DIRTY STORY OF CLEAN CITIES
Why you see is not a suitcase.
It is not a toy
It is the 5-year evolution of clean personal transportation in its most compact form called ELECTRIC UNICYCLE or EUC.
What sounds like the future to many, is my daily bread for the last 7 years and 50.000 km. The red device is so-called generic EUC from 2015, a basic model with a 350W engine, 18 km/h max speed, 15" wheel, and endurance of about 15 km on a single charge
The green one is just 3 years old, 2200W engine, 50 km/h speed, an 18" wheel, and an endurance of 75 km on a single charge.
It is one of the most agile electric transportation devices for one and you may ask why to ride petrol, diesel, or electric car if I can ride EUC. There is a reason explained well by one of the Polish EUC riders
The answer is simple
Your city governance, your politicians, your decision-makers DO FORBID THE EFFICIENCY and CLEAN PERSONAL TRANSPORTATION in favor of DIRTY CAR in which in some cities, they let you sit much longer going with 30 km/h through the city and this is called GREEN CITY TRANSPORTATION.
Four years ago I took part in one of such a CLEAN CITY CHALLENGES, it was in the capital of my country, the beautiful old city called PRAGUE, where the City of Prague, supported by SKODA AUTO, VW and other automotive-related players opened the CLEAN CITY HACKATHON
30 teams spend 3 days in Prague, sleeping on the floor, eating the cold baguets to present the third-day own solution for the challenge, solution applicable to the city environment
Here is my pitch based on EUC
Our solution ended in the middle of all teams which was not a bad result for almost the only NON-DIGITAL project.
What was the result of the CEEHACKS and CLEAN MOBILITY CHALLENGE?
The council of Prague restricted the use of Segways first, followed by the ban of bikes in the city center, and finally does not allow any electric driven personal transporter, except for paid shared electric kick scooters to ride in the city center.
If you took time and listen to the first video in the article you will see that the ban is in GREAT BRITAIN, NETHERLAND, FRANCE, ITALY, GERMANY, and many other cities.
The reason is not safety, because in 7 years I follow the global EUC development there was no serious injury of any other traffic participant including pedestrians, bikers, and others and there was not a single death, comparing to numbers daily counted for car, bike, motorcycle, and other accidents.
So it is not safety that scares the politicians, decision-makers, city councils members, and many others. It is no need to invest in the new infrastructure because EUCs are the all-rounders and are small enough to be even taken inside a public bus, train, or underground. It is not the worry of the health of the riders because EUC is proven to be the only personal transporter that improves the rider's body core like no other. It is not the worry of polluting the cities, because one 10 km ride consumes less electricity than a coffee-making machine in the morning.
So if all these are out of the game for not being valid reasons, what remains?
- Lack of interest
- Other than promoted interests
- Fear of better future accessible to all
- Obsolency feeling
I know these quadruplets well, I meet them in many places, in many sustainability white papers, in pledges, in the political proclamations, pre-election promises, and on many more places all around the globe. They hold close together not by love but in fear that the others can eat more of the cake if not going and acting the same.
No matter how many time we change “the fuel” if not changing the mindset, the cities will remain crowded by cars which have only one passanger, the DRIVER, no matter if he or she will hold the stearing wheel or just sit behind it, the car will occupy the same space.
Just yesterday have one Czech business man posted on LINKEDIN, that finaly there is no “dirty oil” car in the family, because he baught for his partner ELECTRIC CAR so as enlarged own solar power plant to me more sustainable.
I asked hum how much time he is the only one in the car
“80% OF THE TIME AS EVERYONE” was the answer
It is easy to buy the feeling of sustainability, to feel sustainable, but to BE SUSTAINABLE needs much more, it needs to change the mindset and truly transform own behavior and the ELECTRIC UNICYCLE is just one of the examples, solution accessible to many.
IF THE IMAGE OF CLEAN CITIES SHOULD BECOME REALITY, THE MINDSET OF THE CITY GOVERNANCE MUST CHANGE, ALLOWING ALL WITH CLEAN TRANSPORTERS TO UTILIZE THEM TO MAKE THE CITY CLEAN.
Let them leave the dirty future called today, become history, it can very fast process.
Michael Rada, HUMAN
