Cars are definitely faster - not.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message
...
RAC report quoted on BBC today:

"The average distance travelled by UK workers is 8.5 miles - 17% longer
than
a decade ago."

[...]

"The main reason given for using the car to drive to work was that it was
quicker than other options."

8.5 miles in 45 minutes - average 11.3mph. I average between 18.5 and
21mph
cycling to work.

Another excuse demolished. Next?


To be fair you are a 'fit_*******' [tm] riding a performance enhancing
bike -- at the cost, of course, of your immortal soul. {nb -- fit in the
sense of athletically capable and not in any modern day parlance associated
with sexual attraction -- just to be clear about this}

It would be better to destroy the argument using the typical performance of
an average 'old_git' [tm], 'fat_git' [tm] or of, say, a 'fatbirdonabike' [tm
waffles] -- all of whom could probably match or exceed 11.3 mph assuming the
cars were not clagging up the road too much.

But, Tom Cager asks, 'your not allowing for the time it takes to shower and
change. Haa. Got you there'.

Answers suggesting that you don't even break sweat at 11.3 mph will not be
considered reasonable.

T

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 09:08:01 +0000 (UTC), "j-p.s"
in
wrote:

obstreperous doctoral student?

Sounds like someone training to look at womens' bits. Oh, sorry,
that's obstetrics. Easy mistake to make.

love and (?) from Rich x

--
Two cannibals eating a clown. One says to the other,
"Does this taste funny to you?"
To reply replace the obvious bit with "richard"

In article ,
says...

But, Tom Cager asks, 'your not allowing for the time it takes to shower and
change. Haa. Got you there'.

Answers suggesting that you don't even break sweat at 11.3 mph will not be
considered reasonable.

*If* a sweat was broken then the answer is that the driver presumably
showered before leaving home---a driver asking such a question must care
about showering to think it so important---and therefore the time the
cyclist takes to shower at work is no more or less than the driver
showering at home.

Changing, I'd suggest, does, if one cycles in non-work clothes, add a
little time but most cycling clothes are pretty quick to get on and
off---unless you get the wrong percentage of lycra---so the additional
time is minimal as more time will be spent besuiting oneself, again
something the driver will have spent time doing at home.

Colin

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
RAC report quoted on BBC today:

"The average distance travelled by UK workers is 8.5 miles - 17%
longer than a decade ago."

[...]

"The main reason given for using the car to drive to work was that it
was quicker than other options."

8.5 miles in 45 minutes - average 11.3mph. I average between 18.5
and 21mph cycling to work.

Another excuse demolished. Next?

No thats not quite right 45 mins per day = 22.5 mins per journey so its 22.6
not 11.3

Cheers
Michael

--
Michael Kent

There are only 10 types of people in this world.
Those who understand binary,... and those that don't
Remove Shaggy's best friend to reply

"Tony W" wrote in message
...

8.5 miles in 45 minutes - average 11.3mph. I average between 18.5 and
21mph
cycling to work.
Another excuse demolished. Next?

To be fair you are a 'fit_*******' [tm] riding a performance enhancing
bike -- at the cost, of course, of your immortal soul.

I maintain the same average on the wedgie at risk solely to my mortal head
:-)

But, Tom Cager asks, 'your not allowing for the time it takes to shower
and
change. Haa. Got you there'.

And to Tom Smelly******* Cager I answer: I was planning to shower anyway -
weren't you? And actually I don't have a shower at work, I use other
methods to assure personal freshness.


--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.com

"Michael Kent" wrote in message
...

No thats not quite right 45 mins per day = 22.5 mins per journey so its
22.6
not 11.3


You could read it either as 8.5 miles RT, 45 minutes overall, or 8.5 miles
each way, 45 mins each way journey time.

I live in Reading and work in Henley. Most of the journey is along a
free-flowing A road with congestion for only a short distance at each end.
Typical time by car: 35 minutes. Typical time by bike: 25 minutes.

I think they answer "it's quicker" because they can't bring themselves to
tick "I'm an idle fat git who doesn't give a toss about the environment"
when asked for their reasons. It's like the reasons for not using trains,
none of which bear any relation to any train I've used in the last five
years.

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.com

"Tony" == Tony W writes:



But, Tom Cager asks, 'your not allowing for the time it takes to
shower and change. Haa. Got you there'.

The obvious response is: it's question of showering before travelling
to work or on arriving; makes no difference to total time.


Answers suggesting that you don't even break sweat at 11.3 mph
will not be considered reasonable.

Depends how hot it is :-)

"Colin Blackburn" wrote in message
news:MPG.198714323654de01989b2d@localhost...

*If* a sweat was broken then the answer is that the driver presumably
showered before leaving home---a driver asking such a question must care
about showering to think it so important---and therefore the time the
cyclist takes to shower at work is no more or less than the driver
showering at home.

Changing, I'd suggest, does, if one cycles in non-work clothes, add a
little time but most cycling clothes are pretty quick to get on and
off---unless you get the wrong percentage of lycra---so the additional
time is minimal as more time will be spent besuiting oneself, again
something the driver will have spent time doing at home.

Is correct -- but I was hoping for some more 'tangential' answers.

Motorists often discount the time taken parking and walking from the car
park.

Cyclists are fully awake, endorphins running, up and at the challenges of
the day.

You save all that boring gym work.

You save money/congestion/the environment/your health.

You get a tan without needing to spend a fortune on 2 weeks on the Costa
Packet.

You save on suncream when on the Costa Packet 'cos you've already got a tan.

You save lots of time during the day because you can bounce up the stairs
three at a time.

The lovely Emma in accounts thinks you've got a nice bum.

When the boss needs someone in Manchester that afternoon you can't go
because the car is at home (phew).

T

In article ,
says...

The lovely Emma in accounts thinks you've got a nice bum.

How do you know that?

Colin

"Gareth Attrill" wrote in message
...

Average figures are very misleading. I suspect that very short
journeys that take a very long time are distorting the average figure.

Distorting? Why would short journeys in heavily congested areas distory the
figures any more than long journeys on ungongested roads? That's what
averages are about: extremes become less significant the more data there is.

Another RAC comment:

"The average amount spent on travel is £3,500"

I can feel a Trice comin on :-D

To be honest, where I live (rural Hampshire, with my parents) a car is
essential to live a normal life

Hmmm. I'm guessing that few people would die without one, but rural PT is
close enough to non-existent (thanks, Maggie) that it would certainly be
inconvenient.

after paying tax and insurance
etc. for the year (£2 a day for me) *not* using it daily makes very
poor financial sense.

Is the real reason for many people. The problem for PT has always been that
their cost must be recovered entirely from per-journey charges, whereas most
of the cost of depreciation, excise duty, servicing and such is a fixed
cost, making the marginal cost lower in comparison. You can only realise
the full saving of travelling by other means if you can actually reduce your
cage count. This is a good reason for making
as much of the cost as possible marginal - so, migrate VED to fuel duty,
migrate company car taxation to road pricing and per-day workplace parking
taxation and so on.

The bonus of being able to pop out at lunchtime
to do my own thing rather than sit in the office is also important to
me.

I do that by bike :-)

THAT SAID, for the very short journeys the people are *mad* as I
expect a lot of them could walk to work and take only a little longer.

or cycle and take /less/ time :-)

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.com