chewa

I read an article in one of the Sundays this weekend which charted the drop in bike sales in UK but the startling figure was the average distance a person in UK cycles per year.

About 40 years ago it was over 50 miles(which is still not much.. but is an average of cycling and non cycling persons) but now its down to between 20 - 30 miles (about one of my commutes).

Looking at British films of the 50's you see kids going to school on bikes, men going to work on them, but now, nada.

It means most bikes are bought, ridden once or twice and then stuck in a garage.

How can this trend be reversed? Do we really have to have a complete energy shortage or gridlock before folk see sense.

I'm doing my bit to distort the bell curve

Richard D

I'm trying too, hey my 1150 + miles so far must help a little bit

I also try and persuade my colleagues and friends to cycle (no converts as yet but a couple of existing summer cyclists have tried the odd winter commute).

What I'm thinking off is those poor unloved bikes in garages all over the UK - I could care for them

Richard

JonR

Great thread.

A good friend of mine (for almost 30 years!) who has a now-unused Bridgestone MTB, three motorcycles, and two cars (not counting his teen-age daughter's car), says he would love to see the price of gasoline go up to $10 a gallon. (How he manages to live with the guilt he feels about driving, I'll never understand.)

I really think that's what it's going to take--making driving prohibitively expensive--before cycling, walking, and public transportation really "take off," if they ever do.

aturley

Wow, interesting stats. I have a feeling most of the people here do at least 20-30 miles a month (probably a week). I probably has to do with a few things, all of which have been mentioned here before. People see bikes as toys, not something you actually use for transportation. If you did decide to try to use it for transportation, people would tell you how dangerous it is to ride a bike in the street. And if you overcome the fear and actually ride somewhere, you realize that there is nowhere to put the bike.

Yeah, the fuel crisis is probably the only thing that will change most people's minds. So I guess we'll just have to wait a few more years.

andy

MichaelW

I live 2 1/2 mils from work, and from the shops, so I probably bike around 10miles/day just pootling around town. That adds up to 3500, before I do any weekend riding.

If 1% of the population ride regularly, how far do they have to ride to give 30mile average ?
With a pop of 60mil, and a total milleage of 900mil.
The 600,000 regular riders each ride 1,500miles, or 4 miles/day.

LittleBigMan

To road planners, these figures might support their widely-held notion that, "bicycling will never have a significant impact on the transportation problems of our day" (paraphrased.) Or, in my own words, "bikes will never rival cars, not if we can help it."

If bikes were not superior to cars in almost every way, I would not be riding one instead of driving my car. It's also interesting to note that, while most people (even a few cyclists) shy away from bike commuting because they fear motor traffic, almost everyone admits they want the benefits it provides: extra cash flow, great physique, elevated mood and attitude, lowered blood pressure, decreased risk of heart attack and stroke, higher energy levels and fitness, shedding those stubborn extra pounds, etc.

If I could see one glaring thing wrong today (among lots of things!) I would definitely point out that driving is one of the most wasteful, dirty, destructive, unhealthy ways to move people around. Today, everyone admits smoking is bad for you and it has become socially unacceptable. Why are car engines any better than "lighting up?"

psycholist

the plus side to this is that you can snatch up a new or next to new ride for a fraction of the shop price if you watch the paper closely. So many folks just get new cycles on a whim and then never get the fever. I got my first bike, a Trek 930 for 300$ from a chick who had lucked into some insurance money, bought it new from a dealer and then left it leaning against the garage wall after one ride. It was pristine! When I first heard she had one for sale and asked her a few questions SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW MANY GEARS IT HAD.
Personally I think a big factor in the relatively small # of cyclists in many areas (especially in less urban areas where you just don't see many riders anyway) is that there is still a stigma of sorts on it . I think when Joe Motorist sees someone in tights , day-glo shoesies and a multi-vented brain bucket there is a chance that he is quietly thinking he should get motivated and empowered and get his own butt going like that. I usually expect my Joe to flick his cig at me as he narrowly misses my left bar end and maybe if I'm lucky there won't be any comments regarding my *** this time.
It just isn't currently seen as the "cool" thing to do by a large percent of the population, but that can be changed.

roadbuzz

I'm disappointed that I don't see kids on bikes the way I used to. In my youth ('60s), I lived on my bike. Rode it to school, rode it to friends houses, quicky-mart, everywhere. Me and all my friends. These were heavy, often single-speed, cruisers, or Sting-Rays. (Never a thought about gears, frame weight, or bike fit for that matter. Youth is wonderful)

I expect that with all the traffic, and the fact that we don't feel safe "out there" (safe in the general sense, from wierdos, wackos, unibombers, multibombers, whatever), that parents will be willing to give their kids the latitude to "live on their bikes" in this day and age.

AndrewP

50 years ago people would find a good job and stick there till they retired. They could then consider getting a home near where they work. Now people are fired when the project ends or there is a downturn in the economy, and have to find a job somewhere else. Getting a home close to where you work is not as important as getting one in a 'nice' neighborhood.

Improved public transportation is the key to getting people out of their cars, and I think frequency of service is more important than ticket price. The ability to carry bikes on busses would also make a big improvement to public transport, since the less energetic could make a large part of their commute on the bus without wasting time waiting for connections to the second or third segment of their commute.

Reduced parking on city streets and higher gas prices would also help.

mike

Kid's don't go anywhere on their own these days. People are so insanely and effectively frightened by all the media hype that they don't let their kids walk or bike even a few blocks from home.

My neighbor kids get rides to school only THREE BLOCKS AWAY. And they are teen-age boys for crying out loud.

The problem is thus compounded. Kids don't ride bikes because of fear and parents drive more carting their kids around.

It is absolutely mad. I haven't seen this degree of car insanity in any other country, but I wonder...

Bigtime

Here Here Roadbuzz. I grew up in the 70's/80's and the bike was THE form of transportation back then. I had a heavy single speed from a Dept. store called the Treasury, not sure of the model or anything but that was a great bike. I remember getting my pant leg caught in the chain and having my mom cut my pants off in the driveway. Ahh, good times I must have put thousands of miles on that bike. And before that I had the banana seat/sissy bar combo with the big swoop handlebars. That thing probably weighed about 50 pounds but we didn't care, if you wanted to go faster you pedaled harder, none of this gear stuff. I would have KILLED for a bike stand back then, but I digress....I still see kids on bikes but it ain't what it used to be. Too bad
-BT

psycholist

people worried about their kid's safety out on the street?! I am 32 and I don't even dare TELL some members of my family about my cycling habits as they would probably want to chain me to a chair and save them the worry!!
I honestly believe that we as a society are watching (and believing) WAY too much daytime television and primetime news covers. Yes, this bad stuff happens all the time, but I still firmly feel that your average Joe is a decent person.
I also think that a kid is better off riding around the block with his buds, getting dirty and running off some energy than sitting on his chubbies in front of an X Box while he develops adult-onset diabetes from lack of exercise.

Richard D

Don't worry we're not far behind you

Richard