Best way to travel 5 miles to a train station?

Excellent, I can get away with not paying tax. Top stuff, where do I
sign? That wedge I will no longer be paying Gordon Brown every month
will come in handy for that Colnago I've got my eye on ...

Oh, just for completeness, what have I opted out of?

 

Ah, long since accepted you'll never measure up to a Proper Bloke, then.

You have my sympathies.

 

Get a fold up bike and put it in a cab. Half way to your destination, get
the bike out and cycle the rest of the way. If you're feeling lazy go the
whole way in the cab and then use the bike to do a runner at the other end.

 

The comparison is between doing 25 minutes gentle exercise in two
different forms. What's stupid about that?

The fact that for the same level of effort as walking you can cover
about four times the distance on a bike is one of the benefits of
cycling - it means you can combine your exercise requirements with your
getting-from-A-to-B requirements. Yes, you can combine the two by
walking or jogging, but how long it takes and how much exercise it
involves depends on how far apart A and B are.

Cyclists may well be tree-hugging sandal-wearing loonies but you don't
need to be a lycra-clad nutter to see that in the case under discussion
a bike of some sort (ie including motorbikes) is the most viable form of
transport.

d.

 

Your inferiority complex is much much worse than I expected.

Tony

 

Traffic jams, I think.

Oh, if you find what form we should fill to stop paying taxes, would you
please let me know? I tried phoning the IRS but they were astonishingly
unhelpful.

Eugenio

 

Reply to Tony Raven

If somebody says "inferiority complex" and he immediately thinks of
"dick size", he *has* got a problem! :-D

 

It's not as good as the foolproof scheme involving five magic beans.

 

Jump on the back of a Womble and tell him someone dropped a crisp packet
in Tilehurst.

d.

 

Tony Raven wrote

There is no argument that getting at least some people out of their
cages and onto buses or two wheeled transport is a Good Thing but some
poor bastard has to pay for it. The people powered lobby conveniently
seem to forget this and as yet have failed to be seen to be asking to
pay some form of road duty to have all those nice white van free zones
painted on the roads.

You would get a lot of support from the likes of me if you did but as it
is you are still a bunch of freeloaders.

 

*so* much safer than a moped or bicycle.

 

Whinging Courier () gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying :

Not *strictly* legal?

Not even vaguely legal.

 

As a resident of a street about 1 mile from the station, rest assured this
is viewed in a very dim light.

Either move nearer the station, change jobs or bloody well PAY FOR THE
PARKING.

 

I'd certainly agree with your first sentence. As for the second one,
almost all cyclists are insured for public liability under their home
policies. You don't need any more insurance for cycling on the road
unless you chose to insure your bike against theft, damage etc.

I'd love to hear the logic behind that bit of nonsense. Of course
taxing us to extinction would mean we'd get in our cars instead and make
the traffic congestion even worse for you.

Tony

 

steve auvache wrote:

Suggest you find out if you don't know. Obviously you have no idea what
you're talking about...

Eh?

Many cyclists pay VED, and all the other taxes too. By cycling
sometimes, in fact, they don't cause as much wear to the road as other
vehicles do.

Many cyclists ARE insured, too. Suggest you check your facts, rather
than just injecting yet more flaimbait, troll.

Whereas yours is based on - what, exactly? So far, it seems mere
supposition and incorrect assumption.

 

David Martin wrote

Who gives a toss about damage to the roads? That is to do with kin huge
French lorries. A different subject altogether.

You want the infrastructure changed to separate 2 wheeled transport from
4 or more? That will cost money. Rebuilding junctions and traffic
signalling systems to take into account new traffic patterns will cost
money. Compulsory safety training, licensing, enforcement, all of that
shite costs money.

Why should the powered travelling community be expected to pay out for
benefits that don't include them? Especially when you lot boast about
how much more you earn. It doesn't do your argument any good you know.

I don't carry pillions, the bitch can get her own ride.

 

It's an old canard that is still untrue.

That is not true. I am insured when I cycle, as a re a significant
proportion of regular cyclists. Many others will also be covered for third
party claims through household insurance policies. Pedestrians typically
aren't insured for walking. Should they be banned from the roads?

Where does the damage to roads come from?

It's proportional to the fourth power of axle weight. So even if your
motorbike is only twice the weight of my pushbike (both with rider on
board), that is still sixteen times the damage. Now add on the costs of
scraping idiot motorcyclists off bits of the scenery that they have spread
themselves over and the secondary costs become larger still.


Where does the money of maintaining the roads come from?

Oh, it is out of general taxation. My local council pay for most of the
roads I ride on. I pay council tax. Does that make me a freeloader? Does the
income tax I pay qualify me as a freeloader, or maybe it is the VED or fuel
tax I pay. It could even be the VAT on the bike parts I bought last weekend
that make me a freeloader.

If you'd like to point out where I avoid paying tax then I'd like to hear
it. As far as I can tell I pay all taxes I am supposed to.

OK, take the pillion passenger on your motorcycle if you carry passengers.

In as much as the tax rates in the UK are broadly equivalent, then the
experience in one locality of having to pay tax is transferable to another.

...d

 

Ambrose Nankivell wrote

If you want the state or it's agents to provide you with facilities to
enable you to use both your car and your bicycle then don't expect them
to provide one of them for free.

 

Ben wrote

A sort of BABs and Power Rangers thing then?

 

Andrewr At Work () gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying :

Round here, there *is* usually parking available at the station - for
something ludicrously cheap like £2/day - but that doesn't stop people from
parking on the surrounding roads (including double parking on junctions and
half-blocking drives).

We're likely to get parking restrictions and resident permits (which we'll
have to pay for) as a result.

See why residents get pissed off?