Cars still dominate the commute....

[Linford]

....and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future according to a new report HERE

The RAC Foundation report crunched the numbers from the last census in 2011 and the National Travel Survey.

It said six in 10 commuters either drive or grab a lift in a car or a van - 16.7 million people - which rises to more than seven in 10 when you single out rural areas.

The second most popular journey is by foot, with almost 2.9 million walking.

Catching the bus or coach is third, followed by the train, and then the underground, tram, or metro. Cycling sits below that, with 762,334 people biking to the office.

So if you live or work in a rural area, chances are very slim that you will cycle commute.

 

[Irish_Marty]

I see a fair amount of cyclists on my Sunday cycle when I cycle around Co. Down, ( a great place to cycle ) but I very rarely see cyclists any other day of the week and in the winter I see even less. I practically never see commuters at anytime of the year.
It's definitely becoming more popular all over the UK/Ireland but here in Ireland we're needles in a haystack.

 

[Dan B]

Royal Automobile Club in "we like cars" shocker

 

[Linford]

Well, I was cycle commuting in the summer, but have now stopped for winter. Go out as you say at weekends, but as I have to negotiate unlit narrow country lanes to get to work, I feel disinclined to do it if I'm honest...as have the others in my office who cycle commute..apart from one who got knocked off a few weeks ago

 

[swee'pea99]

That's all true and will doubtless remain so, for all sorts of reasons. It is noticeable, on the other hand, that the number of cyclists commuting in London has shot up during my lifetime, from hardly any to swarms of the buggers all over the roads. Whether or not that's echoed in other cities I don't know, but hereabouts it's changed from 'a bit weird' to 'normal' in a decade.

 

[Linford]

Royal Automobile Club in "we like cars" shocker

Well they are a car club, and they have an agenda here...(vehicle fuel taxation levels), but the level of cycle commuting in that survey is demonstrated to be very poor. I don't really see the need to show a differentiation between using public transport and car sharing.

 

[Linford]

That's all true and will doubtless remain so, for all sorts of reasons. It is noticeable, on the other hand, that the number of cyclists commuting in London has shot up during my lifetime, from hardly any to swarms of the buggers all over the roads. Whether or not that's echoed in other cities I don't know, but hereabouts it's changed from 'a bit weird' to 'normal' in a decade.

Have you found the levels changing with the seasons ?

 

[swee'pea99]

Have you found the levels changing with the seasons ?

Oh for sure. Massively. Drops off in the winter, big time. Understandable really...you do have to be 'a bit weird' to stick with it through the cold, wet and dark months. Summer's a whole different ball game. But at least many people are willing to play it now. Yesteryear, they weren't.

 

[asterix]

Well they are a car club, and they have an agenda here...(vehicle fuel taxation levels), but the level of cycle commuting in that survey is demonstrated to be very poor. I don't really see the need to show a differentiation between using public transport and car sharing.

The UK has a very low level of cycle use which may be put down to the importance of cars to the economy. However looking at other EU countries, Germany which has a massive input from car manufacturing has a much healthier level of cycle use (2010 figures):

It seems to demonstrate that you can have both and I suspect that Germany organises its infrastructure with a more social-economic agenda. A feat that the ideological polarisation of the UK has made impossible for decades.

 

[swee'pea99]

That is piss poor. Can't really see how 'importance of cars' comes into it either. What, you mean as manufacturers? Can't really see much correlation there. I suspect it's a combination of a number of factors, including things like the extent and competence of government encouragement (cycle lanes, positive legislation), the culture (which has over here only recently even begun to escape the notion that bicycles are the 'poor relation' option for people who can't afford a car), and the sheer size of our major cities (it's easy to commute in Copenhagen or Antwerp - you probably only live 2-3 miles from work. Mostly, tho', I think it's because we're a nation of beer-swilling junk-food munching lard-arse couch potatoes.

 

[Linford]

The UK has a very low level of cycle use which may be put down to the importance of cars to the economy. However looking at other EU countries, Germany which has a massive input from car manufacturing has a much healthier level of cycle use (2010 figures):

It seems to demonstrate that you can have both and I suspect that Germany organises its infrastructure with a more social-economic agenda. A feat that the ideological polarisation of the UK has made impossible for decades.

My feeling after driving and cycling abroad is that road network infrastucture in the UK is woefully inadequate.
My daughter collected us from Manchester a couple of years ago after I'd spent a week driving around Florida, and after about 15 minutes of driving, I asked when we were getting onto the motorway...she said we had been on it for about 10 miles (ish)....I was convinced that the narrow lumpy road we were on was just an access dual carriageway to the AIrport (I was jet lagged though).
Last week cycling in Mallorca, the roads are so wide and smooth..even the single carriageway ones have a strip along side which you can duck into if the traffic builds.
Ours by comparison are unforgiving narrow lanes barely wide enough to squeeze two vehicles side by side, let alone do that with a couple of cyclists on either side.

 

[jagman.2003]

I live & commute in a rural area. It's been a long time since anyone asked how I get to work. So I doubt the method of evidence gathering.

 

[Spinney]

My feeling after driving and cycling abroad is that road network infrastucture in the UK is woefully inadequate.
My daughter collected us from Manchester a couple of years ago after I'd spent a week driving around Florida, and after about 15 minutes of driving, I asked when we were getting onto the motorway...she said we had been on it for about 10 miles (ish)....I was convinced that the narrow lumpy road we were on was just an access dual carriageway to the AIrport (I was jet lagged though).
Last week cycling in Mallorca, the roads are so wide and smooth..even the single carriageway ones have a strip along side which you can duck into if the traffic builds.
Ours by comparison are unforgiving narrow lanes barely wide enough to squeeze two vehicles side by side, let alone do that with a couple of cyclists on either side.

I've heard (and this is mainly hearsay) that a lot of US towns are really very, very bad for pedestrians, though. So I'd not want to be taking the US as a model for road infrastructure.

 

[Linford]

I've heard (and this is mainly hearsay) that a lot of US towns are really very, very bad for pedestrians, though. So I'd not want to be taking the US as a model for road infrastructure.

I'm talking aout the width of each lane in the carriageway...much wider. they have different laws regarding jay walking there to here, but it is the lack of width in each lane which causes conflict around here.

 

[theclaud]

I'm talking aout the width of each lane in the carriageway...much wider. they have different laws regarding jay walking there to here, but it is the lack of width in each lane which causes conflict around here.

Different? We, thankfully, don't have any at all.