Clarence Eckerson, Jr.’s “Streetfilms” have been regulars on Treehugger for many years, usually short tales about life on bikes in the streets of New York City. His latest is almost feature-length at 13 minutes and is all about how cargo bikes are booming. He notes that, “it used to be rare you’d see one, but the last five years their presence has undoubtedly been on the rise and since Covid-19 hit in 2020 there has been a dramatic uptick.”
What I found so surprising is that these bikes were carrying kids, not cargo. Lots of them, everywhere. This is in a city where I have cycled a lot, and I am not entirely certain I would be comfortable with a kid in a cargo bike. We have said that three things are needed for the e-bike revolution: good affordable bikes, safe places to ride, and secure places to park. You really do not see any of these in the video.
At seven minutes you can see that all the bike lanes are filled with delivery vehicles and police cars; really, only the fully protected bike lanes really exist. But Eckerson tells Treehugger that people manage.
Eckerson points us to an earlier video that shows some wonderful new bike infrastructure that anyone would feel safe riding in—so things are clearly looking up.
And then there is the issue of parking: It is hard to carry a cargo bike upstairs. The video shows an Oonee storage shed (seen also on Treehugger) but they are not big enough for cargo bikes and there aren’t many of them. Eckerson tells Treehugger:
Then, of course, there is winter. Are they still out there?
All of Eckerson’s videos are impressive, but the real stars of this epic are the families out there on their cargo bikes. This is how change happens when there are enough people on bikes, e-bikes, and cargo bikes that the politicians, planners, and police have to start taking them seriously. A commenter notes that “New York becomes New Amsterdam again.” It has a long way to go for that, but it’s a start.
