Why they don't cycle:

In article k
John Clayton wrote:

"Rob Morley" wrote in message
t...
In article k
John Clayton wrote:
Ikea reportetly gave away 9,000? folding bikes to their staff today.
Steve (R2 DJ) Wright's "assistant" enquired if you had to assemble them.
Should see some excuses soon. Strange timing though for an apparently
serious positive move.

When would you give a Christmas present other than at Christmas?

Correct, but if you want them to actually use the bikes - any time of year
is better than the "shortest day.

I knew what you meant. :-) If they'd given the bikes in the middle of
summer a few more might have been ridden rather than going straight to
eBay.

Rob Morley twisted the electrons to say:
PDannyD wrote:
These can usually be identified by the nearly flat rear tyres obviously
being squashed by the massive weight of such machines. :-)
And the characteristic squeaky-crunchy noises that they make when
moving.

.... and the non-functioning (which is to say, disconnected) nature of at
least one of the brakes.
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...

Rob Morley wrote:
In article .com
Earl Purple wrote:
snip
I also wonder how many do not have safe cycle-parking facilities at
home and thus do not have a bicycle.

Folding bikes?

One may also question how many can
afford a bicycle assuming they will sometimes need a car as well.

Taxis, hire cars, delivery services?

There are times when one needs a car. Maybe one even needs one
regularly enough that it is cheaper to own one than to hire taxis on
such occasions.

The purpose is to reduce the number of journeys one makes in a car, for
example, those for which it may be appropriate to use a bicycle, i.e.
journeys made by oneself without any passengers, not carrying heavy
goods and within the sort of distance appropriate for cycling within
the time constraints.

Tony Raven whizzed past me shouting
Mark Thompson wrote on 14/12/2006 05:22 +0100:
Our respondents gave the following reasons for not cycling to work:

ITYM excuses.

They don't stand up to examination, do they?

No safe route for cycling to work 61%
"There are more and more cyclists these days - they must be dying like
flies for their numbers to increase so fast..."

Traffic levels are too high 52%
"My car's standing in a queue, cyclists are passing me, that must mean
the roads are too congested to cycle on..."

No changing/showering facilities at work 32%
"I can see that most of the cyclists going past are wearing their
ordinary street clothes. They must change into their Nicole Cooke lycra
when they get to work..."

Not fit enough 25%
As already posted, "I'm not fit enough to do exercise..."

No secure bike parking at work 13%
"There are 27 lamp posts in the street where I work and 54 bicycles
already chained to them..."

Too rainy/windy/cold 10%
"And it's like that *every* day..."

It's too far 6%
"I chose to live in High Wycombe and work in Reading because what I like
to do in my free time is sit in a stationary car listening to adverts on
local radio..."

Takes too long 3%
"Sitting in a stationary car will get me there quicker than cycling
because the car could do 30mph if there weren't any other cars..."

--
Sue ];(

Bicycle helmets are really a bit of a scam.
They make most cyclists slightly less safe but there's money in selling them.

Sue White wrote:
They don't stand up to examination, do they?

I don't know Manchester and the routes of these commuters, so I'll
answer it from a London perspective for some of my answers. Some of my
answers might apply to Manchester too.

No safe route for cycling to work 61%
"There are more and more cyclists these days - they must be dying like
flies for their numbers to increase so fast..."

There might not be any cyclists on my route though. My route may
involve a motorway or a main road that would not be suitable for a
cycle.

Traffic levels are too high 52%
"My car's standing in a queue, cyclists are passing me, that must mean
the roads are too congested to cycle on..."

It might not mean at congested level though. There may be a lot of
lorries sharing the road, all moving along at 40mph (their speed limit)
on a narrow NSL single-carriageway.

No changing/showering facilities at work 32%
"I can see that most of the cyclists going past are wearing their
ordinary street clothes. They must change into their Nicole Cooke lycra
when they get to work..."

Can't really answer this because I do sometimes cycle to work and we do
have facilities. Sometimes a disabled toilet will suffice. However in
my office I am not required to wear suits and if so presumably I
wouldn't cycle to work in the suit so I'd have to keep the suit at work
and change when I got here. That would also mean having to go to where
I keep my suit in cycling-clothing, which may not be appropriate in
some office environments.

Not fit enough 25%
As already posted, "I'm not fit enough to do exercise..."

May cover the "too hilly" where they feel that you need to be a
super-fit cyclist to manage it.
What if you live somewhere near the top of Highgate Hill? Ok you can
get to work easily enough but you have a task getting back.

No secure bike parking at work 13%
"There are 27 lamp posts in the street where I work and 54 bicycles
already chained to them..."

Not necessarily secure. Chained up bikes can often get stolen (or bits
of them stolen).

Too rainy/windy/cold 10%
"And it's like that *every* day..."

It is in Manchester.

It's too far 6%
"I chose to live in High Wycombe and work in Reading because what I like
to do in my free time is sit in a stationary car listening to adverts on local radio..."

Cars aren't always stationary. Perhaps someone works in Reading because
that's the only place they can find work and it is costly to change,
particularly as jobs aren't secure, and perhaps they are married with
kids and their wife works in High Wycombe and their kids go to school
there.

The journey between those two locations could probably be done via some
back-routes that are not totally congested during rush-hour. Not sure
about A404-A4 but there are some other roads.

Takes too long 3%
"Sitting in a stationary car will get me there quicker than cycling
because the car could do 30mph if there weren't any other cars..."

But not all roads are totally congested

Earl Purple wrote:
Not fit enough 25%
As already posted, "I'm not fit enough to do exercise..."

May cover the "too hilly" where they feel that you need to be a
super-fit cyclist to manage it.
What if you live somewhere near the top of Highgate Hill? Ok you can
get to work easily enough but you have a task getting back.

Funny you mention that hill. In my case it is the City to Finchley so do
Archway Hill, I didn't feel myself fit enough to start commuting so I
started at the gym to get fit. Now of course I don't even notice the
hill and will do Highgate hill for fun. So yes I did use "No fit enough"
as a *reason* not to commute - I just did the right thing about it.

Tony Raven wrote:

Mark Thompson wrote on 14/12/2006 05:22 +0100:

Our respondents gave the following reasons for not cycling to work:

ITYM excuses.

Frankly... F*cked if I'm going to bother to carry my bike up the
stairs so that I can ride from my bedroom to my study!

In article
Jeff York wrote:
Tony Raven wrote:

Mark Thompson wrote on 14/12/2006 05:22 +0100:

Our respondents gave the following reasons for not cycling to work:

ITYM excuses.

Frankly... F*cked if I'm going to bother to carry my bike up the
stairs so that I can ride from my bedroom to my study!


You should keep a unicycle in the corner.

Hello,


Earl Purple schrieb:
Sue White wrote:
They don't stand up to examination, do they?

I don't know Manchester and the routes of these commuters, so I'll
answer it from a London perspective for some of my answers. Some of my
answers might apply to Manchester too.




Would be interesting to know the segmentation, i.e. how the answers
differ for 30+, 50+, 60+


gerfried

hyperbike.cc

stevo wrote:
Earl Purple wrote:
Not fit enough 25%
As already posted, "I'm not fit enough to do exercise..."

May cover the "too hilly" where they feel that you need to be a
super-fit cyclist to manage it.
What if you live somewhere near the top of Highgate Hill? Ok you can
get to work easily enough but you have a task getting back.

Funny you mention that hill. In my case it is the City to Finchley so do
Archway Hill, I didn't feel myself fit enough to start commuting so I
started at the gym to get fit. Now of course I don't even notice the
hill and will do Highgate hill for fun. So yes I did use "No fit enough"
as a *reason* not to commute - I just did the right thing about it.

I am wondering which part of Finchley. If near Tally-Ho Corner then
your route is probably A1000-A1 which is probably the straightest
route. If around Finchley Central then my guess is you take East End
Road rather than Regents Park Road.

My journey is Hendon to City and I head for the A41 rather than scale
to Whitestone's Pond in Hampstead, which is my straighest route.

Actually it isn't the journey to work but the journey back that makes
me tired. I have a lot more energy for a good cycle ride in the morning
than I do in the evening.