alt Hacker NewsI got to bike around Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, in India in 2017, well before this revolution. When you look at it from an outsider's perspective it looks like chaos and I went in with my typical American mindset, hustling my way through the throngs of bikes, pedestrians, mopeds, autos, dogs, and cows.
Once I fell into the natural flow of the system the experience was much more smooth. There's an organic cadence that reminded me of red blood cells bumping around inside capillaries.
I wonder how the spike in e2W use has affected that cadence.
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Nothing much to be honest.
The occasional idiot who would zoom past everyone dangerously on their new powerful and expensive toy is replaced by the idiot who loves to show off the new found torque on their ev bike.
The only difference is before you would've heard the idiot sneaking up. Now, its a lot more silent and dangerous.
With respect, this feels to me like romantic paternalism. As a cosseted European I spent two months crossing India a couple of years back. I travelled only by train, bus and on foot. No taxis at all, even rickshaws I mostly avoided. I experienced urban India much as average Indians experience it. Well, two months was more than enough.