You get a nice box in the back or whatever but it's not really THAT much bigger than a box you could fit on any old regular bicycle
You can plop like two children there but then you can do that with Long Johns and 3-wheelers and such, too and ALSO you have the fuckoff-big box. They don't really seem all that shorter than comparable versions either.
Anyone got one or know why someone got one?
In Long Johns you'd put the kids in front, side-by-side, which makes it quite large and you loose the mobility advantage in urban environments.
the box on a traditional long john isn't usually wider than the handlebars tho
Not wrong. Maybe it's perceived as nimbler? Maybe it's the local market? I dont see many Long Johns here (belgium/france/switzerland ).
The steering mechanism is different, though. Might present more of a maintenance difficulty over just a longer chain with a tensioner.