[sustran] motorcycles and congestion

[J.H. Crawford]

Todd Litman said:

>My owe conclusion is that the only legitmate social benefits of motorcycles
>are that they are somewhat more fuel efficient, and they are more
>affordable to purchase and thus provide mobility to some lower income
>people, but both of these benefits are slight. 

I would take partial exception to this. In the developing nations,
small (+/- 70 cc) motorcycles are commonly the first transport upgrade
bought by families after they have a bicycle or two. These motorcycles move 
in  great swarms in the Asian capitals and have got to be much more space
efficient than cars. They almost always ride at least two abreast and
don't pay much attention to lane markings. They are, of course, noisy, 
and most of the machines of this class are 2-stroke, so the pollution they 
create is terrible. The picture is different in the developed nations and
accords with Todd Litman's description as far as I am aware.


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J.H. Crawford    Crawford Systems    joel at xs4all.nl    http://www.carfree.com/