Related News
Home » Opinion » Foreign Views
Forget 'green' cars that make no sense and ride scooters
By Mountainforest Karl |
September 15, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EDITOR'S note:
An electric scooter may not be the best solution for city traffic as the author suggests, but he does remind us that in a better city people live near the workplace.
Dear editor,
I come from Western Europe.
I am responding to your article of September 7 ("All our innovation hasn't cleaned up auto pollution.")
Smart people who like to help people told me a lot of things, including environmental protection solutions.
Forget the stupid naive solutions of green politicians. They actually don't have practical solutions. Green cars are very stupid things.
The cars are a one-ton machine. We use a one-ton machine only to move a person who weighs 70 kilos. It's a big waste.
Walking is good but too slow. Buses are good but some people live in areas where buses don't come often. Bicycles are good only for short distances.
There is something better. If you live within one hour from your work, a scooter is the most suitable vehicle in a city.
A car uses 9 liters of fuel for 100 kilometers. A scooter uses about 2.5 liters for the same distance. That's a huge saving.
Just one disadvantage: It has no roof. But that should change. Scooters with roofs already exist.
Scooters or motor bikes with roofs are the solutions for our cities.
But the problem is so-called fashion. It's fashionable to have a car. In China, many girls would marry only a man with a car.
How to change this idea? The government should advertise on TV and say to the population: Do you really need a car when you live in a city like Shanghai, where there're so many cheap taxis and so many car rentals?
I used to live in Germany and in France. In Paris, people hate their cars.
Too many troubles. Need to pay fines. Need to pay parking fees. Need to maintain it often.
And you can't even use your car in the morning. Traffic jams are too dense. It's just impossible to move.
What I say is true: Even the TV presenters, or famous people ride a scooter or a motor bike. They park it in the morning next to the entrance of the studio.
Another good solution is to rent a car. Once a week we need a car. We want to go hiking, we want to go shopping, or we want to go to a club. Then we rent a car.
Imagine if a large number of people don't buy a car but rent one when they need it. That means: Less cars in the city.
Imagine if people get less snobbish and ride a scooter to work. That means: Less cars in the city.
A problem in Shanghai is that there are no tunnels between Pudong and Puxi for bicycles or motorbikes. It's a scandal. The cars have like 15 tunnels or bridges.
Really I think you should open a tunnel under the Bund for the two wheelers.
You have an ancient tourist tunnel. That will help a lot of people if you open this tunnel at night, 24 hours for the two wheelers.
An electric scooter may not be the best solution for city traffic as the author suggests, but he does remind us that in a better city people live near the workplace.
Dear editor,
I come from Western Europe.
I am responding to your article of September 7 ("All our innovation hasn't cleaned up auto pollution.")
Smart people who like to help people told me a lot of things, including environmental protection solutions.
Forget the stupid naive solutions of green politicians. They actually don't have practical solutions. Green cars are very stupid things.
The cars are a one-ton machine. We use a one-ton machine only to move a person who weighs 70 kilos. It's a big waste.
Walking is good but too slow. Buses are good but some people live in areas where buses don't come often. Bicycles are good only for short distances.
There is something better. If you live within one hour from your work, a scooter is the most suitable vehicle in a city.
A car uses 9 liters of fuel for 100 kilometers. A scooter uses about 2.5 liters for the same distance. That's a huge saving.
Just one disadvantage: It has no roof. But that should change. Scooters with roofs already exist.
Scooters or motor bikes with roofs are the solutions for our cities.
But the problem is so-called fashion. It's fashionable to have a car. In China, many girls would marry only a man with a car.
How to change this idea? The government should advertise on TV and say to the population: Do you really need a car when you live in a city like Shanghai, where there're so many cheap taxis and so many car rentals?
I used to live in Germany and in France. In Paris, people hate their cars.
Too many troubles. Need to pay fines. Need to pay parking fees. Need to maintain it often.
And you can't even use your car in the morning. Traffic jams are too dense. It's just impossible to move.
What I say is true: Even the TV presenters, or famous people ride a scooter or a motor bike. They park it in the morning next to the entrance of the studio.
Another good solution is to rent a car. Once a week we need a car. We want to go hiking, we want to go shopping, or we want to go to a club. Then we rent a car.
Imagine if a large number of people don't buy a car but rent one when they need it. That means: Less cars in the city.
Imagine if people get less snobbish and ride a scooter to work. That means: Less cars in the city.
A problem in Shanghai is that there are no tunnels between Pudong and Puxi for bicycles or motorbikes. It's a scandal. The cars have like 15 tunnels or bridges.
Really I think you should open a tunnel under the Bund for the two wheelers.
You have an ancient tourist tunnel. That will help a lot of people if you open this tunnel at night, 24 hours for the two wheelers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
