London's Drive to Work Day

Sure is!
We're expecting between 100,000 to 200,000 to take part tomorrow.
http://drivetoworkday.org/2012/12/10/the-final-insult/

^ That's mental but hopefully a reality!

I really hope it goes well tomorrow. Well done David for your tremendous work with this.

Happy to report that there's a steady flow of Participants driving into Manchester already, think word must've spread outside London.

P.s. Were participants encouraged to get sponsored for taking part? P'raps a new angle for next time...

Here as expected many people are out already in their cars in london. bodes well. My Addison lee cab is due here any minute. #LDtWD to tweet your experience today @drivetoworkday

Gah, my car was coated in a layer of this silly cold white stuff. It would have taken so much time to clear it off, I would have been late for work.

And one of the other drivers in my office warned me about these parking warden people, who come out and put tickets on your car when you're not looking, and it cost you money. I didn't like the sound of that either.

Great turn out today
http://drivetoworkday.org/2012/12/11/a-great-success/

So I tried to drive in but half way down the Holloway road I got fed up with the traffic, got the bike out he back and rode the rest of the way in leaving the missus to drive the car home. Sorry. I did add one more car for a short distance though.

http://blogs.health24.com/workhurts/2012/12/06/drive-to-work-stress-free-and-have-a-better-day-because-of-it/

So this was a great 'success' then?

Perhaps the (tiny) brain behind this masterful stroke of cretinism would be better served putting his meagre talents to something of benefit.

Funnily enough, the traffic was much quicker through town today, by far my fastest journey in the last 6 weeks!

Hey, everyones allowed a little fun once in a while. And there is a serious point behind this.

It could have been marketed better, pushed to newspapers and to radio stations, and got some coverage, but doing that takes a fair bit of work.

Was it really a 'Great Success'? Maybe not this time, but there's still promise in the idea.

And there is a serious point behind this.

Please explain it for the benefit of our listeners

Success or not I don't see anything much wrong with the idea, perhaps it is a little more antagonistic towards motorists than other campaigns to raise awareness of cyclists but then motorists are easily antagonised. It does highlight that there are benefits to other road users from people choosing to cycle so in that respect it should appease as mush as it antagonises.

OK, in brief, if all of us who cycle started to drive to work, or even take public transport, we would see those systems start to fail, as the pressure on them increased.

Even a 1/2% increase in cars and|or public transport users at peak times would cause serious problems. In terms of private car usage, not only in terms of getting to places, but also in terms of parking once you're there.

campaigns to raise awareness of cyclists but then motorists are easily antagonised. .

Raising awareness of cyclists eh? I didn't realise cyclists needed to be brought to anyone's attention. But well done for perpetuating the myth that there are 'cyclists' and 'motorists' and never the twain shall meet.

Hmmm, wasn't that Windsor Davies and Donald Synden?

Anyway, it appears to be a heavy handed and largely unessecary idea to highlight the inefficiency of private vehicular usage in London, whilst being a thinly veiled celebration of smugness. I will also now be expecting 'get the bus day' and 'get the tube day'.

OK, in brief, if all of us who cycle started to drive to work, or even take public transport, we would see those systems start to fail, as the pressure on them increased.

Even a 1/2% increase in cars and|or public transport users at peak times would cause serious problems. In terms of private car usage, not only in terms of getting to places, but also in terms of parking once you're there.

Except none of that has a ounce of fact to back it up, or does it? Meltdown was predicted for the Olympics, it never happened. We've already experienced 'peak car' and I think you'd be surprised at just how many car journeys are not actually into the centre of town for work on a daily basis. London is a big city in a densely populated country, people have many reasons to drive though it and around it every day, none of these reasons will change, nor will the suggestion of a bicycle be an adequate alternative.

I think before you try to force people to change their minds about how they travel, you must first educate them of the alternatives in a positive and helpful manner. And then not be put out when they still reject your ideals. It's a free country and those who wish to drive are well within their rights to do so, however idiotic that makes them.

I didn't realise cyclists needed to be brought to anyone's attention.

Really? You are suggesting that all motorists behave calmly and patiently around cyclists and afford them the space and time the highway code recommends?

And what's wrong with a celebration of smugness, we have a lot to be smug about and perhaps if more motorists thought about it and got onto a bike once in a while they could enjoy being smug too.

I must admit I didn't notice any difference on my ride in this morning, but I'd be amazed if people didn't feel even more anti-cyclist on the back of this.

It's well known that people are powerfully drawn to the smug, and wish to emulate them.

Just have a look at this fellow- he's just made the point with sledgehammer subtelty about how his life choices are better than yours, and is about to reap his reward:

Except none of that has a ounce of fact to back it up, or does it? Meltdown was predicted for the Olympics, it never happened.

It didn't happen because lots of people worked from home, or took leave. Official reports suggest that there was a lot less traffic on the roads. People avoided London.

We've already experienced 'peak car'[\QUOTE]

"Peak Car" is an interesting idea, maybe someone should stick a freedom of info request into the DVLA to ask for the number of newly registered cars vs the number removed from the register each year. New car sales may be slowing, but is the number of cars being scrapped staying above those sales? If not, the number of cars on the roads may still be going up. Also, has anyone worked out the number of litres of fuel being sold? Is that going up or down? Are less cars driving more miles on average? There are still a lot of questions around it to my mind. Not that I object to the idea.

[QUOTE=RPM;3293213]and I think you'd be surprised at just how many car journeys are not actually into the centre of town for work on a daily basis.

Only about 2% of journeys into Central London are, I understand, with a destination of Central London. The rest are just passing through, sadly I can't find my citation for that.

London is a big city in a densely populated country, people have many reasons to drive though it and around it every day, none of these reasons will change, nor will the suggestion of a bicycle be an adequate alternative.

Bikes are great for short, inner city transport. For some of us, they are great for longer trips. For some trips, cars are ideal, for others trains should be. The trip requirement should determine the mode of transport, but all should be equally availiable. Sadly for some people, fear stops them picking the transport solution that they would like. And the transport solution that suffers most because of that is cycling.

Interestingly it's cheaper for me and my wife to drive to either of Wimbledon or Darlington than to take public transport, even when (in the case of Wimbledon) parking is included. Higher fares just makes this equation worse.

I think before you try to force people to change their minds about how they travel, you must first educate them of the alternatives in a positive and helpful manner. And then not be put out when they still reject your ideals. It's a free country and those who wish to drive are well within their rights to do so, however idiotic that makes them.

I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick as to what today was about.

My understanding of the idea was to show how important those who currently cycle are in keeping traffic moving and reducing congestion, not to try and persuade anyone to cycle instead. Those of us who cycle have made a concious choice to travel that way. Those in cars often don't realise the benefits of having bikes on the road instead of cars. If car drivers thought about each cyclist that they passed as one less car that is in front of them, maybe they would give us a little more room and respect.

I must admit I didn't notice any difference on my ride in this morning, but I'd be amazed if people didn't feel even more anti-cyclist on the back of this.

Why would they? Because for one day those cyclists decided to stop being cyclists and drove instead? I really don't think that there has been any difference at all today, as far too few people who ride took part.

Why would they?

Have you read the copy on the website? It may just be me, but I find it antagonistic and patronising - I don't even own a car.

The reasons to take part are a pretty good illustration of what I mean.

great thread!
all these super initiatives around today, my my.
if youre really interested in reading about whats going on, and want to be ahead of the daft boroughs, local councils and government read this:-

http://www.tarasgrescoe.com/straphanger/about.html
or,
have a chat with Oliver whos been doing this for aeons longer than anyone else around here.thanks. smidsy survivor.

^^ Yeah, I've read it. Like I said, the marketing of it needs to be slicker. But the underlying idea I find sound.

If I'd been driving it (BADUM-TISH), I might have approached it differently. I'll try to gather my thoughts on exactly how as I ride home this evening.

http://thisisnotforcharity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/drive-to-work-day-2012.html - Heres a good blog post from Julian Sayer (who wrote some (lots) of the Londoners on Bike emails).

Well I drove in to work today. I will admit though it was because I failed to get up in time to cycle.