but i think for many people a good old trailer would make more sense really.

I agree. Unless someone has room for a traditional bike and a large cargo bike, a trailer can do much of the same things, but in a smaller form factor and with far more options for flexibility (storage, cost, space, manoeuvrability, etc.).

That said, I saw a few bakfiets this past weekend with kids inside (one guy was hauling his dog), and it looked like so much fun to ride and be ridden with!

I had a trailer because we didn’t really have the space for a long bike. It folded flat for ease of storage. It was a pain to get bike out, trailer out, kid out, put wheels and tow arm on trailer, trailer on bike, kid in trailer… then do it all in reverse when we got home. Living in a place where cars rule the road, even with nice bike lanes, having the wide trailer behind was nerve wracking.

I ended up getting a seat for the rear rack.

Not too long ago there were hardly any around though, this is a relatively new thing in Germany too.

I dunno how that's going to pan out. My kids pedal themselves around now but the cargo bike is way too useful to give up. It's the best bike I will ever own in my life.

It's like minivans. The kids are in college but you're so used to being able to carry everyone and everything all at once that you can't downsize.

About 25 years ago. My dad would take me and my sis to daycare like that with a bike trailer. It was fun.

That was 25 years ago, it's even easier today because of electric bikes.

To be clear, I love this thing and would love to have one if this city had a) infrastructure that could support it and b) enough of a social support system that the constant bike theft wasn't just a daily part of life here.

Not Just Bikes has a video about winter, he claims (iirc) Canada needs to spend more and prioritize clearing bike lanes and it could work

Where's here for you?

The one in the image here is an electric assist, hills are no problem. If you wanted to get it to work in the winter you could buy an electric assist trike. The bucket in the front is wide instead of long. A family in my neighbourhood drops their kids off at the school near us in theirs year round, unless the snowfall has been particularly heavy, but that is the exception instead of the rule.

counterpoint.

Studded tires are magical for bikes. I feel safer biking than walking when it's getting slippery outside. Urban Arrow and other bakfiets style bikes have canopies to keep bad weather out. I didn't have a bucket bike but even then, my kids' only complaint about the weather is that we skipped the playground on the way home.