cities in Asia to ban scooters

[boo]

of polluting 2 cycle engines but, a total ban, why?. Scooters are practical transportation for the masses in poor countries.
Surely this is an idle threat.
Dedee, I know Ducati uses desmodromic valves on their motorcycles but, I don`t understand what this has to do with pollution.
If these countries actually ban motor scooters, it might be enough to kill the scooter industry. People in poor counties buy scooters by the hundreds of thousands.
Personally I don`t want this to happen. I want future generations to enjoy scootering as much as I do.

[hypophthalmus]

I expect they'd revert to bicycles, not buy cars.

[boo]

I expect they'd revert to bicycles, not buy cars.

After thinking about it for awhile, what you say makes sense.
That is probably what those governments have in mind.

[boo]

You know, after looking at that picture, I agree with you boo. What if all those people on scooters were able to afford cars?? I would think that a ban on scooters would be the government pushing for mass transit, which they would run and profit from. Whatda you think?

You are probably right. Mass transit and bicycles.

[boo]

this electric cycle and car thing. They will have to get the electricity from somewhere. Coal fired steam plants or nuclear. They are big polluters too.

[hypophthalmus]

Here's an interesting chart for the United States, showing how efficient a gas powered "mid-sized" car needs to be so that it's equivalent to an electric vehicle: http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/images/2015/11/vehicles-m-emissions-map-with-notes.jpg (In the case the link breaks, the range is 35mpg to 135mpg)

I seem to remember (from Mythbusters) that while motorcycles produce fewer emissions overall than cars, the amount of non-CO2 emissions is actually much higher. So less greenhouse gases, but much more toxic / smog-producing molecules.

[hypophthalmus]

Sort of related, here's a bit by Douglas Adams on bicycles in China in the 80's:

"Everyone in China rides bicycles. Private cars are virtually unheard of, so the traffic in Shanghai consists of trolley-buses, taxis, vans, trucks and tidal waves of bicycles.

The first time you stand at a major intersection and watch, you are convinced that you are about to witness major carnage. Crowds of bicycles are converging on the intersection from all directions. Trucks and trolley-buses are already barrelling across it. Everyone is ringing a bell or sounding a horn and no one is showing any signs of stopping. At the moment of inevitable impact you close your eyes and wait for the horrendous crunch of mangled metal but, oddly, it never comes.

It seems impossible. You open your eyes. Several dozen bicycles and trucks have all passed straight through each other as if they were merely beams of light.

Next time you keep your eyes open and try to see how the trick's done; but however closely you watch you can't untangle the dancing, weaving patterns the bikes make as they seem to pass insubstantially through each other, all ringing their bells."

[ole two wheels]

Yes, I've seen this in S.E. Asia. My daughter just returned from the Netherlands, where there is a lot of bicycle traffic. Very few cars. She said the air was filled with bells. She said if you hear a bell behind you, as you are walking,  you had to move out of the way because bicycles have the right -of-way.
I was in Germany in the late 60's deactivating army units for re-deployment to VN and noticed that all factories had huge bicycle hang up sheds and very small auto parking lots. As a side note, the countries who use bicycles as a primary source of transportation have the healthiest population.