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"The best way to get non-cyclists to cycle to work"

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    CTC Press Release

    "
    Following the amazing success of the Workplace Cycle Challenges in Swindon, Colchester, Darlington, Somerset, Woking and Wolverhampton, CTC – the UK’s national cyclists’ organisation is announcing that it will be expanding this highly effective behavioural change programme to even more areas.

    As the Government this week (Wednesday 28.10.09) announces its ‘Cycle to Work Guarantee’, CTC will be utilising its cycle commuting expertise to work with the Department of Health to deliver £500,000 of workplace challenges to five new locations in the South East of England. CTC will be working closely with local Primary Care Trusts and councils to reach the health and environmental goals of getting even more people cycling to work, regardless of what facilities their employers have.

    To date almost 4000 people have taken part in a CTC workplace cycle challenge and the results speak for themselves: 84% of non-cyclists intend to cycle more after taking part in the challenge. Half of the participants cycled to work, with many opting for the first time to take a short cycle ride instead of driving. In total 191,498 miles were cycled saving 25955kg of CO2 emissions.

    CTC Cycling Development Officer Ian Richardson said: “The data is consistent across all the locations, proving the challenge is a winning formula to get people back on bikes. It shows the challenge is the first step for many people towards changing the way they travel. It offers encouragement and support to make a short journey by bike to work and gives people the opportunity to get back on a bike again for the first time in years.”

    Debbie Smith, who took part in the Swindon Workplace Challenge, said: “Having got back on my bike again, I really enjoyed it, so will definitely be making shorter trips by bike instead of taking the car from now on.”

    So far over 700 people who have never ridden a bike or who have not cycled in over a year have taken up the challenge and if they all continue to cycle regularly they would generate benefits of around £8million through reduced pollution and health costs.

    The programme is a highly effective and unique way to help current cyclists to encourage their colleagues to take up cycling. It pits organisations and individual departments against each other to see who can get the most staff to cycle for at least 10 minutes during the two or three week challenge.

    It’s a programme designed for any size business or organisation and it works by bringing cycling to the office and rewards participants with incentives.

    "

    Posted 15 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    Thought it was time to resurrect some neglected threads!

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. wishicouldgofaster
    Member

    The perception by a lot of non cyclists is that it is dangerous. Sadly things are so bad in Edinburgh that I agree with that statement. Unless you are on a cycle path you have to put up with roads that are in a dangerous state of disrepair and a growing number of drivers that put your life at risk with either lack of observation or deliberate disrespect to vulnerable road users.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    My personal suggestion would be that the issue isn't, in reality, and whatever non-cycling-people actually say, about risk... it's actually about social convention. Those on bikes are still seen in general as social misfits. Few people want to be one of these. Few people are happy to put themselves in a position where others (certain TV 'personalities' for example) feel free to be actively abusive. Most people don't want to be unpopular. Most people don't want to be "a cyclist". Those who start/keep cycling are either the odd folks who don't care, or those whose personal background and situation means they feel connected enough to other people on bikes to feel normal.

    Just my random thoughts too late on a Friday night...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. gembo
    Member

    A trickle of people take up cycling due to cost of car (fuel, upkeep ETC) I had one person this week, though he was more encouraged to return to the bike.

    Banning cars from city centre would presumably encourage some more

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. Instography
    Member

    a favourite book

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. gibbo
    Member

    Everything wishicouldgofaster said + rbrtwtmn's comments about the perception of/attitude towards cyclists.

    I'd add to that police/courts attitudes towards driving and cycling. (Can someone update me: has any driver in Edinburgh received a fine/points for stopping in an ASL...ever?)

    I tend to believe that, in life, we do what we're rewarded for doing.

    The whole setup in this country punishes people for cycing.

    There are those of us who cycle because we get so much reward that it outweighs the punishment, but most people don't feel this strongly.

    I suspect the only way to get more people onto the cycling side it to tip the reward-punishment scales more in favour of cycling. (Or, rather, less against cycling.)

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    Parking - and politicians fear of a 'backlash' for taking a few spaces away is a major part of the problem.

    At the recent event on 'Meadows to Canal' plans a lot was made of the proposal to remove 2 parking spaces (though I think they had 'managed to find' new spaces somewhere else!)

    As these are residential spaces, it could be that two lucky car owners get to park their vehicles for weeks without using them for a relatively modest annual fee, while hundreds(?) of people cycle past every day.

    Are drivers more likely to vote??

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. gembo
    Member

    @gibbo in 2012 there was a crackdown when motorists (102) were issued with warnings. Same time 36 cyclists warned for jumping the red light. From June to November there was supposed to be an enforcement phase for motorists parked in ASL (maybe with yellow lines) however you might need to get your councillor to follow this up - I am quoting from questions asked during the council meeting also there were 495 ASL boxes in 2012 which it was alleged covered 82% of the signalised stopping zones.

    Your councillor could ask - further to the enforcement phase of this crackdown from June to November 2012 with six officers employed a day a week, how many fines were issued?

    The EEN coverage on this did not get the figures adding up correctly even within its own story and then veered off to the fines that were issud for greenway driving that then turned into a debacle.

    The other route is to write to the council with a FoI request, writing to the polis will maybe get stiffed as LAB dicks now polis SCOTLAND.

    My brief googling on this topic revealed a LAB rats polis cycling club.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I'm currently helping a colleague to start cycling to work. She is overweight and had been going to a gym, where some lunatic had her doing free weights. Now she has bought a bicycle and intends to commute. Good news of course, but;

    1) Our place of work was designed to be accessed by car or bus.
    2) She has bought a bike which is faster and less comfortable than she needs.
    3) She lacks basic cycling skills

    On 1), the CCE hive mind has found a route. On 2) I've moved the saddle (natch) and bought a riser stem and riser bars from the Bike Station which I'll fit next week. On 3) I've suggested she contact in-house training guru @Greenroofer.

    How would she know where to go for support if she didn't happen to have a nut like me in her team? The last person I got cycling was much simpler - I just gave them my old bike when I got the ratty nineties commuter.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    "How would she know where to go for support if she didn't happen to have a nut like me in her team?"

    Good question.

    No simple answers.

    "She has bought a bike which is faster and less comfortable than she needs."

    Assuming she bought in a shop, problem of inadequate advice - though it could be that she had 'aspirations' and the shop went along with them(?)

    "She lacks basic cycling skills"

    There are "trainers". Cycling Scotland has a database, but last time I looked it didn't contain a section for 'these people really want to help anyone' or 'these people got trained for specific reasons, not for the general public'.

    Perhaps she should spend some time away from traffic (inc. cycle/ped) - park, 'weekend (empty) car park', school playground etc. - preferably with some (more skilled) company.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  12. chdot
    Admin

    Also advise to try route(s) at quiet times - preferably with a 'buddy'.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  13. shuggiet
    Member

    Very good link Instography..

    Interesting that it concludes that it takes a crisis to get people and organisations to seriously change.

    For Parking versus cycling lanes the council presumably don't think there is a crisis . That crisis might be a threat to a political leadership, some catastrophic accident caused by parked cars, a huge wave of politically active and influential people who cycle, or something else.. Don't think we're there yet though.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  14. gibbo
    Member

    @gembo

    in 2012 there was a crackdown when motorists (102) were issued with warnings. Same time 36 cyclists warned for jumping the red light. From June to November there was supposed to be an enforcement phase for motorists parked in ASL (maybe with yellow lines) however you might need to get your councillor to follow this up

    I remember the "warning phase".

    Unfortunately, it was followed up by a neverending "going back to doing nothing about it" phrase.

    As the Scotsman revealed in March 2014:

    Police fail on fines for blocking cycle zones

    Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the ASLs were there to make junctions safer for cyclists. If so, then isn't failing to enforce them the same as making junctions more dangerous for cyclists?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  15. gembo
    Member

    @gibbo - the fine went up from £60 to £100 but no one got fined. The six officers just continued warning? They would generate a lot of Wonka if they did start fining.

    Also I would like it clarified that it is push bikes in the box as often get a motorbike in there with you. I feel they need protection too but unless I am wrong they are for push bikes?

    Posted 10 years ago #

  16. gibbo
    Member

    @gembo

    the fine went up from £60 to £100 but no one got fined. The six officers just continued warning?

    I suspect they just stopped warning and went back to doing some other police work.

    Maybe it was always nothing more than a bluff? Or maybe they planned to give out fines, but chickened out? Or maybe it got pulled by someone higher up?

    I doubt that'll ever be made public.

    unless I am wrong they are for push bikes?

    I'm pretty sure they're only for push bikes.

    But I've had the experience of sharing the boxes with motorbikes... motorbikes, cars, vans, lorries, buses and taxis... especially taxis.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  17. Min
    Member

    The diagram in the boxes very obviously shows a pedal cycle and not a motorbike.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  18. twq
    Member

    @gembo highway code says no motorbikes allowed in ASL. I see this all the time, and try not to get riled up. Motorbikes are allowed to filter to the front of traffic, and when they get there, they need somewhere to get visible. As long as they are patient and don't tear away, I don't mind too much.
    However, I have no time for motorbikes that drive into them when there is no other traffic about.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  19. Baldcyclist
    Member

    I wonder what chance we have sometimes, I find it really difficult to try and persuade people who DO cycle to try cycling to work...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  20. Ed1
    Member

    We could use behaviour psychology/economics. To be silly what about if every one wore a suit to cycle one day.

    Even if someone not going to work could get a junk shop suit and be the cycle clothes.

    If people sore lots of people cycling in suits then they would consider it more normal to cycle to work, so may be more likely to consider it themselves. It would normalize cycling to work and help remove the stigma of it being a fringe thing to do.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  21. gembo
    Member

    @twq thanks for that - I tolerate motorbikes we are on the same side. Filtering to the front works if there is space. Given that the only space is the ASL box in most instances then I remain skeptical but tolerant.

    @Ed1 the chap next to me cycles t work in his suit. He picks them up at Leckies of a falkirk cheap. He is size 36-38. Jumble sales he also frequents but has an eye for a suit that will pass muster. He is retiring so will have no need for work clothes as he cycle camps around Europe. I will miss him. Think it is 92 more work days.

    I would never cycle to work in my black linen suit. It would crease something awful. Actually it is a late eighties number so quite baggy and it is early 80s Josef K drainpipe suits that are in. I had one from a shop behind the trongate Glasgow that sold dead people's suits. Was great. Malcolm and James wanted me in the band but it turned out it wasn't me they wanted but my suit.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Non-cyclists will shortly be joining us in droves if anyone takes any notice of the Governor of the Bank of England;

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/13/mark-carney-fossil-fuel-reserves-burned-carbon-bubble

    This, if true, is an incredible report. Carney is a Canadian and Canada is tar-sand crazy. This is like a medieval candidate for the papacy denouncing indulgence. Suspect our masters will be busy with anti-UKIP/SNP intrigue though, so no need to widen the cycle lanes just yet.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  23. gembo
    Member

    The Carney Man has had his weetabix, he was calling for irresponsible bankers from 2007-8 to be fined heavily, return bonuses and go to prison.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  24. Arellcat
    Moderator

    …the issue isn't, in reality, and whatever non-cycling-people actually say, about risk: it's actually about social convention.

    We could use behaviour psychology/economics.

    The ISM model is a good place to start. Ask the question, "What are all the factors and reasons that make people behave the way they do?"

    http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/06/8511

    Posted 10 years ago #

  25. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    "The Carney Man has had his weetabix"

    Only a matter of time until he's tranquiliser-darted from a helicopter and moved to a reserve. Can't have big beasts blundering around upsetting the village heads.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  26. Ed1
    Member

    Well in respect to the use of fossil fuels expanding use abroad not so much the UK governments can do about that.

    Can reduce our use of carbon use and focus on renewable and set an example. One thing I wondered if London was to ban to exhaust cars from central London on health grounds could set an example to try and create a tipping point style contagion with other cities following suit such as new york etc.

    The smoking ban spread through the west quickly a kind of contagion now it would be considered pollution to smoke in enclosed areas.

    Cars exhaust like passive smoking can kills people, the WTO said in a report a couple of years back that breathing city can be more dangerous than being will well ventilated smoking pub.

    How many people die a year from city air in the UK, unlike passive smoking no one has a choice to breath the air.

    The population is never going to wiped out by breathing city air, likewise passive smoking relatively small numbers.

    Yet the local air pollution arguments could create a shift in culture that could spread globally like the way in china they are toying with smoking bans.

    If can create a contagion to sweep the west it will end up being mimicked in the developing or emerging markets.

    The best lever the government may have in the uk is to try and create a contagion of exhaust free zones.

    Like the way no one used to worry about everywhere being full of smoke until late 1990s when started to get banned, no one worries to much about the air pollution in cities. Yet when people are used to smoke free cities as we are smoke free bars, then people will notice areas that have exhaust.

    Cant legislation in china, or India or other places where car use is rapidly increasing but could influence the culture that is copied.

    With the limited levers the UK goverments have, cant have much influence in international arrangements but can try and set culture change if catch could have far more effect than most other measures.

    If London went exhaust free and was a success other cities may follow. Of course the infrastructure on electric vehicles is not there yet. But could have things only exhaust free cars are exempt or free parking. Even Edinburgh could have free parking for cars with no exhaust.

    If the culture was changed as it was with smoking over a short period of time 15 years, then could have smoke free cities quite soon. This would also change mind set the thinking even outside smoke free zones. The way people go out there house now to smoke even though not illegal but because now people notice and think about smoke.

    The use of third party health grounds as reason to ban eexhaust could help in the same way banned smoking changed culture. The main dangers from smoking being that someone may start rather than passive risk, however the ban has de normalized smoking so less start. Had the effect of behaviour modifcation the de normalizing of exhaust cars could have greater impact than attemps global legizlation that is slow. As every little change that has happen in the west has not keep pace with car growth elsewhere.

    If culture was changed so that people did not want polluting cars as socially not so acceptable etc and people notice this could spead. People can understand local pollution and gave examples of people that got ill from it. The global warming is more abstract also has "the problems with the commons" if we dont use the fossile someone else will so whats the points. Local pollution arguments and bad could help address the more significant climate change issues. A sort of Nudge theory to change culture popular at the moment to try and create tipping point style, contagion sort of thing that spreads globally.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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