http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Yes!!!!!!!!!!! there is hope en Thu, 21 May 2026 18:20:44 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67850 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:31:50 +0000 crowriver 67850@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Car use has gone down across the capital, <strong>with the exception of the outskirts</strong>.</em></p> <p>For 'outskirts' I read 'most of the rest of the UK' ie. anywhere that does not have a congestion charge. I'd be surprised if this was not the case. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67834 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:14:38 +0000 alibali 67834@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>More than just hope, there is evidence...</p> <p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2012/apr/30/lond-road-use-data">London car use down, cycling up, mapped.</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67696 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:00:32 +0000 crowriver 67696@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>They work part-time and since they live at home will spend all their earnings, perhaps along with EMA, to pay the £2000+ insurance and other running costs.</em></p> <p>A lot of FE and HE students do the same thing. I always used to assume that many students no longer went to another city to study any more because of the ending of grants. Probably for a significant number it's actually so that they can put their part-time earnings into running a car.</p> <p>Bicycles make so much more sense in so many ways... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67662 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 19:00:09 +0000 ExcitableBoy 67662@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm not sure you'll need to vote for me, the older I get the less convinced I become of the merits of democracy.</p> <p>I'm planning World power by some other means. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67648 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:12:16 +0000 Uberuce 67648@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'd vote for you. If you like, I have some experience with election campaigns... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67645 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:01:29 +0000 ExcitableBoy 67645@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I work in a school with a number of 'less well off' pupils. It is not uncommon to have a small number fo 6th years who drive to school. They work part-time and since they live at home will spend all their earnings, perhaps along with EMA, to pay the £2000+ insurance and other running costs. </p> <p>A large number of pupils look upon cycling as signifying 'poor person'.</p> <p>I'd raise the minimum driving age to 30, to promote active travel and prevent obesity in the young, but I guess some need to drive for their work. [What a strange World it would be if I ruled it!] . </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67617 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:45:19 +0000 crowriver 67617@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>I don't work in one of the least well off parts of town but neither is it a leafy, wealthy suburb. I'm regularly amazed at the number of senior pupils who drive into school.</em></p> <p>Yes, it's much more expected to have a car as a young person, despite the cost. When I was a student in the 1980s I think I knew two or three guys who ran cars, they were all a bit older, had been working before studying, etc. Now lots of students have cars, I don't know how they afford it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67610 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:26:10 +0000 wee folding bike 67610@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I don't work in one of the least well off parts of town but neither is it a leafy, wealthy suburb. I'm regularly amazed at the number of senior pupils who drive into school.</p> <p>Number 1 son is 21 and I'm not intending to insure a car for him (or indeed his brothers when the time comes) as the cost is just stupid. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67608 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:23:17 +0000 Its_Me_Knees 67608@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Sadly, rather than signalling the emergence of an eco-concious generation, I suspect the decline in teenage drivers simply reflects the enormous cost of insurance compared to when folk such as I learned to drive. This discourages a lot of teenagers from aspiring to drive (thankfully) although sadly not my own daughter who is stumping up £70/month for the privilege of the odd run out in her Mum's flivver. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67603 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:03:03 +0000 chdot 67603@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm of the generation (nothing to do with age) that 'couldn't live without a smartphone' - I think this is becoming 'true' for a lot of people. </p> <p>If at the younger end low wages, student loan repayments etc. means its a choice between a top-end phone and a low-end car I think there will be much less peer pressure to get the car. (Not forgetting that you can run a decent 'phone for the cost of <em>just</em> car insurance.)</p> <p>I'm sure many of their parents would have buckled in a bike v car contest - if they'd even thought about it. </p> <p>There is one slight problem, teenagers who usually have good 'phones and may or may not aspire to car ownership - are less likely to cycle. </p> <p>There are various reasons including inadequate <em>secure</em> bike parking at schools (Edinburgh is better than most places). But it's mostly social - all your friends need to have a bike (they've probably grown out of the one they had at primary school) and have the confidence to ride on present day roads - preferably in a group...</p> <p>Certainly teenage ownership/use of a bike is no longer 'weird' - outside of hard-core MTBing or Saughton Skatepark use - in the way it once was. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67593 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:40:38 +0000 Min 67593@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>This is really great news, and crucially the article has quotes from a lot of people saying that this is a good thing and not trying to figure out how to try and get more people driving. I think this is a real change in attitude. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67592 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:39:53 +0000 crowriver 67592@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Probably they edited his quote: he's referring to two distinct generations: those who fought in the war and those born during or just after it (who became young mini owners). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67590 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:26:50 +0000 Smudge 67590@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I take it arithmetic and history were not Mr Howards strong points at school? My dad was 70 last year, he missed national service and certainly wasn't learning to drive during the war, being waaaay too young. Since when was more than a decade "slightly older"? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67587 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:19:53 +0000 crowriver 67587@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>Andrew Howard, head of road safety for the Automobile Association, said the rise in older drivers reflected the growth of car sales decades ago. He said: “Today’s 70-year-old male is the person who turned 17 in 1959 just as the Mini and other things revolutionised motoring. Those slightly older people would have learned to drive in National Service or during the Second World War.”</em></p> <p>Yes, my father's generation cannot imagine life without a car. Luckily, some younger people are more open minded (though not all). </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=6320#post-67567 Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:18:09 +0000 freewhwheelin 67567@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/scotland/under-21s-spend-money-on-phones-rather-than-stumping-up-for-car-licence-1-2263127" rel="nofollow">http://www.scotsman.com/scotland-on-sunday/scotland/under-21s-spend-money-on-phones-rather-than-stumping-up-for-car-licence-1-2263127</a> </p>