So why doesn't everybody (who is able to) do it?

[marinyork]

Oh, one other thing I glossed over on my first post that I admit is a big factor: weather. I'm very fortunate here in that the amount of rainfall is less, though winter weather is much more severe, and i definitely don't intend to cycle through the winter.

Rainfall perception is an interesting one. It amused me a great deal when a city I used to live in commissioned a very large survey as to why people didn't cycle and the city's (very low in UK terms) rainfall came back as a major reason listed by respondents. The two simplistic conclusions to come out of this are that either people's perceptions are very wrong or they are just using it as an excuse.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

If that converts to 2.46 US dollars it's that and more and still people use the car for very short i.e. under 2-mile trips instead of walking, riding a bicycle, or even to take public transportation. Sadly, I think that most people would sacrifice anything in order to be able to continue to drive their car(s).

Well, that converts to $9.31 per US gallon.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

My reasons are as follows:

1. There are no facilities at work whatsoever (and no amount of kind words will change that),
2. Wherever I'd put my bike it would stripped/stolen/sold/vandalised within minutes for a laugh,
3. A few weeks ago I had an incident that has made me question road riding entirely,
4. I like my metal box, and it's not shitty I'll have you know!

I'll review all this if I can get a better job elsewhere.

 

[captain nemo1701]

If I'm in our Bristol office, I ride from my home to work and back via the wonderful Railway Path. I must do about 9 miles a day round trip which isn't a lot. We used to have a guy who lived in a flat about 15 mins walk from the office, only about quarter of a mile away. One morning he came in and could be overheard from our side office bitching to another employee about how bad the traffic was. So my supervisor made an internal call to him and ticked him off for being so lazy (our office was amused ). On another occasion, he came into the office holding a sat nav (it turned out his car was off the road due to battery problems) so I cheerfully asked him if he'd got lost cutting through the Asda car park .

 

[Downward]

Work is the main dictator of your choice of commuting travel imo.

I used to cycle all the way to work but now circumstances and work location changed and voila I know have to park and ride !

 

[gentlegreen]

4. I like my metal box, and it's not shitty I'll have you know!

There's probably medication available for that sort of thing.

 

[Nigeyy]

Yes, I agree that some people will have to have the steering wheel prized out of their cold dead hands before they give up their car. It's really too bad as while I do think cars can be wonderful things, they also cause so many issues too. However, I will admit to some things:

i. I notice you are from Florida (home of the Blue Hairs ) -in the middle of a Florida summer, it's brutally hot. I do think the temptation to use a car for a 2 mile trip is (quite rightly) considerably more. In all fairness, not everyone on these boards has experienced that kind of heat as you just don't get it in the UK. I salute you for cycling in that darn Floridian heat!

ii. not quite the same, but I was at the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas when it was 105'F, and in the time it took me to walk from the parking lot to the dam I'd drunk a heck of a lot of water. Would I have liked to have cycled in that -even though it was a "dry" heat? Heck no.

iii. on the opposite extreme when it's minus 20 celsius and even lower taking in the wind chill in Massachusetts, it's bloody cold. It's one reason I chicken out of winter commuting let alone the compacted snow and ice and the thought that someone is going to just slide into you.

Mind you for all I've said, I think there are people who ride in the above mentioned weather -but I do really think they are an exception. Some of it must go into physiology; I for one can't stand very hot weather.

Anyway, one thing the UK is lucky for is a fairly temperate -if wet! -weather.

If that converts to 2.46 US dollars it's that and more and still people use the car for very short i.e. under 2-mile trips instead of walking, riding a bicycle, or even to take public transportation. Sadly, I think that most people would sacrifice anything in order to be able to continue to drive their car(s).

 

[Stuartaw11]

As a kid I cycled every day, then at 17 I got into cars and motorbikes, I am actually one of those people who goes for a drove just for fun! But having recently rediscovering my bike(in the back of the shed) I have since fell back in love with cycling, today for example Tuesday is my day off from real work but normally I do a few hours work for a friend who lives 8 miles away from me, rather than thinking what's the most fun way to drive there I am now thinking what's the most fun way to cycle there, last week I did 72 miles not to get anywhere, just because I wanted too, for me cycling is guilt free fun, it's free, I'm not polluting and it's good for me (apparently!) I don't cycle to work as it's only a mile each way an walking only takes 10-12 mins, getting the bike out would take longer, moral of this story? Well I'm not sure really, if you like cycling great, if you don't then you probably arnt reading this anyway.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

ii. not quite the same, but I was at the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas when it was 105'F, and in the time it took me to walk from the parking lot to the dam I'd drunk a heck of a lot of water. Would I have liked to have cycled in that -even though it was a "dry" heat? Heck no.

iii. on the opposite extreme when it's minus 20 celsius and even lower taking in the wind chill in Massachusetts, it's bloody cold. It's one reason I chicken out of winter commuting let alone the compacted snow and ice and the thought that someone is going to just slide into you.

Commuting in last winters snow and ice Coventry was down to around the minus 11 - minus 12 mark some mornings, I think, hardy as I am, if it got down to around minus 20 I would think seriously about leaving the bike at home. At the other end of the scale I have ridden when the temperatures been well into the nineties, the trick with riding in those temperatures seems to be ride easy and drink plenty.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

For me, with my rural 18 mile each way commute, it basically comes down to the fact that if I go in the car, it's around 35 minutes, whereas if I bike it it's nearly an hour longer than that, by the time I've factored in getitng changed once I get to work. I can live with the risk of getting wet, and I can cope without showers or any washing facilities other than the toilet block sink and the hose we use to wash the lorries. It's a much easier decision to bike to work if it actually saves you time as it did in my last job with its 8 mile urban rush hour commute.
I should also add that my car is the coolest thing on wheels and I love driving it.

 

[tyred]

For me, with my rural 18 mile each way commute, it basically comes down to the fact that if I go in the car, it's around 35 minutes, whereas if I bike it it's nearly an hour longer than that, by the time I've factored in getitng changed once I get to work. I can live with the risk of getting wet, and I can cope without showers or any washing facilities other than the toilet block sink and the hose we use to wash the lorries. It's a much easier decision to bike to work if it actually saves you time as it did in my last job with its 8 mile urban rush hour commute.
I should also add that my car is the coolest thing on wheels and I love driving it.

That about sums it up for me as well. I can drive to work in about 35 - 40 minutes and it is a hilly route on very exposed rural roads with a real possibility of killer head winds so it takes me about 1 1/2 hours to cycle. Do I really want to give up 3 hours every day just travelling to work and from work?

It's also a very pleasant drive on quiet, traffic free roads and driven sensibly, I can coax 60 mpg out of my car so it's not that expensive.

 

[johnr]

I've gotten that a few times as well. Where the bloody hell did this idea come from that in order to be a total adult that one "must" have a car?

The blessed Margaret... one of her less often quoted outrages was that 'anyone over 25 who uses a bus should be considered a failure'.

 

[smiorgan]

I periodically travel to New Jersey for work. On average I tend to see 1 cyclist per day on the drive to and from the plant.

Before I went the first day I remarked "hey, the hotel is only 2 miles from the plant - I could walk to work". The response was a mixture of scorn and incredulity. OK, so it's a sidewalk along a 6 lane freeway, but it's not impossible.

The impression I get is that people who ride for utility in that sort of area are assumed to be poor - and that nice bicycles are toys that are taken out on the weekend, far away from traffic. You can probably add something about perceived social status to your reasons for people not riding more.

 

[gentlegreen]

Yesterday I had a colleague say that she could no longer cycle to work because she'd recently had a "special birthday".
She wasn't interested in hearing about some people in their 60s and 70s I go riding with who consider a 50-miler with hills as "just a little warm up" ...

I wonder if I should be flattered because my 50th has been and gone ? - I'm assuming she isn't a young-looking 60 or an old-looking 40 .

 

[XmisterIS]

I think part of the problem is that in this country, a shiny-looking car is associated in the popular imagination with high-status, weath, class, etc, whereas the bicycle is associated with words like "hippie", "freeloader", "eco-warrior" and "bum".

I have no idea where that attitude comes from, it's completely different on the continent. A trip to Heidelberg, for example, will show you that the Germans have a totally different attitude to cycling. There, it is considered a good way of staying fit and healthy and lots of people do it.