You really want to know why I bought an ebike? This is why:

Yeah we do. You know what's odd though is that in manufacturing it's all metric - even cars made here. I worked for a carpenter here in the US that used metric for everything.

Still there are a fair amount of measurements in this world that are kinda set in stone. For example on a bicycle - even in Europe - most all types of bike chains are imperial.

https://www.renold.com/support/chain-info-index/chain-standards/

There are metric chain dimensions but I've never seen one on a bike.

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Starlazerpow@reddit

As the other comment mentioned, in some parts of the US $4.99 is nothing. Crazy.

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Laserdollarz@reddit

Imagine driving to work and making less per hour than a parking space.

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iH8MotherTeresa@reddit

Thanks for framing it like this. I hate it.

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Marseppus@reddit

I'm very confident you can generate more value per hour than this parking stall. Getting a boss to pay you that much, though, is another matter…

🚩🚩🚩Happy May Day 🚩🚩🚩

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SpawnicusRex@reddit

And that space can make that 24/7 while we're limited to earning during waking hours.

If a parking space set its budgeting goals properly, it could retire way before me too

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Arkitakama@reddit

Yeah, but parking spaces are notorious overspenders and prone to alcoholism. You ever taken a walk through a parking lot and counted all the little single-shot liquor bottles lying around? Addiction.

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SpawnicusRex@reddit

Wow, I never saw the signs. It's sad really

😆

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bettaboy123@reddit

Damn I can’t wait for all these Boomer parking spots to retire already and make room for all these young aspiring parking spots in the job market.

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iH8MotherTeresa@reddit

Ugh, that's a depressing note lol

To bring it full circle - my retirement will be working as a parking attendant. 💀

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SpawnicusRex@reddit

Work hard and set your goals, right?

😆

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wortsandall@reddit

It gets worse! The parking lot won't be replaced by Temu Skynet.

Instead of saving up for retirement, save up for 4 hours of parking.

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Pretty-Yam-2854@reddit

Literally lmao. I’d fucking ride my ebike 30 miles than pay that.

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IPukeOnKittens@reddit

Get ready for that bike park fee around the corner.

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heywoodidaho@reddit

That is a soul crushing way to put it. Then I remember- if they pretend to pay me I pretend to work.

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In a lot of places like Chicago for instance work usually pays your parking. The reality though is most people don’t drive unless they live in the suburbs because it’s so much more of a hassle to own and drive a car than it is to use public transit and walk. Many employers even pay your monthly passes for public transit to encourage its use.

Then places like this that charge high daily rates also have monthly rates for people who live in the city. It’s usually a couple of hundred or so per month. They usually rely on making money from tourists and visitors who rent a car or come in from out of town and need to park for a few hours.

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HydroLoon@reddit

Lmao "well that sucks"

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Queasy_Recover5164@reddit

Not to mention:

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Minimum_Device_6379@reddit

Used to. Worked fine dining and we had to pay for parking downtown.

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Dick_Nation@reddit

It's an indictment of how wasteful the space is, essentially. There's so much outside pressure on the value of that land that it's literally more costly than human labor. It's the cost of car dependency to our societies in totally concrete terms.

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Elvy2006@reddit

You could always park that big mack truck inside this little garage.

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thishasntbeeneasy@reddit

Because employers often subsidize car parking rates.

But of course of you don't drive, there's no financial benefit from them.

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slipperytornado@reddit

Jesus Murphy where do you live?

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whattteva@reddit

This doesn't even include fuel prices yet.

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HadoMeido@reddit

Ha! It's why I'm riding mine more lately.

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RyanEmanuel@reddit

No I don't

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Leeroywildman@reddit

In my city it’s getting to the point where parking illegally and getting a fine is cheaper than paying for parking.

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kornbread435@reddit

Ha 15ish years ago I lived in Boston for a year or so, probably racked up 50 parking tickets. My plates and driver license was from a different state so they didn't have a good way to force me to pay them. Soo I never did, occasionally I wonder if I ever end up in Massachusetts again it would be a problem.

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Ol_Man_J@reddit

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in college, a parking pass was a few hundred dollars a year. You'd circle the lots over and over hoping for a space, but almost guarantee you'd have to walk a mile or more if you had a class in the "prime time". There were some far flung lots that would never be used, but but you'd walk even further. A parking ticket was $11. I was on campus 2x a week. If I got a ticket every day, I'd spend more than a parking pass, but if parking services missed me for 5 days in the semester I would be coming out ahead.

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Leeroywildman@reddit

I was lucky, collage was within walking distance!

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skates-and-skids@reddit

Been saying this for a while now. Where I am you can pay £20 to park for the day or risk getting a £25 ticket. I never paid and got a ticket once every 3 days.

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MesugakiBratTamer@reddit (OP)

That's what I said

And tickets aren't always 100% guaranteed

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Leeroywildman@reddit

The fine is also reduced if you pay within 14 days!

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concretecowboy316@reddit

Yeah one reason I went with an ebike as well. Not paying to park a damn car when I have to pay to just own it even after buying it.

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Legitimate_Guava3206@reddit

Not to mention the gasoline subscription it requires...

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concretecowboy316@reddit

Yes I get a 100 miles a charge in my modified ebike. I skip traffic by lane splitting or pulling up on the sidewalk (at a respectable speed). I never have issues with parking like some of my coworkers. My speeds can keep me up with or ahead of traffic. I got so many people asking me about Ebikes and modifications cause it seems like the more viable choice.

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Dirty_Power@reddit

Chicago?

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unseenmover@reddit

So true. let alone traffic

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tswoski@reddit

Gas prices are also out of hand.

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Legitimate_Guava3206@reddit

Honestly, I think it would do the USA alot of good to have $10+ gas prices long term. We are sloppy here. People would optimize more.

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tswoski@reddit

I actually love your insight. I agree

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Miao_Mix@reddit

That rate is crazy but parking an ebike is way more prone to theft and losing out on the full cost of the bike, I basically never park my ebike

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Legitimate_Guava3206@reddit

At least take the battery. That reduces the cost by a big chunk! I would also go incognito as much as possible. Get ride of the screen or bluetooth the bikes data to your phone or a removable display. Hide the battery and then take it inside. Only the motor would be left as a visual clue.

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SwiftUnban@reddit

And here I was complaining about having to walk an extra 2 minutes into work because the lot is packed.

Some of ya’ll actually have to pay for parking, at the workplace you’re employed at?

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Verity41@reddit

$100 a month every month forever :(

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Legitimate_Guava3206@reddit

Would've been a nice retirement fund...

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Ol_Man_J@reddit

Often the workplace doesn't own the parking garage.

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SwiftUnban@reddit

I guess that makes sense, I work in a warehouse and forgot offices existed for a sec lol

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Ol_Man_J@reddit

I've never worked in a high rise, just regualr ol parking lot places, but many of my clients work in high rises, there is often reduced or free employee rates, but if I go and the parking will be full at 9 am... so you have to park in a different garage, which then is full price. There's often a discounted monthly parking fee https://pacificplaceseattle.com/directions-parking the monthly rate works out to $22 a day instead of $25 a day, so saves $66 or so.

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Legitimate_Guava3206@reddit

That's more than my car payment!

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bosconet@reddit

driving to train station means $15 parking.....taking bike = free parking.

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MiKaisr@reddit

Berlin, Germany here:

In Europe, don't visit cities by car! First of all: you don't find a place to park, all the interesting city centers are packed full of other people's cars. Second: It's expensive. Not like 100 per Day, but close. Where I live in Berlin, street parking is about 3 € per hour. Night times are free, so it's cheeper for full 24 hours. But still..

Enter living there (like I do): as a Berliner, I have to pay 26 € for a full year of permanent ticket for my area. Make it even better: When ordering online, I can check on "2 years" and that costs... 26 € (no need to understand that) So much for the area where I live: no problem. But what can I do in other areas / cities?

Enter electric vehicle. Parking is free while loading. That's true for most of Europe. I own a plug in hybrid. Going elsewhere, I make sure to have an almost empty battery when getting there. Finding I free space at a streetside slow AC loading stations is no problem. I can set my car to "extra slow loading", so I have enough time for restaurants, theater, cinema, exhibitions or a combination of that. And what I have to pay for electricity is less than what parking would cost. Also, I can use those kilowatt-hours for gasoline-free miles.

Congestion is an issue in European cities. To get around in Berlin, I use my bike. Not an e-Bike, but same fun to navigate traffic jams, find more exiting ways through parks and along riversides, issue-free parking and all.

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AdministrativeFoot33@reddit

And in NJ they made it so you need a license, registration, and insurance for e-bikes…

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lancebowski@reddit

Got-DAMN. 😶

(proud Soltera 7 owner)

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m2keo@reddit

Sometimes I wish ebikes would have started trending maybe like 15 years ago. I would've saved loads n loads of money. Just crazy to think about.

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Dry-Assumption-8033@reddit

With SpotHero, I could get a parking spot for an entire day for like 20 bucks there

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willi3stroker@reddit

I'm not sure about other countries but here they made people pay to park in the hospital lot. I'm furious about that decision.

I already have problems not affording to go to the doctor and now more so. Thanks Finland!

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haoqiebike@reddit

At the beginning of the month, I didn't realize how good electric bikes were, and treated my car like a treasure. When the bill arrived at the end of the month, it gave me a huge shock.😭

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TheSkitzoid@reddit

Ive seen rates like this, but only this high without parking validation

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Verity41@reddit

Is this NYC!? Wow 😮

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suboptimus_maximus@reddit

Plus there’s always plenty of bike parking at Trader Joe’s!

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mispotan@reddit

that and also the fact that it’s literally faster to ebike 10 miles in rush hour than driving 🙄

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jkartx@reddit

Where is this?

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Dick_Nation@reddit

Based on similar signs from sleuthing, seems to be Chicago.

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clintjonesreddit@reddit

That's what I was thinking, thanks!

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tonytealeaf@reddit

Hey! Is this philly's reading terminal (or chinatown) adjacent parking? Agreed, looking for an ebike myself.

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MesugakiBratTamer@reddit (OP)

Close... ya should go to the bike shop around South and 10th street

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Olibirus@reddit

Pure theft

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100k_changeup@reddit

It's not theft to make someone in Center City Philadelphia pay for parking.

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MesugakiBratTamer@reddit (OP)

If you know the location, yk

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tonytealeaf@reddit

chinatown or near reading terminal is my bet

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MesugakiBratTamer@reddit (OP)

Rittenhouse

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Olibirus@reddit

I'm not from there but it is prohibitively expensive.

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esperadok@reddit

Parking should actually be MORE expensive in practically every city center. It's not efficient at all to drive your private vehicle into a dense urban core, and we should be disincentivizing that frankly ridiculous behavior. Lots of economists advocate for parking taxes for this reason.

Plus, expensive parking incentivizes people to ditch their cars and switch to bikes like OP... something we can all agree is a good thing!

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BertrandOrwell@reddit

Car infrastructure is ruinously expensive to build and maintain.

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Olibirus@reddit

This is a parking lot, not a highway

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BertrandOrwell@reddit

Parking lots cost a lot, especially on valuable land in a city where there's a million better ways it could be used. The opportunity cost and the loss of revenue for the city needs to be made up somehow.

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redditor_6715@reddit

Love how even if you don't park there they still want you to pay $17 lol

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experipotomus@reddit

Where the hell is this?

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Boosted_JP@reddit

I didn’t park there and I still owe them 17$ for some reason

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Vomath@reddit

Where the fuck is this?!

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poedraco@reddit

Bro. That is for the bike rack

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International-Mud418@reddit

That’s way they put that fang rates.

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KatakanaTsu@reddit

And that's a bad thing?

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isysopi201@reddit

150 W 38th St NYC Parking Garage.

Usually park my small work transit van in the garage for 3 hours.

$84.00

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redshirtredeyes@reddit

rofl 🤑 lol smart move on your part bro them rates r out this world

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-Moonscape-@reddit

Even 24 hr parking is cheaper than a new e-bike

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RollinHellfire@reddit

Where is this?

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blip01@reddit

Yeah, but that includes taxes. /s

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Jessica1234567891011@reddit

No wonder states are trying to ban them or make them useless. Greed and corrupt

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No-Increase-1297@reddit

I didn't buy muy e bike for gas prices but I've started using a bit more my ebike due to gas prices

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thriftstorehacker@reddit

I've seen $100 parking at the lots by pier 39 in San Francisco. It's ridiculous.

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Stoked_Otter@reddit

You can solve this problem with a Flipper Zero too, but an ebike gets you outside enjoying the fresh air.

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CartoonistMammoth212@reddit

Wow.

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LitigantTester@reddit

Where is that parking lot?

I mean, if is on the most exclusive hotel on new York i think is cheap.

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gallandof@reddit

Parking is 44$/day where I work, combined with driving a sports car that takes 93 octane and gets 18MPG if im lucky. My Ebike paid for itself SO Fast, I feel silly for commuting and entire 8 months without one

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squishyliquid@reddit

I blame/thank waze for getting me to buy one.

My commute is almost entirely on one road. When the closest highway has an accident, so much of the traffic uses that road as an alternate route. It can vary from 6 minutes to 20 depending on traffic. 4 miles.

My ebike keeps me moving and enjoying the outdoors while not getting stressed about the traffic!

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Tomj_Oad@reddit

Market inversion

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MonzellRS@reddit

Uber would be cheaper