e-bikes in Toronto (car insurance, cost of, shops)

[rgpg_99]

As I visited Toronto last week, I saw a few shops selling what seemed to be scooters or mopeds, but turned out to be electric bikes (e-bikes). I started to read on the subject, and I found out there was a 3-year program in Toronto run from 2006 to 2009 to decide whether e-bikes would be allowed as a regular form of transportation. They are now authorized and regulated as other means of transport are.

Has anyone tried them, or have friends who tried them? What's your opinion? Advantages and disadvantages?

For example, the electric bicycles resembling an actual bicycle have the advantage that you can put it in the rack on the front of a bus if, on the way back from work, it starts raining. They can also be parked in a regular bicycle space. You can also combine walking and riding, e.g., you can walk on the sidewalks or the park and bring your bike with you.

The e-bikes that resemble scooters, on the other hand, would need a larger parking space (and I don't know that the city, or private building owner, have already planned for that). Also, if you are caught in the rain, you cannot just take it with you on the sub or a bus (in other words, you are stuck riding it)

Regarding power, the electric bicycles seem to have the electric motor more as a complementary power source, i.e., you still pedal most of the time, but if you are going uphill, or against the wind, you engage the little motor to help you.

The e-bikes, on the other hand, seem to be designed to use the motor all the time, and you only pedal in an emergency (I cannot imagine how you could pedal a 120 kilos machine).

Regarding cost, the electric bicycle starts at $500, while the e-bikes range between $700-$1200. If a monthly TCC pass times 12 months is around $ 1400, and the annual cost of car insurance can be around $2000, I can see that wether you use public transportation or your own car, operating an electric bicycle/e-bike instead would be much cheaper than the other options.

As I said, I'd be interested in knowing what you think (or have experienced) about electric bicycles (the smaller type) or e-bikes (the moped type) as regular transportation.

[ThroatGuzzler]

Yeah the insurance'll kill you with those things, I'd advise to just invest into a normal bike. The city's really making a push towards building more bike specific lanes throughout the downtown core, so whether it's authorized or not's really irrelevant when it comes to where you can ride one.