Is the UK becoming more 'pro-cycling'?

passout

My place of work (an educational establishment) pays 40p per mile for work related travel by car (except commuting); nothing new there. Imagine my suprise when I learned that you get 20p per mile for travelling by bike. No petrol costs, parking, insurance, reasonable running costs - quids in. This will defiantely make me cycle to meetings etc in the local area. They are also in the process of setting up a cycle or ride to work scheme (nearly 50% off new bikes including sales bikes) and have put in showers for staff. At the same time you have to pay nearly £30 per month to park a car there. Again, all of this is definately pushing me to commuting by bike.

Is it me or is the world (or at least some employers) becoming increasingly pro-cycling?
I don't even buy the whole global warming thing (middle class guilt coupled with a scientific bandwagon - but lets not go there) but at least it's having some positive effects on the world of cycling.

What do you think - is society catching up with the fact that cycling is a good idea?

ash68

Think you may well be one of the lucky ones.Speaking for myself there is very little difference since i started commuting to work by bike over 20years ago. Facilities at work are poor at best.Although i do have dry storage for my bike, cycle clothing etc. working for a small firm and being the only cyclist I can't expect any more. Some mornings car drivers are very polite and patient,whilst the next day they overtake with traffic coming in the opposite direction and end up missing my right shoulder by millimeters.I think we still have a very long way to go to get good facilities and to educate drivers how to drive when approaching,overtaking and encountering cyclists on the road. Sadly our task is made difficult by cyclists riding on footpaths,jumping red lights and generally riding in a poor manner.These are the cyclists any car driver will comment on if we mention their own driving faults..If we want equal rights on the road we all have to obey the laws of the land, that includes not jumping red lights etc.

ash68

As a footnote why not read the postfrom "Angry Cyclist" entitled THIS COUNTRY IS FULL OF THUGS, i don't think society has changed much, do you?

Mark Alexander

well, if there has been a shift, I haven't seen it. I work for one of Britains biggest employers and they don't have a cycling plan.
They do have a bike rack in the building, if that counts lol

banana_man

You seem to have struck lucky, where there is not only an incentive to cycle (other than personal fitness etc), but decent facilities to help you. If more employers did this, i'm sure more people would cycle because word would spread like wild fire.

I don't even buy the whole global warming thing (middle class guilt coupled with a scientific bandwagon - but lets not go there) but at least it's having some positive effects on the world of cycling.

Not wanting to start a debate but (the possibility of) global warming isn't the only issue with cars; every time an old car blasts past and leaves a cloud of smoke for me to cough my way through, I wish more people cycled instead of driving.

Majikthise

mmmm I'm def one of the lucky ones, at our offices, hot showers and good xing rooms, we even used to get paid 400 sobs a year under a 'green' travel policy. Alas no longer, but the employer has stumped up cash fro a cycle lane. Pretty dam good really. One downer, the iron and ironing board wa taken awa for safety reasons :shock:

Fully agree with Ash68, to get everyone/whole world more pro-cycling our conduct should be exempliary - I too used to be a bit of a lycra lout - does you no good - but still have fun on yer ride....

John Stevenson

Go away and come back a decade later.

Even in bike-friendly Bath, there were nowhere near as many bikes when I left in 1995 as there are now (or were when I was back earlier this year anyway).

Lots more bike paths too (most of them rubbish, but at least the will is there even if the understanding and execution are abysmal).

General attitude of drivers seemed better too, though that's perhaps in contrast to Sydney where far too many cagers are still an arrogant, aggressive morons.

Then there's the tax break for buying a bike, and employers providing far more showers and bike parking spaces etc.

Things have definitely improved.

pneumatic

A lot can be achieved in the workplace by a bit of organising and some gentle negotiation. If people don't cycle, they don't really grasp what matters to a cyclist most (secure parking, showers, drying areas, access to premises before work starts etc..). If those same people are in positions of responsibility or are controllers of resources, they don't know what to provide and you are not a priority, anyway. They will not provide the right things spontaneously; they need to be asked.

At my last workplace, we who were parking our bikes down a lane under a corrugated iron overhang, started to talk to one another. Over a few years, we got keys to a shower room (normally locked before 9am), the removal of a lot of rusting bikes from our "shed", a mileage rate, and we encouraged a lot of others, by example, to take up riding to work.

Eventually, we all featured on the front cover of the corporate newsletter, in service of the organisation's claim to be taking green issues seriously. Suddenly, they needed help from weird folk like us as much as we had needed theirs.

Lobby, be opportunistic, and accept that it may take time.

mea00csf

I work on a business park on the edge of a town and as part of the planning permission there are less carpark spaces for each building than the building really requires, they buildings must have cyclist showers and cycle sheds. However, with it being on the edge of town i'm the only one in the whole business park i think who cycles and the car park is always full with loads of cars double parked making driving round the carpark a nightmare. No drying room or radiators tho. The push is def there with the plannersnow requiring green transport plans, the will for people to use it however is not.

One good thing tho is that the local bike shop to me has a scheme with the business park to give 15% off bikes and 10% off accesories after a bike has been bought to workers on the business park, i think i'm the only one whos used it, plus i get money off kit for the mountain bike now!

passout

pneumatic wrote:

A lot can be achieved in the workplace by a bit of organising and some gentle negotiation. If people don't cycle, they don't really grasp what matters to a cyclist most (secure parking, showers, drying areas, access to premises before work starts etc..). If those same people are in positions of responsibility or are controllers of resources, they don't know what to provide and you are not a priority, anyway. They will not provide the right things spontaneously; they need to be asked.

At my last workplace, we who were parking our bikes down a lane under a corrugated iron overhang, started to talk to one another. Over a few years, we got keys to a shower room (normally locked before 9am), the removal of a lot of rusting bikes from our "shed", a mileage rate, and we encouraged a lot of others, by example, to take up riding to work.

Eventually, we all featured on the front cover of the corporate newsletter, in service of the organisation's claim to be taking green issues seriously. Suddenly, they needed help from weird folk like us as much as we had needed theirs.

Lobby, be opportunistic, and accept that it may take time.

Good point. Many organisations claim to be green - this gives cyclists some leverage. Find the manager who brought in the green charter/policy & HR and tell them what you need - plant the seed & cooperate. This will probably work best in progressive companies, large companies in the public eye and the public sector. To be fair the government has put schemes in place (ride to work etc) although they are not been pushed.

passout

I guess I'm lucky. Some pull facors have been put in place but I reckon the push factors will have to increase for more employees at my place go by bike. By this I mean worse parking & congestion, fuel price increases etc. I guess only these will really change behaviour. You are right about the lack of respect for cyclists though.

daviddd

Nothing much has changed in the north of Scotland at least in the last few years- I usually see no-one when I'm out on the bike, even a long ride. The local 10's are however better-supported in proportion to the population, and with a large number of young riders, so maybe there's hope for the future - or will these kids 'retire' when they get their first car?

MadammeMarie

passout wrote:

What do you think - is society catching up with the fact that cycling is a good idea?

I work for an American bank - we know how the Americans are car obsessed - so I was quite surprised when they build showers for cyclists right next to the car parking lot. And we have 3 cycle bays! I'm not sure if this bank gives a damn about global warmng, but lots and lots of people cycle to work, specially after the 7/7 attacks, and it's a question of fitness and health as well. Healthy workforce is much better and more profitable than a sick one!

daviddd

MadammeMarie wrote:

passout wrote:

What do you think - is society catching up with the fact that cycling is a good idea?

I work for an American bank - we know how the Americans are car obsessed - so I was quite surprised when they build showers for cyclists right next to the car parking lot. And we have 3 cycle bays! I'm not sure if this bank gives a damn about global warmng, but lots and lots of people cycle to work, specially after the 7/7 attacks, and it's a question of fitness and health as well. Healthy workforce is much better and more profitable than a sick one!

nice to hear such a positive story Marie, and that the facilities are not just for show!

passout

Good - it's not just me. The more progressive organisations are slowly becoming more pro-cycling and more anti-car congestion.

Every journey starts with one step and all that..............

daviddd

My co. pays 20p/mile for using the bike on business instead of the car. Still not many takers though for various reasons.

mea00csf

I think i mentioned this before but i wouldn't necessarily put it down to the businesses

All new developments, ie business parks and any other new building has to have a transport plan, which will include the requirement for convenient public transport and cyclist facilities (covered bike storage and showers) as well as reduced car park spaces. It's the planners who are cracking down not businesses

Chris_Who

passout wrote:

I don't even buy the whole global warming thing (middle class guilt coupled with a scientific bandwagon - but lets not go there)

or that whole holocaust thing either? - but lets definitely not go there

Most people just don't like the idea of having to make any effort beyond walking, the perceived poor weather and like their cars too much. That said I've definitely noticed an increase in cycling over last 10 years, mainly in middle class semi-professional and younger people - we've a long time to go before chavs would be proud of cycling beyond the age of 17

daviddd

I don't see any increase in N of Scotland - are those increases just due to necessity e.g. congested / congestion tax paying London?

wildmoustache

daviddd wrote:

I don't see any increase in N of Scotland - are those increases just due to necessity e.g. congested / congestion tax paying London?

I've been riding in London for about 10 years. I've not seen any research on the reasonns more people cyle more in london, but I suspect teh congestion charge is actually only a very small factor. London bike commuters are overwhelmingly young (and overwhelmingly male), and from my own experience and what people tell me, the main reasons are: public transport is 5hit, ease/convenience of bike, health benefits, training for competitve sport, green, becoming cool, the lance factor.

One of the strongest reasons for more people cycling is simple that more people are cycling. It becomes more socially acceptable, and safer.

I don't think anything Ken has done has really made that much difference. Bus lanes perhaps have helped a bit. IF ken really wanted to encourage cycling he'd pump some big money into bike stations in the City, west end and Canary Wharf.