CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!

Soderberg numbers and relative car use

(161 posts)

  1. sallyhinch
    Member

    My understanding is that Dutch kids on average get themselves to school on their own from the age of 7. There has apparently been some agonising about the fact that this has risen over the years. As well as the obvious infrastructure issues, the Dutch and the Danes seem much more relaxed about issues of stranger danger - to the point that one Danish mother was in trouble recently for leaving her baby in a pram outside a shop in New York as all good Danes do (and Brits used to in living memory)

    Posted 6 years ago #
  2. crowriver
    Member

    I'm up to 7 for the week just past. Out on the bike at last!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  3. acsimpson
    Member

    So if I take a siesta on cycling days then I could improve my score. #Soderbergmanipulation

    Posted 6 years ago #
  4. HankChief
    Member

    A absolutely dreadful week for my Soderberg number last week - I might need to apply for some exemptions.

    Now at a mere 2.2 - must try harder in February.

    How's everyone else fairing? Better or worse than expected?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  5. Frenchy
    Member

    Mine's around 2.5, I think. We use the car for two fairly short journeys most weeks, as we take the dog with us. So it's unlikely that my Soderberg number will ever get much above 3.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  6. dessert rat
    Member

    An embarrassingly low 1.88, due to weather related family commitments at the start of Jan.

    Soderberg forecasting is notoriously tricky, but I think I can get to 3 by the end of Feb.

    realistic goals and all that.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  7. sallyhinch
    Member

    Finally got our household score off 0 yesterday as the other half was lured into cycling from his office to town for lunch (he drove to work, with the bike in the car). First time he's been on the bike in 2018.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  8. crowriver
    Member

    I'm up to 8.67 as of Sunday midnight. That's despite travelling by train three days that week. My walking and cycling also up, though I barely left the house over the weekend - well the weather was horrid and I had flatpack furniture to assemble.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  9. HankChief
    Member

    Impressive stuff @Crowriver and well done team Hinch. I was quite surprised & pleased that we managed to get all of team Chief onto a bike January given the weather we've been having.

    Onwards and upwards into February.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  10. HankChief
    Member

    Having a good run just now and up to 2.8

    Saw this idea and thought it was a good one...

    Giving up car travel for lent 14th Feb-31st March. Would be quite a challenge

    Posted 6 years ago #
  11. urchaidh
    Member

    Bike / Motorised = 2.8
    Bike / Car = 6.3

    Posted 6 years ago #
  12. paulmilne
    Member

    So, if on the motorised side you include trains, planes and automobiles, bus, motorbike, jetpack, etc. and on the non-motorised side you have bicycle, skateboard, scooter, elephant, camel, horse but NOT including Shanks pony ...

    My typical week would be 5 days of commuting via train and bike so each of those days would balance out and by Friday would be 5/5 for a SodN of 1. Say I'm fully bicyclised (a bike available at both work and home end) then I'd say a minimum of 1 bike journey a day on Saturday and Sunday and 1 car trip to do a big grocery shop on one of those days, so at the end of a typical week of 7 days I'd be on 7/6 for a SodN of 1.17 (rounded to 2 significant places).

    I'll start keeping track today.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  13. paulmilne
    Member

    Personally I would count a Sodn of >= 1 as a win.

    Sorry, in my post above I forgot to mention dogsled/cart on the NM side.

    And what about eBikes? Do you have to increment your NM score if you switch on the battery?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  14. acsimpson
    Member

    I would put an e-bike in the same (ignored) category as a lift or escalator. It's up to you whether you ignore the e part or the entire journey.

    Legally an e-bike is just a bike though so no need to consider it motorise in court.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  15. claire3000006
    Member

    For January I was on bike/car = 27, bike/motorised = 6.75.

    Yesterday I finally decided to do the sensible thing and sell my car. First time I've been car-less since I was 17... We are now a 5 bike, 1 car household (2 people)!

    Posted 6 years ago #
  16. HankChief
    Member

    Impressive stats @Claire. It took me a couple of goes to register just how high they were.

    & well done for selling the car. Didn't sound like you were using it much anyway.

    @Paulmilne - I agree that a Sodn greater than 1 should be applauded. There will be many people on zero and not that healthy because of it.

    I wonder how many kids travel by car every day without being able to fathom that alternatives exist. Even with my kids they will have a Sodn of near 1 and they are probably extreme.

    @AC- crikey- I never considered than an lift could possible count for motorised transport. Maybe the rule should be anything over 3 stories is okay but less isn't. I never realised it would be this tricky to set the rules...

    Posted 6 years ago #
  17. acsimpson
    Member

    Oh dear, what have I started. My office has no lifts so I rarely use them unless travelling with a push chair.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  18. acsimpson
    Member

    Oh dear, what have I started. My office has no lifts so I rarely use them unless travelling with a push chair.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  19. sallyhinch
    Member

    And do escalators count, or only if you stand the whole way rather than walking up them?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  20. Frenchy
    Member

    Can I get a ruling on whether shovelling snow counts for the numerator?

    Posted 6 years ago #
  21. acsimpson
    Member

    Frenchy, I hope so.

    Our family numerator made started riding in February but is firmly static again for now.

    At least our Denominator is mostly static too though.

    Posted 6 years ago #
  22. sallyhinch
    Member

    Call it the POP effect, but the other half, having braved the Fairmilehead feeder ride in the rain on Saturday has just put the bike in the car unprompted having barely cycled all year (he drives to the edge of town and then cycles the rest of the way in when he's using the bike)

    In a classic case of induced demand, he's stopped riding the bike as much because they moved the hospital away from his office, meaning there are no longer bad traffic jams on his way to work, so the bike saves no time. I don't imagine it will take long for the roads to fill up again ...

    Posted 5 years ago #
  23. urchaidh
    Member

    Sums done for the first six months of this year - 3.4.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  24. dougal
    Member

    Enjoyed Ocean's 8 so have gone back to watch Soderbergh's 11, 12 and 13.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  25. urchaidh
    Member

    We can let this thread quietly die now, but having kept a spreadsheet for the year I feel compelled to announce...

    After 12 months - still at 3.4.

    Bike 283 days (78%)
    Public 25 days ( 7%)
    Car 59 days (16%)
    None 38 days (10%)

    Posted 5 years ago #
  26. wingpig
    Member

    @dougal I always think of that film series when I see a "Twenty's Plenty" sign.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  27. Frenchy
    Member

    I finished the year on 2.4

    Posted 5 years ago #
  28. Harts Cyclery
    Member

    No idea what my car numbers were, but I did 278 days on a bike, according to Strava.

    Posted 5 years ago #
  29. HankChief
    Member

    311 (days) for me... ( I will try to call my Soderberg number by using Google's tracking of my movements)

    Posted 5 years ago #
  30. Ed1
    Member

    I would guess mine are 5 cycling to 2 in car/train

    Posted 5 years ago #

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