I was surprised to read Adrian Chiles’s takedown of cargo bikes (£3,999 for a cargo bike?! How a new kind of class politics arrived on Britain’s streets, 16 March). His article misses the urgent need to clean our air and free up our roads.
I’m a happy diesel-van-liberated, e-cargo bike user. I use it to get to almost all my jobs as a plumber in London. I carry the tools I need with me and can strap a ladder on.
Of course, the bike is an investment. A huge amount of research has gone into creating these amazing pieces of kit. The alternative, a van, is much more expensive in both upfront and running costs. The environmental benefits are a great selling point, but I’m also saving money every day and feeling happier and healthier for being more active.
Shane Topley
London
We use an electric cargo bike to ferry our two small children around, and we all love it. It cost £3,000, which was the same price as our nearly 10-year-old car bought just two years earlier. Our bike costs about £100 a year to run, whereas our car cost closer to £2,300 a year, if we were lucky to avoid any major repairs. Because we have our bike, we don’t need a second car, and we’ve saved a fortune.
With the right infrastructure to make cycling safer and more convenient, many other families could save money with one of these “expensive” bikes. I’d suggest Chiles thinks more before he criticises those who buy one, unless he’s equally critical of those who spend tens of thousands on a new car.
Ashleigh Phillip
Stirling
