Promoting Cycling

this is all great for your business Clive- well done again,
on the bigger picture, have you seen the news today r.e train fares?
this shower of shit government are as dedicated to keeping people in the cars as ever before- it makes it harder than ever for ordinary people to change.

Only just found this out (and googling also mentioned that those with vehicles will be hit as well), it amazing how little it affect my life.

I usually feel free when I ride my bike, but after reading the new, I feel like the fucking wind.

i wonder when last david 'greenwash' cameron rode his pushbike to school? seem to recall him making sure he was photographed on it as often as humanly possible. including locking it to a fucking bollard. the twat.

IMHO you want more people to commute by bike. Forget everything else. Commuting is the low hanging fruit since it is an economical and health no-brainer.

Social/weekend riding is all very well but impinging on employee's free time is almost never appreciated. L2B might be the exception there but unless you work at Freelove-R-Us any group activity won't substantially change behaviour. "Team building" events make me want to puke, unless they involve the pub (and then still possibly puke). Cycling isn't a team sport.

From there, it's all about incentives.
As someone already said, no one cares about the environment.
They care about cold hard cash.
I am literally thousands better off on a bike.

Clive I will happily send you my spreadsheet detailing the cost of my cycling vs. the cost of the train/tube over the last year (I am a geek).
It also contains pertinent weather details which show that it HARDLY EVER rains when I ride to/from work (40 mins each way or so).

People also like to be good looking.
We are almost all obese/clinically dead by the archaic Body-mass Index thing and cycling into work is your friend here.
I lost 20kg since I started cycling to work (down from an elephantine 100kgs).
1.5 hours a day of regular exercise vs. sitting on my substantial backside on a train has literally changed my life.

Other potential incentives: free CTC membership, free bike insurance, lower health insurance, free bike maintenance, bike maintenance lessons, free cycle training, free batteries.

Walm, I would love to see your spread sheet. Can you attach it to a pm or as a document here?

I remember how much I save in tube fare in just a year back in 2007, the price was about £1200 from South Wimbledon to King's Cross, and that not including journery to go around London (which I later realise that it only take 15 more minutes to get home on the bike instead of the tube).

I stopped driving to work four years ago.

Parking £15 per day
Congestion Charge £8 per day
Fuel

£23 x 252 x 4 = £23,184 plus fuel and I still have to explain why I need a Parlee....

I still have to explain why I need a Parlee....

Your finances must be in a parlous state. Putting new cleats on every day is a bit of a money drain, no?

@ cliveo

What about insurance? surely doing less miles mean you won't need to pay extra? my dad used to do 15,000 miles a year, now only 3,000 and save a lots on insurance.

maintenance - less part need replacing because he no longer need to service* his car every one or two years (10,000 miles or 20,000 miles service depending on what car you have), at this rate it'll take him 10 years, maybe more to get it service (and part replaced).

a/c tank - no longer need replacing as he doesn't used it that much.

car wash - no need to wash regularly.

windscreen wiper fuel - again no need to buy bottle that regularly (okay £3 a bottle isn't much, but that's important beer money needed spending).

food shopping - spending less on food, with a car you don't need to worry, you can easily fill up enough food to feed Max for eternity, but with a bicycle and it's limited capacity, you're force to think about what you *need *as oppose to what you want (and an important lesson my dad learnt - never go food shopping on an empty stomach).

etc.

*most especially replacing the belt.

beer money is the best money.

Another very important information that my dad used to get his fellow co-worker to cycle is this -

cycling to work allow you to perserve your car so you can able to have fun with it in the weekend (like a long drive in the countryside), that'll make them enjoy driving their cars more than ever, and (eventually) enjoyed cycling instead of spending hours in traffic just to get home (and tube/buses).

food shopping.
I don't know about you, but I have to eat considerably more than I would if I didn't cycle. The office fruit bowl helps a little, but I still buy more than I would otherwise.

I stopped driving to work four years ago.

Parking £15 per day
Congestion Charge £8 per day
Fuel

£23 x 252 x 4 = £23,184 plus fuel and I still have to explain why I need a Parlee....

Last time I was in Bespoke he was setting up the Bike to Work Scheme, you have to be shown leading the way in promoting cycling in your company by taking advantage of this!

Doesn't really work in central London though, considering most folk will be on the tube/train/bus.

Could try it though...
"Hey guys, y'know what? If you were to cycle into work each day you could really savour and enjoy your time on the tube at the weekends."
Not sure.

I would stick to the fitness and cash money angle, with a little bit of the poetic freedom/wind in your hair stuff thrown in for good measure. Covering both the tangible evidence base for those who need it, and the more romantic stuff for them that like that.

how did it go clive? I was going to add to this but most of the issues have been covered. I know a firm in central london that bought a fleet of bromptons and that's worked really well - to go to client meetings employees are encouraged to cycle. I believe that this is has been complimented by regular maintenance and allowances for maintenance for employee bikes at the chosen shop (discounts on tyres, tubes and labour)

As for women cycling. I hate to say it, but fear and vanity were the two most important factors in the decision to cycle in to work in the last studies I read. (in 2007) and I can honestly say I believe it.

Additionally a short employee ride durring lunch times would probably get new cyclists more confident.

Jacqui

A first step but we do have traction. Our CEO is a convert which is good - he has recently bought a Brompton for cycling to and from Paddington Station each day. It is now a matter of doing as much as we can at zero or minimal cost and trying to achieve tangible results - more cyclists, fewer sick days, more hours worked, better morale. I will need people here to take ownership of specific projects and enthuse them to do so with energy and pride.

Women is a problem for us. We are right down in female cycling numbers.

I like the idea of a lunchtime bozza-bike ride.

Doesn't really work in central London though, considering most folk will be on the tube/train/bus.

Could try it though...
"Hey guys, y'know what? If you were to cycle into work each day you could really savour and enjoy your time on the tube at the weekends."
Not sure.

The method work extremely well for those with a motorised vehicles really.

but you could always says that having the spare money you can able to pig out a bit in the weekend, I know my dad did, he didn't used to take my mum out for a meal every now and then.

incidentally my dad took his car for the first time in age to go to a meeting somewhere in England, his brakes were grinding badly, quickly pop down to the local garage for them to have a quick look, half hour later, he ask what's the problem.

turn out there's no problem, just that the brake hasn't been used in age, and it got rusted badly to the point that it need some good bedding in to wear off the rust.

turn out there's no problem, just that the brake hasn't been used in age, and it got rusted badly to the point that it need some good bedding in to wear off the rust.

That sounds like a problem to me, Ed. :)

You mean that there was no serious fault.

oh no, the grind is simply the brake pad rubbing off the rust surface.

maintenance - less part need replacing because he no longer need to service* his car every one or two years (10,000 miles or 20,000 miles service depending on what car you have), at this rate it'll take him 10 years, maybe more to get it service (and part replaced).

a/c tank - no longer need replacing as he doesn't used it that much.

car wash - no need to wash regularly.

windscreen wiper fuel - again no need to buy bottle that regularly (okay £3 a bottle isn't much, but that's important beer money needed spending).

*most especially replacing the belt.

Not true, it still costs and parts wear out/degrade in different ways through non use.

car thread>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. :)

this is all great for your business Clive- well done again,
on the bigger picture, have you seen the news today r.e train fares?
this shower of shit government are as dedicated to keeping people in the cars as ever before- it makes it harder than ever for ordinary people to change.
My work post is paid for indirectly by the government through the P.C.T,
Im not pissing into the wind any longer, fuck this government handing my notice in today, Im going back to cycle training and freelance work- bring it on.

Dude, getting the sentiment but please don't quit. You're one that's making a difference. Use the funding and your position to subvert the government line. Quitting lets them win, even if you'd only be postponing until March like the rest of us.

Jacqui

Women is a problem for us. We are right down in female cycling numbers.

I like the idea of a lunchtime bozza-bike ride.

Is their one alpha female at the office clive? You need one. An influencer, someone the other women like and can relate to, to lead the charge.
Or, and this is very un-PC of me, is there a woman in the office who wants to lose weight? If you can get one making a noticable improvement the rest will take it up. The trick is to get her onside without insulting or suggesting that her weight is an issue.
Failing a woman, a man whom the women like - not fancy - but who regularly has interacts with them and who is seen to be on a simillar level would fit the bill.

Failing a woman, a man whom the women like - not fancy

That'll be Clive, then--he's very reinsuring.

Good work Mr S.

Jacqui, law firms are full of alpha females. Indeed one told me a while ago that tests conducted on female lawyers and male vicars generally found greater testosterone levels among the former and who was I to argue with her?

I take your point though. A female partner cycling in might be the trick.