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NYC E-Bike Rally

Today, I attended the E-Bike Rally on the steps of New York City Hall, in support of e-bike delivery workers.  Quite a success, over 100 delivery workers!  I'll post links to it here.  In the meantime, here is the speech I was asked to give:

Hello, my name is Elizabeth; and for the past 7 years, I have relied on my e-bike to get me where I need to go every day.

Before that, I rode manual bikes.  But they were not up to the task of raising my 2-year-old child in Jersey City.  I remember going grocery shopping on my sturdy touring bike --- and feeling the frame creak and flex under the weight.  How was I also going to do this every day, with a toddler to boot?  I needed something more substantial; but didn't want to waste money on a car, just to bang around Jersey City.  Anyway, where would I park it?

I had read about the rise of e-bikes in the New York times, and I was intruiged.  So I took the plunge and bought one --- the same Chinese design used for restaurant delivery.  It worked beautifully, and I was hooked.

I later moved to Bergen County (NJ) and took a job as a scientist, working at Columbia University.  In that career switch, I took a substantial pay cut, and could not afford to drive to work, with a $15 cash toll on the GW Bridge --- not to mention the infamous bridge traffic.  So I relied on my e-bike to get to work, which turned out to be no slower than driving.  Bergen County has a HUGE hill called "the Palisades," and the e-bike took me and my stuff up that hill every day.  The only other bikers who attempt that hill are decked out in spandex and out fo a "ride.

Now I live in Westchester County --- and even though I live next to Metro North, I rely on my e-bike for my 15-25 mile commute to Manhattan.  The Hudson River Greenway and South County Trailway are both amazing bicycle expressways.  I also use my e-bike all over Westchester: White Plains, Tarrytown, New Rochelle, wherever I need to go --- and with the new Tappan Zee Bridge, even Rockland County, once a week for my job.  As long as I don't need to take the kid, I'm there on my e-bike.

What would change without my e-bike?  I live in the burbs, so I'd probably need a second car.  But I can't afford to drive and park that car in Manhattan.  So I'd probably also ride a lot more Metro North --- which is expensive, sometimes annoying, and not always faster.  I don't know how I would pay for all that.  Plus, I would have to endure endless subway and bus delays, adding myself to an already overcrowded system.  I would have to live by a train schedule, and would lose the convenience of going where I want, when I want.  I would miss the beautiful views along the Hudson River, and my daily exercise.

When I bought my first e-bike in 2009, I knew it had problems with the law.  But I could see e-bikes bringing the convenience of affordable personal, green transportation to billions of people in a way that automobiles, trains and buses never could.  This was revolutionary, and I figured the laws would be fixed soon.  They have been in CA, but not NY.  I had no idea we would endure 8 years of political gridlock on the issue --- or that today, delivery workers would still be (almost) the only people riding these things.  And yet, here we are.  In the meantime, I have met many great delivery folk standing in line at the bike shop.  I am proud to say I ride a delivery e-bike.

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