A city bike
(Image: Jelle van Es / WANT)
Now that the Covid pandemic is coming to an end, the world is slowly but surely opening up again. This week I was invited by Sonos to travel to New York to get to know their new products. Fortunately, I also had some time to myself. And with all my experiences on the electric bike, I decided to grab such a model to explore the city with.
And you can probably also rent an electric bike somewhere. However, I decided to make use of the various Citi bike city bikes that you find all over the city. And that now includes ebikes. That way you get a different picture of the city and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
Now I have traveled to New York a number of times. The first few times I mainly explored the city on foot and by metro. You also have the option to take a taxi, but then you pay something and you are often stuck. An electric bicycle is really a godsend in that regard. In many cases you are faster than the car and you have the advantage that you see a lot during your ride. Something you miss on the metro again.
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How do you use an electric bike in New York?
And it is a piece of cake to pick up such an electric bicycle. All I needed was the Lyft app. That is an app for an Uber-like service, through which you can easily be picked up and travel to the desired destination. But also for unlocking such a bicycle. You then walk to a bicycle rack with the bicycles (which is really scattered throughout the city), scan the QR code on the bicycle and then the app unlocks it and you can start cycling.
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You pay for your rides per minute. So if you’re fast, you’ll save money. The electric bicycle is slightly more expensive. You can prevent this by taking out a premium subscription. That alone costs $185 a year. However, it is possible to take a two-week trial period. If you cancel it immediately, you will not pay that amount, but you will have the benefits. Ideal for a trip to New York. In my case, I paid 15 cents per minute.
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Yes, if you then make long journeys, it will cost you more. But the idea is actually that you use the bicycle to get from A to B. When you arrive, you look for such a shed and put the bike with bizarre brute force (you really have to ram it) in the shed and then you log out and you get the bill for your ride. If you take a lot of rides, you will lose quite a bit in the end, but you would otherwise spend that on the metro. Or you’ll break your feet.
I would have loved to talk about it. The electric bicycle you use is certainly not a top model, it is often quite a beat-up whole, but it does work. Especially at the points in the city that you have to climb, and there are more than you think, you notice the great advantage of the ebike. It now takes almost no effort to cycle around, while at the same time enjoying the places you visit.
How dangerous is it?
The only thing you have to take into account while cycling around New York with an electric bicycle is the traffic. There are many good bike paths in the city these days, but certainly not everywhere. So if you don’t pay attention, you’ll find yourself in the middle of traffic and car users are certainly not handy. The same also applies to pedestrians, who do not always estimate the speed of an e-bike very well. So it really is a matter of looking ahead and thinking about how people can respond. It is also advisable to do some research where there are bicycle paths. For example, along the Hudson on the west side there is a long path, which you can safely walk for a while.
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Do you want to read more about everything that has to do with the electric bicycle? Then visit our overview page here.
QWIC Atlas Vario is a very fat electric bicycle
Seen a mistake? Mail us. We are grateful to you.
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Electric bike in New York: explore the magical city in a unique way
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