Best way to travel 5 miles to a train station?

Surely we can all agree that people who advocate bicycles as a

Mr Armstrong is serious about it. I don't think he qualifies as a
scrounger - plus he gets to shag Sheryl Crowe. Bastard.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

 

Because everyone keeps on about how dangerous it is to ride on the road,
so dangerous in fact that they ought to wear polystyrene HGV deflectors
on their heads.

Again I'm with you. I ride on the road. I mostly don't have trouble
with motorists thinking I should be out of their way on the pavement but
that's mainly because they are all parked line astern in their traffic
jams as I cycle past.

Tony

 

Anecdotal evidence. Walk down any road, even London roads, and you'll see
over 300 cars driving past for every bike.

 

In many cases, yes. But how do you get back from Wimbledon to Reading at
2AM?

 

Mine just paid me to ride to Glasgow.. It was cheaper than the return train
fare so was perfectly acceptable to put in 90 miles at 20p/mile.

Nearly paid for the extra cake and tea at the Falkirk wheel as well..

...d

 

Ah, so you made it up. Thought so.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

 

Just zis Guy, you know? wrote

I am intrigued. Is there a difference between those who ride push bikes
and cyclists? In the same way that there is a difference between
motorcyclists and bikers.

Nope. I can deal with a "cyclist" with a single well placed boot. Cages
take a bit of effort.

 

Especially in London it's the same car 300 times still looking for a place
to park..

Take my place of work. Most of the senior management (in a department of
over 600 employees) either walk or cycle. Those that don't typically live
too far away for convenient cycling[1].

...d

[1] that which would typically require a change of clothes etc.

 

Tony Raven wrote

If we are talking about relative dick sizes, never.

 

Ah, that's OK then. I thought you meant cyclists. No doubt you reserve
equal contempt for scum in cars.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

 

Even those who own bikes that are worth more than their car and nearly
about half as much as their motorbike?

 

Doubt it. Cycles represent 1% of all journey miles and given their
lower average speed, would represent about 1 in 30 vehicles passing
(Source: DfT Transport Statistics Bulleting 2003)

Percent of journeys to work by bike:

Cambridge - 28%
Oxford - 16%
York - 13%
Hull - 12%
Norwich 9%
Peterborough 8%

Next?

Tony

 

How long have you had this inferiority complex?

Tony

 

Where did I say that?

In my expeirence spotting bikes on the road is very rare in Exeter and
Warrington, and somewhat more frequent in London (well, most are on the
pavement, but we'll include them too). Around here in West
London, you typically see 3 or 4 bikes on the main roads (Shepherds Bush
Green) in a few minutes. You see about 150 cars in that time. However once
you go onto Sinclair Road (a residential road), there are hardly any bikes along the entire
stretch.

The issue isn't how many bikes there are, but how often they are on the
road.

 

80% of helmet statistics are made up, according to reliable sources. Do
you think these stats are any different? Go to your local road (say the A4
past the Kensington Tesco) and count the number of bikes riding past compared
with number of cars.

 

David Martin wrote

Yeah right. Gonna ignore me are you?

Oh no, apparently not....

I dunno about paying VED and stuff. Figures suggest that in excess of
10% of car drivers do so uninsured. Certainly 100% of cyclists do.

You are a bunch of freeloaders as far as travelling the Queens highway
is concerned and the sooner you are taxed to extinction the better imho.

I would have thought that bandying this kind of bullshit suggests a
group who are more interested in acquisition and status seeking.

I don't own a car. Nor do I want one.

So it seems safe to assume that your experience and so called knowledge
are based on a very localised world view.

 

*Yawn*

So the fact that 90% of adult cyclists own a car (and presumably pay VED),
adult cyclists are more likely to have a job than non cyclists, and to have
a higher income has nothing to do with your reality?

Or do you consider the passengers in your car to be 'tax avoiding scum'
because they are not paying VED or fuel duty?

FWIW I do a bit more than half the mileage per year on the bike than I do in
the car, and that is only because of the one long trip by car each summer.
Otherwise it would be more or less the same.

...d

 

Good for you, but some people do, regularly. 30 miles in a cab aint cheap,
and 30 miles on a bike aint fast.

 

Why not pick a road that cyclists prefer to use rather than the A4? or do
you just want to bias the figures?

Your maths is also faulty. 2/3 bikes per 150 cars is 1 in 50, not 1 in 300.

...d

 

The number of bikes vs cars at a single point on a single road is NOT
representative of the ratio of cars/bikes over many roads.

Picking any single survey point will skew the results one way or the
other, which is why surveys measure at multiple locations, to get as
accurate a figure across as broad a range of roads/locations as possible.

Your figures from a single location are valid for that location only,
and cannot be used to extrapolate information about any other location
with any hope of accuracy whatsoever.