[Cyclopath]

[trestle]

If we're going to subsidize e-bikes then we should subsidize ALL bicycle purchases. The battery industry is not anyone's friend and I simply cannot support further subsidization for extractive industries that stifle true innovation. Second, Clallam County Transit has seen so much success with their Hurricane Ridge shuttle they are considering running one to the Hoh Visitor Center. https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/clallam-transit-considers-service-to-hoh-rain-forest/ I'm noticing at least one or two companies offering shuttle services from the ferries to the mountain bike parks on the Peninsula and at least one new company offering guide/transit options. Perhaps in the future someone will start a transit service that can haul up to a certain weight and bulk.

[neek]

[treeswarper]

From what I've read on the WDOT and Seattle Times sites, ebikes have been chosen because they are more likely to be used by regular people. One can adjust the power on the bikes so one doesn't show up to work all sweaty, one can go up hills with less effort, etc. As for the latest fad of the anti-electric argument--the children working in the mines, well, would those children starve if they weren't working? It's a disgusting world out there. There would be some other place for child labor if not the mining.

[Cyclopath]

[Cyclopath]

[thunderhead]

Subsidising nuclear power and electric cars would be an obviously superior way to spend that money but thats still going to fill our trailheads with evs. As the population grows trailhead parking needs to expand.

[Cyclopath]

[thunderhead]

Its pretty inefficient... even for evs... to make empty long trips. And since the majority of hikers go out in the morning and come back in the afternoon the times just dont stack up to load up vehicles both ways. Maybe it works at the closer trailheads but not out further or for more comitting hikes. A fully automatic car could certainly go park itself in a nearby parking lot, relieving parking at peak spots a little but that sort of tech is 10 years off or so i think. Ev is much more mature than fsd. I dont think the shared autonomous model is going to work. People like the convenience of their ride always being there, having the same vehicle each time. And the use costs are nearly the same. Its not like the shared plan is going to magically make vehicles last longer or cost less to fix. Thats a sector i'd never invest in, except perhaps in city cores.

[treeswarper]

Parking lots are deforestation. Clearcuts that are not reforested.

[Ski]

^ they are also covered with impermeable asphalt, which inevitably is the cause of run-off issues that cause erosion, as clearly demonstrated at the Vashon Island viewpoint parking lot at Pt. Defiance Park, which has been the cause of serious bank erosion at the northwest corner of the parking lot. (Which makes me wonder where they channeled all the water at Ruby Beach, where the Pacific Ocean is doing its best to eat away the bluffs along the coast.)

[slabbyd]

Having just come back from the Dolomites my experience would be that they haven't solved the car issue either. High mountain passes looked similar to popular trailheads here with long lines of cars parked along the shoulders in either direction. Popular TH roads had the same sort of closures/1-in-1-out systems you see here. That said public transportation was infinitely better than what we have we took buses to and from the THs we visited. One thing they do have figured out is how to move people in and out of the high country using lifts verses high altitude parking lots. And to then concentrate impact via the development of refugios. Seems like Rainer could be ideally suited for Euro style development. Shuttle buses to Longmire and a tram to Paradise. Reduced road maintenance costs (don't even plow it in winter) would pay for itself. But we're stuck in our ways. Local businesses would complain that having to get out of your car would reduce visitor-ship. One small environmental group would jam everything up with a lawsuit. Still a nice thought. Just looked at a topo map. Cougar Rock campground to Paradise is 2.5 miles and 2300'. That's well within reasonable parameters for lifts installed routinely by ski areas. Sea-to-Sky gondola (3000' in 1.5 miles) cost 7.6 million in 2017. Googling carrying capacity 2500 people/hr is an average number with ranges of 1,000-5,000.

[Randito]