- it's desirable, so property prices in places that enable this are higher, if there is even a location that could fulfill this

- expensive bikes aren't affordable by most people who also need a car

- there's a large window where kids are too big for a cargo bike, and still too young to go off freely

We do all sorts of things that increase property value, why is it suddenly only a problem when bikes are involved? And the problem is only because we do a little amount of transition and not a lot? This is a completely fabricated concern in my estimation, the type of thing that people come up with instead of simply saying "I don't like this and don't want it."

Similarly, the concern about the cost of bikes is completely invalid, as bikes are always cheaper than a car, even brand new cargo e-bikes are only a few months of car expenses at most.

And I haven't seen that window where kids can't bike on their own or ride with another parent, and I know families that bike with kids of all sizes and ages.

> And sorry if it comes across as as a strong critique, I don't mean any of it personally, but have heard people say these same things but never from people that actually bicycle with their family.

As I already said, we have built cycling into our lives. Our kids (4 and 6) cycle to school with one of us. I cycle to work. And I am saying this.

> We do all sorts of things that increase property value, why is it suddenly only a problem when bikes are involved?

That is nothing to do with what I was saying. Property is finite; schools, clubs, and employers are too. A car is one of the few levellers that allows people to live somewhere cheaper and access places they need to get to. Places that are close enough to schools to cycle them to school and then cycle to work are expensive.

> Similarly, the concern about the cost of bikes is completely invalid, as bikes are always cheaper than a car,

That only works if you don't need a car. If you need both, which, see previous point, is extremely likely, then it's an extra expense, not an alternative one.

> even brand new cargo e-bikes are only a few months of car expenses at most.

An admittedly quick Google and I'm not seeing any for less than £2.5k. That's years' worth of car services, tax and MOT. On top of the cost of the car they almost certainly need.

> And I haven't seen that window where kids can't bike on their own or ride with another parent, and I know families that bike with kids of all sizes and ages.

Here's an example of what I mean: nursery is in one direction; school is another. How do we get our 4 year old to nursery and 8 year old to school? Should the 8 year old cycle on his own? Or is he in the window where he can't cycle far enough by himself, but too heavy to be safely steered on a cargo bike?

Broadly: if Facebook's taught us anything, it's the power of being in a social circle and thinking that must generalise to everyone, or even most people. Having a job where we can work from home, or rock up 20 minutes late, where we can afford to live in a nice location that has good access, and where we can afford expensive secondary transport, is all great. Wonderful, even. But having grown up in a reasonably deprived area, I believe that's not most people's experience.

My wife cycled me around in her cargo bike, and a couple of other adults (not at the same time). I'm not a light chap, fairly sure I'd outweigh both your kids together. Steering on those things is pretty good, they're not light in and of themselves.

edit: we actually cycled both our kids to school in the cargo bike when they were 8 and 5. I'd forgotten, it was a few years ago.

On the cargo bikes, I have thought about it but I'd probably steer clear til they have some safety standards attached (I think there's a German standard, but nothing else I've seen).