Bitumen is recyclable, though it isn't nearly as easy as reclaiming the aggregate. And there are techniques where you don't need to expend lots of energy, collectively called "cold in-place recycling."
For example, California's cold recycling program.
There's certainly going to be a lot of hurt in Australia, though some cities are turning that around. When I visited Melbourne there was some fresh looking cycling infrastructure and they're finally getting a train to their airport. Sydney's public transit was also easier to use than the last time I was there (more than 10 years ago).
Hopefully this crisis helps my aussie friends focus their efforts on funding and completing their shovel ready transit projects. :)
I agree the $300 level doesn't land quite as hard with LBS compared to mail-order bikes. This is seen in the earlier program's data:
"84 percent of applicants awarded $1,200 towards an e-bike purchase redeemed them, while just 24 percent of the applicants awarded a $300 rebate redeemed theirs. Expenditures on rebates during this pilot were $2.58 million out of an available $4.2 million."
Still, a 24% voucher conversion rate isn't nothing! And it did lift ebike sales, even if the voucher didn't apply:
"The UW also found rebate offers substantially increased e-bike purchases: 92 percent of purchases in the income-qualified group and 70 percent in the non-income-qualified group were induced by the rebate, leading to an estimated 2,490 induced purchases overall. These results demonstrate that rebates are an effective tool for sparking new e-bike sales, particularly among lower-income households where larger incentives are needed."
I'd consider that a successful program!
It's good policy to keep tax money in the local economy, but there's another reason to prefer subsidizing local bike shops: support.
Every bike requires maintenance to keep running, but most people don't know how to take care of them. Things I've seen regular people do:
They'll oil the chain to keep it smooth rolling, which is good! But they never degrease the chain, creating artisanal grinding paste. A thousand kilometers/miles later they'll get an expensive lesson when learning they need a new chain, cassette, and chainring. A lesson I just barely avoided with my cousin after I checked his chain wear (he's on hot dip and drip wax now).
They don't understand brakes. It's easy to glaze brakes in hilly areas, and doubly so with heavier ebikes. It's common for new brakes to fall out of adjustment. It's common for new mechanical brakes to have cable stretch. All of it results in squeaky, weak, or totally failed brakes in just a few weeks. Sometimes it's just a worry with new riders, knowing that their brakes are the most important part of a bike. A friend got a class 3 ebike and was wondering if he needed to take it in for the brakes during a ride we took together. They were totally fine and my recommendation was to ride a few hundred more miles before taking it in for a tune-up.
They don't know you have to pump up your tires. Seriously. I ran into a young adult on the train with a pinch flat. He didn't know you had to keep the tire pressures up and within a reasonable range. The best I could help was giving some pointers on tire pressures and some pump recommendations (he had space limitations).
They don't know when their fork is backwards. I helped another cousin's car-less friend who got a great deal on a used bike, but it didn't ride too great. Surprise, the fork was backwards. A quick adjustment of the stem, and some brake work too because of course those were also in poor condition, got her in a much more comfortable situation and back on the road.
The purpose of these programs is to get people onto ebikes. For many this is their first bike since childhood. They are interested and engaged, but they need help. That's why these buy-local policies are important. A local bike shop will stand behind their work. Every LBS around me offers a free check and tune-up for a new bike. That's the level of support required to keep a new rider on a bike for years.
Road tires are much wider than they used to be. Professional road racers are running 28mm or even 30mm tires for lower suspension losses and reduced fatigue. The days of high pressure, thin tires are over. Absolutely go with the largest size tire that fits in your frame. You'll be more comfortable and have better traction on dirt surfaces.
You'll probably not be able to fit them, but IMHO, ~40mm tires are the sweet spot for commuting. They're wide enough to tackle just about any dirt/gravel path but not so bulky as to make it feel like you're spinning a tractor. 584-700 x 40 widely available with many models aiming for that commute / touring crowd with features like puncture resistance and aggressive tread only along the edge of the tire.
For content, here in California we do have ebike classifications that are a little more detailed than pedals means bicycle. There are three classes, and the fastest (class 3) are not legal for middle school ages. We even have a law on the books that makes it illegal to sell ebikes that can be software/app changes into a different class.
This really is a push to outlaw all ebikes, especially since the resp is from Orinda. They hate bikes there, even regular push bikes.
Being dark isn't a choice. People, dogs, cats, birds, etc are born that way.
Even clothing sometimes isn't a choice. It's pretty common in work attire to require black shoes and slacks. Formal attire also leans dark.
Walking and biking are great. I highly recommend trying one out and there are adult classes if you'd like help learning how to ride and operate a bicycle. A good, used bike with a bike rack can do wonders carrying things around. As a bonus they're cheap to maintain and safe to work on, completely unlike wrenching underneath a heavy car.
Depending on your situation, you may want to consider a moped. They're generally easy to get licensed for, often don't require insurance, and costs about the same as a good e-bike. They require the same skills as riding a bike (knowing the road laws, understanding how to stop effectively, counter-leaning, etc). The bonus is you'll be able to get up to speed on frontage and other roads that may not be safe to ride a pedal bike on (e.g. roads without any shoulder). Of course you can always do both, like starting with a pedal bike to get a feeling of how to ride a two-wheeled device.
If one bike is good, two must be better. Right?
That's because they legally have to. Land owners with appropriative water rights must use their water or they lose access to it, forever. Flooding a low value field is the logical thing to do, even if it's an unreasonable thing to do.
It has been like this for more than a hundred years because we have two different legal systems for water rights: riparian rights and appropriative rights. Until we get that mess sorted (a very tall order), some land owners will be able to pull free water while some cities will struggle to buy water or water rights.
Enforcement does help but it's not as simple as asking police to enforce traffic laws, mostly because police incentives are not aligned with fair traffic enforcement. Traffic stops are well documented to be racially unfair, often used as pretext for searching trying to finding another crime, and limited in how effective they can be. This topic is covered in some popular urbanism books, like Confessions of a Recovering Engineer, and frequent reports and papers documenting these behaviors, like Traffic stop policy in Ramsey County, MN or Distracted partners: Why police traffic enforcement is inefficient.
These issues are why many vision zero policies push strongly for traffic engineering solutions over enforcement. Speed cameras, traffic circles, lane narrowing, etc work 24/7 without high operational expenditures and they're less likely to selectively harm minorities.