Cycle to work and save

June 18, 2007

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Four million people are driving three miles to work

MORE than four million people are using their cars to drive less than three miles to work, figures revealed today.

Yet a three-mile commute by bicycle would take an average person 20 minutes, according to the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC).

The 70,000-strong CTC said the amount of CO2 emissions a couple would save over a year would equate to the weight of a small car.

CTC director Kevin Mayne said: "There are more than 20 million unused bicycles in the UK, but millions of people still choose to drive short distances to work."

"If more people left their car in the garage and grabbed a bike from the shed, we'd be well on our way to tackling climate change."

More than three million cinemagoers will this summer watch a Government-funded film highlighting cycling as an easy way to help tackle climate change.

The 60-second film, called CycleHero, tells the story of a "cycling pied piper" who gathers cyclists as she makes her way from a polluted and gridlocked city into the countryside.

The film will be shown in cinemas from June 30 and can be viewed at cyclehero.com .

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vickh, moss side (18/06/2007 at 09:37)

i have kept a log of my daily cycle commuting costs for the last 15 years!(anorack-i know!)from north to south manchester. I have covered 75,000 miles, costing ï¿½368 in tyres/inner tubes/spares. Saving daily parking, petrol, wear and tear and depreciation on my car. Also at age nearly 50 I am very fit and slim without needing gym membership.

nickyb, Altrincham (18/06/2007 at 10:18)

I used to cycle to work. Luckily there was a shower on site I could use. No such luxury at my current job so I prefer not to cycle. There is also the small matter that I was cut up and nearly totalled three times in one day with one woman driving off, one woman telling me she saw me - then why did you nearly kill me? (My braking so hard I nearly went over the handlebars was the only reason we didn't collide.) The third person justified his driving across my path into a petrol station, missing me by inches, by telling me he pays road tax. Well I have done so for over 10 years but I never realised it was a licence to kill! If the roads were safer and I didn't face the prospect of stinking out the office all day with my sweaty body I would cycle. Fact of the matter is we don't have the space in this country to provide dedicated cycle lanes. I suspect that even if we did vehicle owners would continue to park in and use them anyway. Sad, but true.

chris (18/06/2007 at 11:23)

The more people get on bikes the more drivers will notice us and the safer it will be.
Drivers really have to remember that we are vulnerable and they should be grateful we are on bikes, the alternative is we drive and congestion gets even worse.

Calamity (18/06/2007 at 13:05)

I used to cycle everywhere, and had a child seat on the back of my bike. Nowadays, I would never cycle on a road because of the aggressive attitudes of drivers, which has got a lot worse in the past few years. Stagecoach bus drivers seem to target cyclists along the Oxford road route. Indeed, a few years back, when I used public transport, I even hear a driver remark "missed him" as he veered dangeroulsy close to a cyclist.
There is also the valid point of having to sit at work stinking of sweat all day. I now travel everywhere by car. I know it is not environmentally friendly, but after years of cycling in all weathers, and then years using the abysmal public transport system, I reckon I have earned the right to drive everywhere now.

vickh, moss side (18/06/2007 at 14:30)

i have to concede that like public transport development, real world cycling facilities for commuters have seen spin over substance, resulting in few real improvements over my 15 year cycling experience. During this time much of the media has spun a negative view of cyclists which many drivers have swallowed. More cylists that I know are giving up and returning to their cars than at any time i can remember. This is also true of public transport. I suppose this is why congestion charging is inevitable. Sad but true.

sam mack, monsall (18/06/2007 at 14:43)

If government - local or otherwise - is serious about combatting climate change. Cycling really needs to be pushed in a big way. I notice at the bottom of Oldham Rd, where it is being redeveloped, that a fabulous opportunity has been missed favouring motor vehicles over cycles. Perhaps the congestion charge will make it safer to cycle on that particular road when it's introduced.

I'm fed up of hearing politicians use things like cycling as part of their pseudo green manifestos. Let's see some practical improvements around the city. Put your money were your mouths are MCC and Westminster

Andy, Wythenshawe (18/06/2007 at 14:53)

" i have to concede that like public transport development, real world cycling facilities for commuters have seen spin over substance "

Correct, Manchester council are installing bike lanes just to fill european targets , even though the majority of lanes are unusable or even damn right dangerous ... the lane through Rusholme is a prime example how not to do it.

Segregated bikeways are the only solution, plus a 'serious' attitude towards promotion of cycling, including enforcing all employers to provide facilities and incentives.

vickh, moss side (18/06/2007 at 15:28)

i am not a great fan of segregated cycleways, they tend to be either glass strewn pucture traps or indirect lonely mugging traps. There is ,however, no doubt that Manchester is lagging seriously behind progressive cycling cities such as Newcastle/Sunderland and Darlington which has seen a huge increase in cycling.

David, Manchester (18/06/2007 at 16:24)

Bike lanes should be mandatory on all major roads so that bikers don't need to use footpaths to stay alive. The Highways Agency only listen to the car lobby, people like the AA, RAC and should listen to all taxpayers. I think putting bike lanes in the road is the best because they get swept clean at the same time as the road. Bike lanes need to be continuous and wider, its no good if they start and stop. They should not be in bus lanes. The paint used could be rumple strip so that drivers hear if they stray into a bike lane. A lot of car drivers look down on bikers like some kind of freaks who can't afford a car, so most have given up and join the queues in their cars, making congestion and helping the oil to run out faster.

Spinneyhead, Withington (19/06/2007 at 13:08)

I wouldn't consider getting to work by any other means than cycling or public transport. Anyone dumb enough to use the car regularly to go such short distances deserves all the congestion charging they get.

jimquk, longsight manchester (19/06/2007 at 22:45)

I must say I have had few problems with motorists, I try to show respect to other road users and usually it's appreciated; my biggest problem has been having two bikes nicked in the last year.

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