Why cycle for transport? Here are just a few reasons:
- Cycling is the fastest mode of urban transport in all independent studies of the modern era - that's to say, since our towns and cities started to grind to a halt. So wave goodbye to traffic jams and public transport problems.
Cycling delivers the fastest door-to-door journey in urban areas in every contemporary independent study, as average motor traffic speeds in our towns & cities drop to less than half the average cycle speed and the delays of walking to and from car parks, bus stops and train stations add non-productive time to your journey. Only walking is 100% efficient, but cycling runs a close second as the mode where you spend well over 90% of the journey time making progress from A to B. Cycling eliminates waiting at the stop for your connection, driving around looking for a parking space, and queueing to get in – and out - of a big car park.
CTC brings together members and cyclists at large to lobby for action to ensure that these journeys can be conveniently and safely made on public roads and dedicated cycle routes.
- For the environment - cycling is pollution free, noise free, congestion free, every time you choose the bike in preference to the car you are reducing your CO2 footprint. Every time you cycle to your local town or village you are also helping your local environment making it a better place for all to live in. If you want to convince
others, the government, employers etc then time to look at the campaigning pages
- Combine your essential travelling with getting your 30 minutes a day of light exercise - as recommended by your doctor. Cycling improves your health and therefore your quality of life in all its aspects.
- Cycling brings train and bus stations, up to 2 miles away, within easy reach.
Cycling everywhere is not always the most effective solution and unless a person zealously wants to carry the burden of total abstinence from powered vehicular travel, there comes a point at which the distance and time make the choice of a powered mode desirable, and many opt to use Public Transport. But it cannot deliver a doorstep to destination journey by itself, and the cycle is the ideal tool to make that link, as walking has a limited range beyond which cycling takes over as the optimum mode of transport. Most people of average health can, in normal clothing on very basic bikes, can reach their destination faster and with greater consistency in journey time than by any other mode of transport.
- There are no parking charges and no fighting for a place to park.
Parking is a vital element in delivering cycling as transport. In cities where car parking is scarce, fewer people use the private car (less than 50% of Inner London households own a car). For cycling it is normally possible to park somewhere within a short distance of your destination. This is rarely charged for and is cheap to provide. However 'optimum' cycling facilities, intended to deliver more cycling by more people more often often turn out to be the provision of cycle parking spaces. For example local CTC campaigners succeeded in getting parking spaces for 42 cyclists installed at Tring Railway Station (Hertfordshire) in the space which could have taken just six cars. This brings home the point that you can provide spaces for 5-10 times as many bikes for the cost of parking 1 car, and on the day this installation was completed, over 20 bikes parked in the new spaces.
One could go on... and on.... and on!
Around the CTC website there's information on
- How to get a utility bike together. Click here
- How to ease yourself into this new mode of travel. Click here
Contact CTC National Office for a copy of the 8 page guide Streets Ahead for lots more information. Topics covered include, why bike to work?, basic skills, route finding and commuting alternatives.
