check). Legal rules differ: in the UK, an electrically assisted pedal cycle that meets set limits on power and assisted speed is treated as an ordinary bicycle (check the current limits). The change raises new questions: about battery safety and recycling, speeds on shared paths, and cost (check).

Reading the Whole Story

Exercises