The rollercoaster of cycling popularity

[Andy in Germany]

Am I missing something regarding commuting?

I don't know about you guys but when I've been out on my bike I sweat quite a bit and I'm pretty knackered after as well. But that doesn't matter because I jump in the shower when I get home and chillax afterwards.

But if that ride would have been a commute to work, with maybe no shower/changing facilities there, then does that mean that a lot of cycling commuters start their day at work all sweaty and knackered!

I wouldn't like to start my day at work like that.

It depends. I don't sweat much so I can ride a 20km commute in ca. 1 hr and only need to spray a bit of deodorant. I ride in my work clothes because they're comfortable for mobving about and hardwearing.

 

[All uphill]

Anyone could take up utilitarian cycling, I'm not saying they should do it every day without fail, without running alternative transport, but if more folks would use a bike for perfectly duable short trips there would be a lot let conflict on the roads.
The planet would love it too!

Yes!

Every additional cyclist, horse rider, scooter rider, recumbent, bus and tram helps car drivers adapt to the reality that they don't own the road.

 

[Andy in Germany]

We're humans. We do whichever is easiest. Get in a metal bubble, warm and comfy and requires no effort, right from your doorstep. Cushty. Get all togged up when it's peeing with rain and blowing a hooly? Nah. And yet I did exactly that for 35 years so you'd think I'd be all for it. I wouldn't commute these days if I was still working for a gold clock and for reasons already mentioned.....pot holes and endless traffic. I'd rather ride out in the lanes for three hours than do a fifteen minute commute on busy roads, which is what mine used to be. Our local road changes have meant the volume has increased dramatically and a bike ride to town scares the crap out of me.

People have a funny double standard on this: I'm told all the time it's "easier" to use a car but these people then complain about the costs, the tests, the traffic, difficulty finding a parking dspace at work et c... From my point of view it sounds very incovnenient, but people have become so used to all these headaches that they just accept them as "normal" and don't think about it.

 

[All uphill]

People have a funny double standard on this: I'm told all the time it's "easier" to use a car but these people then complain about the costs, the tests, the traffic, difficulty finding a parking dspace at work et c... From my point of view it sounds very incovnenient, but people have become so used to all these headaches that they just accept them as "normal" and don't think about it.

That's my experience too.

I go to three weekly activities in town, and take the bike. Garage open, bike out, close garage, cycle for five minutes, lock bike. No special clothes.

Then I get to listen to 30 minutes of moaning from people who have driven the same distance to the same place. Traffic jams, traffic lights, finding parking spaces, cost of parking ,other drivers, blah, blah, blah .

 

[Andy in Germany]

I suspect that 99.99% of the population has never considered nor will ever consider riding a bike on the streets. We are a niche activity and we should understand and accept that we will never be on any government's list for any kind of cycling provision specific to us on the transportation network. If any happens, great, but even then it will not please everyone - and not even every cyclist.

It's not about us though: every bike on a cycleway is doing less damage to the infrastructure and buildings in a city, takes up less space, and creates less noise and pollution.
A large scale shift in an area increases the living standards of people living in cities and improves property values, business opportunities and freedom for families, and increases indepencence for children and those not able to drive, and means less costs providing buses and public transport.
All this makes a city more attractive to exactly the sort of people cities want to come and work, spend monrey and pay taxes, while costing little in initial outlay, and in fact saving a lot of money compared to the direct and indirect costs of car based infrastructure.

 

[DCLane]

More people cycling has massive financial advantages for cities, towns and local governments as well, which makes it all the more strange that there's so much resistance to building infrastructure.

+1 to this.

Road traffic is increasing as population increases and we're not building the infrastructure fast enough, let alone not actually having the space. I read somewhere that we need to reduce city centre driving by 20% just to stay the same.

So ... the other option is to find alternatives, which produces massive resistance from those who would never cycle, so they actually benefit. It makes their resistance all the more short-sighted.

 

[blackrat]

I very much doubt that. The statistics suggest that around 10% of adults actually do ride a bike on the road at least occasionally, never mind just thinking about it.

You are suggesting only 1 person in 10,000 would even consider it. If it were even close to that low, you wouldn't have places like Halfords selling bikes.



Which country do you live in?

I'm not aware of any country which does NOT have some cycling specific provisions. The UK certainly does, even though it may not be nearly as much as we would like.

We are a fairly niche activity, but not nearly as much so as you are painting it.

Settle down, this is not a competition.

 

[blackrat]

It's not about us though: every bike on a cycleway is doing less damage to the infrastructure and buildings in a city, takes up less space, and creates less noise and pollution.
A large scale shift in an area increases the living standards of people living in cities and improves property values, business opportunities and freedom for families, and increases indepencence for children and those not able to drive, and means less costs providing buses and public transport.
All this makes a city more attractive to exactly the sort of people cities want to come and work, spend monrey and pay taxes, while costing little in initial outlay, and in fact saving a lot of money compared to the direct and indirect costs of car based infrastructure.

I agree, but what we would like for Christmas does not often materialize as presents under the tree.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Road traffic is increasing as population increases and we're not building the infrastructure fast enough

More infrastructure has just created induced demand. You cannot build your way out of the current major issues with the number of motorised vehicles out there. Just switching to bike from car would increase people moving capacity of existing infrastructure by a factor of 7. Plus massively reduce health and environmental costs that motorised modes of travel produce etc.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I agree, but what we would like for Christmas does not often materialize as presents under the tree.

The realisation that cycling infrastructure makes the standard of living better for everyone is why the Netherlands* has excellent cycling infrastructure: it didn't materialise there either.

*See also Copenhagen, Freiburg, Munich, Leipzig, Tübingen...

 

[blackrat]

Less cars on the roads would be nice, maybe then we wouldn't need to be laying more concrete for cycling infrastructure. Wishing and having though are not the same things. Being realistic and working with what is there is really mostly the only option we have. Rowing about semantics on a thread such as this is just words.

 

[cyberknight]

Peanuts!

 

[classic33]

View attachment 804871

He said toaster, not roaster!

 

[Andy in Germany]

Less cars on the roads would be nice, maybe then we wouldn't need to be laying more concrete for cycling infrastructure. Wishing and having though are not the same things. Being realistic and working with what is there is really mostly the only option we have. Rowing about semantics on a thread such as this is just words.

Or we can try and change it: Dutch transport policy began when people in Amsterdam demanded it: it grew from there.

 

[cyberknight]

He said toaster, not roaster!

im quoting the peanut bit in my usual alternative thought process .