tandempower

How much is roadside assistance used "out on the open countryside" vs. in town? Sprawling cities such as Orlando, Tampa, and Miami are becoming increasingly filled with bypasses and interchanges for motor-traffic, while bike/MUP paths are being constructed to provide relief from encapsulation in the automotive infrastructure hell. A byproduct of that is that a cyclist may be able to get to a car with a flat tire, dead battery, or other minor problem faster than a tow truck. I think this is a good use of biking as a more effective solution than driving in many cases, especially if bike-based roadside assistants are available throughout the city.

The problem will be if incidents of roadside assistance within a certain geographical area become too sparse to justify paying a single bike-based assistant. In that case, it would be smart to include other job tasks in the cyclist's activities, such as deliveries, maybe, or providing chaperoning to children so their parents' feel more comfortable with them biking alone. I have already seen special taxi services dedicated to transporting children so a bike-based chaperone service might be even better.