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October 16, 2018 at 10:10 am #29050
road
I know there’s always going to some people who ‘have’ to commute in cars for some reason or another but it just seems madness after what I witnessed this morning.
Luckily I don’t work in a town so my commute is fairly rural and congestion is perhaps a tractor in the way but I went into York as I had a early appointment at the hospital and it was just utter grid lock.
I was on the motorbike and came off the A64 at the designer outlet to massive queues, down the outside to the front and carried on like that, cutting to the front all the way to the hospital. It was just like a 3 mile queue into town. I’d have never made it on time in a car.
I really can’t imagine doing that EVERY day and never get that lightbulb moment. All you’d need would be a moped.
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Well I had that LIKE A BOSS
Well I had that LIKE A BOSS feeling yesterday, cutting through the swathes of congestion, straight to the front of every queue. Nobody even bothers to fck with you on a big motorbike either, from experience, drivers always used to get very annoyed if you went past with L plates on and did their best to get back ahead. I definitely felt like the apex predator rather than a rat avoiding getting whacked like I do on a bike in the rare occasions I’m in city traffic.
This said a friend of mine doing contract work has commuted into York and Sheffield on his motorbike and said whilst he was able to make progress in York, a lot of lane spacing is so tight in Sheffield it was still difficult to make the same progress there.
vonhelmet
HoarseMann wrote:
Cars are way more convenient. You can go and sit in a queue and get angry any time you like! You’re not bound by a timetable!HoarseMann wrote:A big reason is taking the car involves no forethought or planning. There are a lot of things to consider when taking the bike. Once you are in the routine of commuting by bike it’s ok, but there is a hurdle to overcome that not many can be bothered to tackle.HoarseMann
A big reason is taking the
A big reason is taking the car involves no forethought or planning.There are a lot of things to consider when taking the bike. Once you are in the routine of commuting by bike it’s ok, but there is a hurdle to overcome that not many can be bothered to tackle.
Crippledbiker
dottigirl wrote:
dottigirl wrote:It really does surprise me that more people don’t use a bike. Especially if they are disabled like me.
I hear you.
A clip on handcycle is so, so much easier than pushing a manual chair directly; for starters, you’ve got proper brakes for hills, not just your fingers. Gears for ascending, too. Plus, a large front wheel rolls so much easier than castors.
The big problems are cost, and perception; cycles for wheelchair users start at about 1k, and that’s for the most basic of basic.
Perception is a twofold problem; there is the perception that cycling isn’t “for” less physically able persons, and there is also the concern of people getting the wrong idea -this ties into performative disability, stuff like the fact that although I can stand and walk a few steps (very slowly), I won’t do so in public – because of arguments I’ve had, accusations made towards me etc.
People feel that, if they cycle, they’ll be reported as benefit frauds and lose their (potentially sole source) disability income and/or cars.
Yes, this is fucked up.davel
dottigirl wrote:What a lot of people don’t understand is that cycling is for lazy people.I cycled my local town in mid Wales to do some shopping the other day. Rolled past all the traffic queues. Parked right outside or took my bike in to every shop, it took practically no time at all, and caught the train home with my bike and full backpack.
A few months ago, my nephew needed some stencils for a school project. Had a call from my sister and as I was in town, I cycled around five or six shops in minutes looking for them, from the little shops on the high street to the superstores on the outskirts.
Trying to hit that many spread-out shops with a car or walking would be virtually impossible. Either no parking or you’d still be looking at closing time. On my bike, it’s super quick.
It really does surprise me that more people don’t use a bike. Especially if they are disabled like me.
I get your point, but you’re looking at a different kind of laziness. You’re talking about convenience.
Huge numbers of people are just absolutely bone idle when it comes to locomotion: they really want to park their cars in their front room, then in their kid’s classroom, then by their desk, then in the shop at the weekend. They kid themselves that they are busy, but they’re even too lazy to calculate that they are literally wasting days each year sitting in traffic.
Their future is the Wall-E one, with pods moving them everywhere. They’re not going to alter their fat, lazy courses without being slapped out of it.
dottigirl
What a lot of people don’t
What a lot of people don’t understand is that cycling is for lazy people.
I cycled my local town in mid Wales to do some shopping the other day. Rolled past all the traffic queues. Parked right outside or took my bike in to every shop, it took practically no time at all, and caught the train home with my bike and full backpack.
A few months ago, my nephew needed some stencils for a school project. Had a call from my sister and as I was in town, I cycled around five or six shops in minutes looking for them, from the little shops on the high street to the superstores on the outskirts.
Trying to hit that many spread-out shops with a car or walking would be virtually impossible. Either no parking or you’d still be looking at closing time. On my bike, it’s super quick.
It really does surprise me that more people don’t use a bike. Especially if they are disabled like me.
As late as the 1980s Hull
As late as the 1980s Hull/East Yorks/N.lincs had very high levels of cycling to work, it’s around 6% if that in Hull and everytime I go back the city is clogged with motor traffic. It’s crying out for the LA to actually do something but all they do is ignore the problem and simply think shit strewn shared use paths that exit out directly into industrial estates with tipper lorries, HGVs etc exiting/entering at all times is just fine.
Simon E
John Smith wrote:
That may be true for you but doesn’t apply to everyone.John Smith wrote:
The biggest thing keeping people in cars is the terrible state of public transport and the insistence on retaining the green belt, meaning most people have to drive part of the way and using a park and ride or other public transport for the rest of the journey is hugely impractical or costly.In Shrewsbury there are 3 large Park & Ride car parks on the outer perimeter of the town but the vast majority of drivers want to burn fuel to drive straight past them and 3 miles – into a town restricted by a river with 2 main crossing points so always busy – and pay to park their car somewhere nearby instead of the greater convenience of the bus (£1.60, kids free) that will drop them off and pick them up in any of several handy spots right outside the biggest shops every 20 minutes all day long. It beggars belief.
What about the school run and the selfish behaviour of so many parents? My colleagues always comment on how the traffic levels are noticeably lower during school holidays. We live 3 miles away from the secondary school and among the furthest away but my kids ride every day. I’m sure most others could do the same. When they were in primary we knew parents who drove even though they lived nearby, some less than half a mile away. Inconsiderate parking was a real issue for a number of residents. That’s not about green belt or public transport.
Why should car parking not be an income stream? Those cars spend all day on valuable land which could be better used for houses, parks etc. And that’s when they’re not causing congestion on the streets, scaring or even injuring pedestrians and cyclists, damaging infrastructure and polluting the air with toxic chemicals. Perhaps you’re not aware of the external cost of motoring, in which case you should read this:John Smith wrote:If we want to encourage people to stop driving councils need to stop treating car parking as an income streamhttps://rdrf.org.uk/2012/12/31/the-true-costs-of-automobility-external-costs-of-cars/
If they take away parking charges not only would there be even more congestion from all the freeloaders in cars but the councils would still need other income streams so will charge (or charge more) for other facilities.
Yes public transport is dire in many places but that’s government policy. And policy has been all about promoting ever greater use of cars. Advertising and the media (all run by rich people who only want to flog you expensive stuff you don’t need) have talked it up so much and for so long that many people are convinced that there is no alternative. But if we tell ourselves there’s no alternative then everyone has to put up with it. Yet in many cities a large proportion of people don’t even own a car.
EK Spinner
I think there is also a much
I think there is also a much bigger issue which is harder to solve, why are people travelling so far to get to work.
Why do we concentrate so many jobs in zoned industrial areas, and then live in massive housing areas miles from our work, the whole system is a mess. 50 /60 years ago (most?) people lived within walking distance of thier work (and schools). If you changed job to somewhere 50 miles away then you would probably have moved house as well. then again in those days we didn’t change jobs (either voluntarily or enforced) as often as many folks do now.
I can’t imagine that this will ever be reversed but I believe this cultural shift is what has caused many of our problems.
vonhelmet wrote:Don’t underestimate how staggeringly lazy people are. I mean just unbelievably lazy.40% of adults don’t get 150 minutes moderate exercise per week. That’s 20 minutes of brisk walking per day – if you’ve ever had a fitness tracker or smartwatch, it seems hard for a normal adult to do so little.
A sizeable (arf) chunk of the population just does no exercise. Bombarding them with weekly reports of how they’re committing slow suicide isn’t working, so guilt-tripping them about the burden on the NHS or air pollution won’t, either.
This government is too scared to be seen as nannying to do anything meaningful (anyone see the weird BBC article this week with Clare Perry refusing to back a UN report’s call to eat less meat in order to avoid a 1.5C temperature rise?).
When I’m king, there’ll be door-knockers with cattle prods shocking the fatties off their couches and confiscating car keys, and annual desecrations of Ernest Marples’s skeleton. Until then, central government really needs to invest in proper transport alternatives. But no: electrification in the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ is put on hold because the magic money fruit has all been used up on freezing fuel duty and HS2.
Shower of cunts.
vonhelmet wrote:Don’t underestimate how staggeringly lazy people are. I mean just unbelievably lazy.Take losing weight. You literally have to do less of what is causing the problem in most cases but people are too lazy/lack willpower to stick to anything.
Don’t underestimate how
Don’t underestimate how staggeringly lazy people are. I mean just unbelievably lazy.
How many cities have more
How many cities have more than 3 miles radius to the city centre, everybody within 3-4 miles should not have any excuse re distance, it’s simply nonsense, even 80 year olds can cycle that in 25 minutes. My 5 year old grandson cycled from school Friday before last to mine, it’s 2miles, despite the motor traffic holding us up it took about 20minutes.
Awavey
John Smith wrote:Because motorbikes can be wet, cold and dangerous. They are also impractical if you have to drop children off on the way, wear a suit or have stuff to carry. Cycling has its own issues making it impractical for many (distance primarily). As a cyclist and motorcyclist I can see why both are impractical for many people.The biggest thing keeping people in cars is the terrible state of public transport and the insistence on retaining the green belt, meaning most people have to drive part of the way and using a park and ride or other public transport for the rest of the journey is hugely impractical or costly. A personal example of this, my local train station is a little local line, with a train every 2 hours. If you time it right it’s ok. The car park is a crappy bit of tarmac that holds about 30 cars that has not been touched in 10 years. The train company now wants to charge £2 a day for parking. What will happen? People will start to drive in to Oxford.
but no-one is suggesting cycling/motorcycling is the solution to everyones transport needs, even if it was only 20%, thats still 20% less cars, they are spending 1.5billion pounds on “upgrading” the A14 and that wont deliver 20% increase in car capacity.
as for the cost of parking, £2 a day is that all, you cant even buy a cup of tea in most places (and certainly not on the train) for £2, my parents local station charges £10 a day and its still more than an hours train journey to London.
John Smith
Because motorbikes can be wet
Because motorbikes can be wet, cold and dangerous. They are also impractical if you have to drop children off on the way, wear a suit or have stuff to carry. Cycling has its own issues making it impractical for many (distance primarily). As a cyclist and motorcyclist I can see why both are impractical for many people.
The biggest thing keeping people in cars is the terrible state of public transport and the insistence on retaining the green belt, meaning most people have to drive part of the way and using a park and ride or other public transport for the rest of the journey is hugely impractical or costly. A personal example of this, my local train station is a little local line, with a train every 2 hours. If you time it right it’s ok. The car park is a crappy bit of tarmac that holds about 30 cars that has not been touched in 10 years. The train company now wants to charge £2 a day for parking. What will happen? People will start to drive in to Oxford.
If we want to encourage people to stop driving councils need to stop treating car parking as an income stream, like they are supposed to, but use it as one through creative accounting, public transport to be reliable and long term, housing located near employment.
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