588 quadricycles of the future, today

You might be wondering why this is another Bike & Battery, when WakeBlake posts are more engaging.

The answer is: screenshots. Screenshots and a clean phone ethic. Yes, there are apparently more interesting things going on in my life than screenshots of micromobility, but goshdarnit, they're in the photos area of my phone and first I need to get rid of these screenshots.

That screenshot at the top was from a video I watched after my friend Mr. Snake spotted these quadricycles on a trip to Europe earlier this summer. The photo above is one I took in Amsterdam at the end of the summer. What does that mean?

They're pretty cool looking. And our collective travel resources have evolved. 

The Fiat Topolino/Citroen Ami at top, limited to local road speeds and driveable by anyone over 14, no license required (at least in France), is just one example of the exploding category of micromobility.

While I've heard of at least one of those Ami's making it to the US, our highway safety laws really are deterring experimentation in this category here. And that's too bad, because it's the future.

The form factor is still sorting itself out.

But these micromobility vehicles are getting cooler, cheaper, and quicker.

In a truly free market, those are winning qualities.

Why are we sitting in traffic and pollution when we could be rolling along in the future?

Ego is part of it, the huge truck thing, but so is political will. We literally have laws preventing these type of vehicles from our roads, and especially highways.

It's ok. The rest of the world isn't clinging to the 1950s as the ideal. 

We're moving on.

I mean, I like an upright bike because you can put weight on your feet, but this is a pretty sweet looking runabout. I'd be psyched to run into the city in this Pedilio.

If it was allowed.

Unfortunately, going car free is a losing move in America, at least by our growth-more-stuff-is-better metric.

Still, one can dream.

Or just make it happen.

Rejoice! Change is the only constant.

And change is afoot.

Even here in the US, where the PEBL is made.

(But maybe a bit more in the rest of the world.)

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