Blimey, a positive news story about cycling on the BBC

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Blimey, a positive news story about cycling on the BBC

29 posts & 17 voices | Started 9 months ago by GrahamS | Latest reply from MrSalmon

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GrahamS - Member

"Cycling generates nearly £3bn a year for the UK economy, a report by the London School of Economics has found...
...3.7 million cycles sold in 2010 - a rise of 28% on the number of cycles sold in 2009..
...More than a million people also started cycling last year, bringing the total number of cyclists to 13 million.

--- Cycling industry gives economy £3bn boost (BBC News, 22 Aug 2011)

Yay!

Thankfully they haven't opened it up to "Have Your Say" so you can read the story without 40 pages of braindead comments about how cyclists should respect the Highway Code like drivers do, pay road tax, and stop cycling on the road.

Posted 9 months ago #
Herman Shake - Member

Bloody cyclists

Posted 9 months ago #
warton - Member

13 million cyclists? that makes me very happy, and a quarter more bikes sold lat year than the year before, maybe people in this country are finally realising the benefits bikes can offer!

Posted 9 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

It's be interesting to see how they measured that million people who "started cycling last year".

Does that mean a million people bought a bike when they didn't have one before (and then potentially left it in a shed)? Or is it based on survey figures about actual bike use?

maybe people in this country are finally realising the benefits bikes can offer!

I think more likely is that any increase in commuting by bike can be at least partly attributed to a decent enough summer and sky high petrol prices forcing people onto bikes. But I can live with that.

Posted 9 months ago #
CaptainFlashheart - Member

Well, if That London is anything to go by, we're soon going to reach critical mass! Which is far better than involving Critical Mass.

Sooooo many people on bikes, both on the commute and at weekends. More and more people choosing to use a bike as transport, and a refreshing move away from all the lycra-clad loons on the Col du Blackfriars.

Bikes as transport for short journeys = Win.

Posted 9 months ago #
eyerideit - Member

Do they still run Cycles proficiency courses? You can't ride a scooter without a CBT and there needs to be some equivalent for new cyclists. There are too many ghost bikes in London as it is.

I'm not knocking the increase in cyclists, it's fantastic way to get around but if you're going to commute you need to learn how to ride in traffic.

Posted 9 months ago #
uplink - Member

You can't ride a scooter without a CBT and there needs to be some equivalent for new cyclists

Do you have a urge to control everything?

Posted 9 months ago #
eyerideit - Member

Do you have a urge to control everything?

Not everything, but if it stops someone becoming jam under a trucks wheel, is it not worth it?

Posted 9 months ago #
Junkyard - Member

yes what are you thinking of ?
Personally I have always viewed a driving licence as a HUGE infringement on my right to do whatever I damn well like [whether competent or not ]and damn the dangers to other road users.
And as to why those commie control freaks would not just let me hire the plane well it just boils my urine.

It is PC Gone mad I tell thee.

OP Sorry it was meant to be positive tread . It is good that more folk are cycling but I wonder if they are doing it off road [cycle paths not trail centres] rather than toad. Is it not possible that the increased sales is just an effect of n+1 and middle aged people using reduced mortgage payments to buy some toys.

Posted 9 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Do they still run Cycles proficiency courses? You can't ride a scooter without a CBT and there needs to be some equivalent for new cyclists.

Absolutely.

A proper test. Reg plates. And proper taxation for these lycra louts.

That should encourage cycling

Posted 9 months ago #
uplink - Member

but if it stops someone becoming jam under a trucks wheel, is it not worth it?

you could take that argument to the nth degree and no one would ever risk anything

Posted 9 months ago #
Junkyard - Member

yes you could if you were daft ...are you?

Posted 9 months ago #
uplink - Member

I know you are junkie, reading some of your other posts but if it helps you accepting that there's other valid opinions other than your own, I'll admit it for you

happy now?

Posted 9 months ago #
Stoner - Member

def not N+1 if you look in London. tens of thousands of additional cyclists out there now.

How about we licence conceptions, DAB radios, dogs, GPS, methanol, etc etc?

You anti-libertarian leftie JY!

Posted 9 months ago #
drain - Member

Clearly I need to take a few more days off sick, as a 'regular' cyclist takes 7.4 days off each year. Perhaps they should have included the phrase 'on average' in there...

Posted 9 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

The "Cycling License" argument is like the old "helmet compulsion" debate - it might lead to less cycling injury/deaths on the roads, BUT it would introduce an additional cost and barrier to new cyclists.

If that barrier results in a significant drop in the number of people cycling, then in all likelihood the overall health benefit would favour more cycling not fewer accidents.

Not to mention the expense involved in setting and administering the cycling equivalent of the DVLA, and then policing the licenses etc.

Posted 9 months ago #
CaptainFlashheart - Member

How about we licence conceptions, DAB radios, dogs, GPS, methanol, etc etc?

How will promiscuous high tech tramps cope?

Posted 9 months ago #
Stoner - Member

promiscuous high tech tramps cope

bivvyists?

Posted 9 months ago #
iDave - Member

An impartial study funded by British Cycling and Sky.....

Posted 9 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

An impartial study funded by British Cycling and Sky.....

...so?

The study was commissioned by British Cycling and Sky (who are currently in bed together with skyride etc) but it was apparently conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Posted 9 months ago #
MrOvershoot - Member

drain - Member

Clearly I need to take a few more days off sick, as a 'regular' cyclist takes 7.4 days off each year. Perhaps they should have included the phrase 'on average' in there...

Was thinking the same myself!

Apart from Hernia surgery I have had 4 days off sick in 25 years of full time employment so that works out at 0.16 day a year!

Posted 9 months ago #
kimbers - Member

i was the same, hardly ever takena sick day in 10 years- until some kid on a scooter took me out while i was cycling home in March

9 weeks off work till my bust heel and ankle was good enough to walk on!

Posted 9 months ago #
ricky103 - Member

I think the most obvious argument somewhat rubbishing this study, other than biased funding, is the revenue lost from people NOT driving and switching to bikes instead. Petrol, cars, MOT's, tax, speeding fines, Insurance companies, car hire and the millions employed in car related jobs far outweigh the relatively meager £3 billion 'gained'. Do we really have to lie to people about the benefits of bikes? There are so many valid reasons to use them.

Posted 9 months ago #
binners - Member

They've just done a feature on north west tonight! It failed to give a figure of what percentage of the £3 billion was represented by Hora's eternal quest to find the right frame

Posted 9 months ago #
binners - Member

Oops! Double post

Posted 9 months ago #
Bunnyhop - Member

Lol @ binners.

Ah yes, the lovely Gordon Burns put in his tupenny worth on the Northwest lunch time news, by saying, I hate the red light jumpers. It really put a damper on the good cycling news that he'd read out 2 minutes earlier.

Posted 9 months ago #
Edric 64 - Member

How many of the bikes are BSOs that will get used once and left to rot in the shed until recycled?

Posted 9 months ago #
kimbers - Member

ricky103 - Member
I think the most obvious argument somewhat rubbishing this study, other than biased funding, is the revenue lost from people NOT driving and switching to bikes instead. Petrol, cars, MOT's, tax, speeding fines, Insurance companies, car hire and the millions employed in car related jobs far outweigh the relatively meager £3 billion 'gained'

londons public transport and roads are so chocka that its not really an option if everyone who cycled decided to take the tube to work tomorrow the network would grind to a halt

and edric while there may be some crappy bikes out there once people realise how much cheaper/quicker/nicer it is to cycle in london they tend to stick with it!

Posted 9 months ago #
MrSalmon - Member

I think the most obvious argument somewhat rubbishing this study, other than biased funding, is the revenue lost from people NOT driving and switching to bikes instead. Petrol, cars, MOT's, tax, speeding fines, Insurance companies, car hire and the millions employed in car related jobs far outweigh the relatively meager £3 billion 'gained'. Do we really have to lie to people about the benefits of bikes? There are so many valid reasons to use them.

I doubt many people have actually got rid of their cars, so MOTs, insurance and tax are probably pretty much the same, as are the millions (really? 1 in 60-odd people?) employed in car related jobs. Don't see why you'd expect it to affect people hiring cars either.

Petrol maybe, but if it's enough to be significant then there'd be a correspondingly lower cost in congestion and accidents to offset it a bit.

Dunno where speeding fines go.

Posted 9 months ago #

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