Thin Pickings For Cycling In UK Autumn Budget Announcement

I had high hopes for yesterday’s Budget announcement. Today, I’m feeling deflated and defeated – was I just too optimistic? The Budget announcement ha …

By stwhannah

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Thin Pickings For Cycling In UK Autumn Budget Announcement

fuel duty freeze remains in place, effectively subsidising private transport

indeed. Fuel is still clearly too cheap given the number of folks just sat with their engines idling while parked up and the relatively mind-blowing cost of intercity rail travel.

train prices up, bus prices up, VED prices up, so the fixed costs of having a car have increased but the costs of using it has gone down. So what are people going to choose?

In relative terms fuel is definitely too cheap compared to the cost of other travel options.

Last tankful in my car – MINI Cooper SD, 49.5mpg, £1.339/L – worked out at 12.3p/mile. 16 years ago I had a car of similar size/performance which did 45mpg – fuel was around £1.209 in mid-2008, also works out at 12.3p/mile.

BoE’s inflation calculator suggests fuel at £1.209/L in 2008 should now cost £1.91/L…

Would question whether the sum of money being given for sport is actually good value for money.   I think there could be a better return on investment by prioritising a healthy lifestyle that includes getting people on bikes as well as walking even if it means holding their hand along the way.

It’s all a bit disappointing given the talk after the election about ‘unprecedented’ active travel funding, especially when there’s a roundabout that’s costing £19m less on its own than then entire English AT budget

I did hear something about them changing the Treasury accounting rules so that business cases aren’t just looked at in the departmental silo that’s paying for it, and hopefully AT will win big there.

I did hear something about them changing the Treasury accounting rules so that business cases aren’t just looked at in the departmental silo that’s paying for it, and hopefully AT will win big there.

But that requires the departments to talk to each other.

As someone hosting a round table discussion on Tuesday with such people from three departments and a minister, I can say that’s chuffing hard to achieve in a meaningful way. Old silo thinking still prevails unless you can reward handsomely for ‘thinking outside the box’…

Of course drivers already pay high taxes. In many places the alternatives are not good. I have free bus travel in Scotland. Haven’t used one in a year or so. Going to work is 20m by car. By bus it’s between an hour and 20 to an hour 50 or not possible as there are no buses at 1am

It’s bikeable in 45-50m but no lockers or showers.

fuel duty freeze remains in place, effectively subsidising private transport

Isn’t that effectively what the cycle to work scheme does?

#puts on flame suit and runs for the door…

To be quite honest what did you expect? You might live in a nice area and be able to bike to the shops etc but where I live in South Manchester the cycle provision stops at Didsbury and Chorlton and does nothing where I live other than messing up the local park building half arsed bike tracks.

There are bike lanes in other places but they are disjointed and some like the loop line through Fallowfield are not the safest place to ride on your own.

The hire bike scheme also ends short of where I live which is a shame as I would use one of these to go shopping rather than leaving my bike out.

What cycling need is much better mapping, and signage so that you can link the bits of cycle provision together, better planning of cycle provision so that its safer to use and you dont get threatened by scrotes when using it.

I continue to cycle where ever I can but can’t imagine I would be keen to get out of a car if I had not been cycling for most of my life.

People who I encouraged to use a bike for work have said it’s one of the best things they have done but it takes a leap of faith to get out of a car and cycle to work.

I dont pin much hope on Andy Burnham as he didnt follow through with the clear air zone and everyday there are huge lines of cars pumping out polution and claiming that there is a really good reason why they dont use public transport or cycle.

You choose where you live choose wisely.