Just checked my non-car options for the school run and looking at 5 hours per day to walk or 2.5 hours on public transport. Not gonna consider biking because I don’t want to die (used to cycle commute and had two bad accidents).
Why does it matter? I cycle 16 miles a day through the country. I’m a 58 year old, slightly overweight old fart, by the way. Get an electric bike and it’s even easier. It’s just stupid spending all that money on a car to do that sort of distance.
That’s great. I totally agree that more of us (myself included) could cycle instead of drive a lot more. I think we need serious national investment in making cycle only routes between towns and villages. I think we could use existing bridleways, old unused railways, and similar. Then cycling would be so much safer and probably more direct. But that’s beside the point.
I was only trying to point out that it’s a lot quicker to drive 15-20 miles on country roads than it is to cycle. Even during rush hour. My commute is 16 miles. It takes me a consistent 30 minutes both ways. I can do it in 25 without speeding when the roads are empty like at 03:00. Google tells me that to cycle the same route it would take 1hr 27min. That would make my timings impossible both in the morning and evening. If I had to do the school run (I sometimes do) then I wouldn’t start my day until 10:30. And on the other end of the day I would have similar issues.
Personally I need a vehicle for work anyway because of the things I need to transport. I also think it would feel prohibitive to rent a car to visit friends and family across the country. It may be cheaper overall, but it would undoubtedly be a barrier to have to spend £200 or so every time. There is no realistic public transport option. I have looked.
All of that said. I am not in any way anti-cycling. I genuinely applaud you for deciding to cycle instead of drive. As I said before, more of us most certainly should do the same a lot more often, including me.
You can always find cases where cycling isn’t suitable. The point was that the person in the original article could easily cycle, save loads of money, keep fit, and probably only have to leave about 10 minutes earlier. There will be millions of people in the UK in the same position but it’s like a massive blind spot in the national psyche.
Presumably because she doesn’t have four hours to spare
Just checked my non-car options for the school run and looking at 5 hours per day to walk or 2.5 hours on public transport. Not gonna consider biking because I don’t want to die (used to cycle commute and had two bad accidents).
Situational awareness always was a problem for you.
Come on don’t blame the victim, if you bike or walk you know lots of drivers don’t pay attention and some would rather roll on you than wait 3s.
“I normally do about 15 to 20 miles a day”. You don’t need a car to do that. A bicycle will be just as fast if there is rush hour traffic.
If you live in a city.
Why does it matter? I cycle 16 miles a day through the country. I’m a 58 year old, slightly overweight old fart, by the way. Get an electric bike and it’s even easier. It’s just stupid spending all that money on a car to do that sort of distance.
That’s great. I totally agree that more of us (myself included) could cycle instead of drive a lot more. I think we need serious national investment in making cycle only routes between towns and villages. I think we could use existing bridleways, old unused railways, and similar. Then cycling would be so much safer and probably more direct. But that’s beside the point.
I was only trying to point out that it’s a lot quicker to drive 15-20 miles on country roads than it is to cycle. Even during rush hour. My commute is 16 miles. It takes me a consistent 30 minutes both ways. I can do it in 25 without speeding when the roads are empty like at 03:00. Google tells me that to cycle the same route it would take 1hr 27min. That would make my timings impossible both in the morning and evening. If I had to do the school run (I sometimes do) then I wouldn’t start my day until 10:30. And on the other end of the day I would have similar issues.
Personally I need a vehicle for work anyway because of the things I need to transport. I also think it would feel prohibitive to rent a car to visit friends and family across the country. It may be cheaper overall, but it would undoubtedly be a barrier to have to spend £200 or so every time. There is no realistic public transport option. I have looked.
All of that said. I am not in any way anti-cycling. I genuinely applaud you for deciding to cycle instead of drive. As I said before, more of us most certainly should do the same a lot more often, including me.
You can always find cases where cycling isn’t suitable. The point was that the person in the original article could easily cycle, save loads of money, keep fit, and probably only have to leave about 10 minutes earlier. There will be millions of people in the UK in the same position but it’s like a massive blind spot in the national psyche.