£100,000,000

[neslon]

Unless I'm wrong, thats what the C4 news said the tube stike had cost. Why not buy all the commuters a bike and close the roads to motorised traffic? Bound to cheaper before long.

 

[Manonabike]

I guess you are wrong

 

[killiekosmos]

I don't know how C4 can 'estimate' this. I'm assuming that some individiuals who didn't get to work and those on strike didn't get paid so companies saved some £££ while individuals lost.

 

[Brains]

On the basis that Halfords, who sold over 1 million bikes last year said the average cost of a bike "had now climbed" to £120 (which means most of those bikes must be BSO's and will therefore put off the riders) the economy could afford to buy 833,000 bikes.

Therefore we need at least a week of tube strikes before we can justify the removal of all motor vechiles from the roads and put everyone on bikes

Then we might even get a tenth of the way towards where Holland/germany/Denmark is today.

 

[Tynan]

Halfords might have a vested interest in making out that bikes are cheap?

 

[montage]

What fool said cycling is cheap?
I have seen no evidence of this.

 

[Bigtwin]

I don't know how C4 can 'estimate' this. I'm assuming that some individiuals who didn't get to work and those on strike didn't get paid so companies saved some £££ while individuals lost.

They got the figure from the Chamber of Commerce I think.

Which, I know, begs an obvious question...

 

[XmisterIS]

What fool said cycling is cheap?
I have seen no evidence of this.

Nope, not cheap ... but it stops me from turning into a couch potato! It's my primary form of aerobic exercise, plus it's fun, as we all know!

Mind you, if I calculate cost of bike divided by time spent on bike ... it is a lot cheaper and more exciting than a gym membership

 

[Greenbank]

What fool said cycling is cheap?
I have seen no evidence of this.

My yearly budget for cycle commuting:-

Cancelling the gym membership: £70 a month (this is London, even the council run gym is £50 a month).
Train season ticket: £600 a year.

Minus 50 days a year getting the train at £4.30 for a return: £215

Total: £1225

Average replacement bits:-

every 2 years (10000km) I'll need:-

4 tyres = £120 (I use GP 4 Seasons that do about 4000km before dying but less on the front)
1 chain = £10
2 sets of brake blocks = £12
1 chainring = £30
5 inner tubes = £20
1 rim and wheel build = £60 (will get 20,000km out of a rim, so one a year)

Call that £260 every 2 years, or £130 a year.

This leaves £1095 I'm saving each year. Out of this comes cycle clothing which will be less than £100 a year for commuting stuff.

The rest, and more, goes on recreational cycling purchases.

 

[ChrisKH]

The rest, and more, goes on recreational cycling purchases.

And therein lies the caveat. Without doubt commuting by bike has saved me money. It's the other two bikes I've bought, with clothes, shoes, lights, tools, videos, books, helmets, etc. that really did me in.

 

[skwerl]

They got the figure from the Chamber of Commerce I think.

Which, I know, begs an obvious question...

and it's largely bollox. They take yearly revenues and divide them up to give a day value then assume that's how much could be lost, after adjusting for likely reduction in visits to London on the day in question, etc. There's no accounting for the fact that lost spend will just be deferred to the next day or that cancelled trips will actually just be postponed.