Same number of cycle trips but people are riding further finds National Travel Survey

burtthebike wrote:

Slightly good news I suppose, but what is really needed is for more people to be cycling more often, not just the same people riding farther.  The utterly appalling, illogical opposition to cycling in our society has to be changed, and there has to be proper investment, not just hot air and verbal support.

It's time that all of us involved in promoting cycling, for whatever reason, be it health, pollution, climate change or just the joy of cycling, started holding our elected representatives to their promises.  At every election, the candidates should be asked to make a firm commitment to spend a reasonable percentage of the transport budget on cycling, and then vote accordingly, and then making sure they actually do it.

the voter numbers aren't really in our favour to make it anything more than a token issue in its own right for politicians. It becomes important only as a means to an end for them, not as an end in itself. Cycling can reduce the burden of rising NHS costs and of ever-increasing traffic congestion, both of which are tax/financial matters. Using ng the savings ngs for tax cuts and vanity projects is what makes mainstream politicians do something, not concern for our well-being.

burtthebike wrote:

Slightly good news I suppose, but what is really needed is for more people to be cycling more often, not just the same people riding farther. 

No it's not good news, it's shameful.

Our much touted success at the Olympics and the Tour de France, the London hire bikes, the constant talk of needing to be more active and to tackle obesity (1 in 3 kids primary schoolkids overweight etc etc ad nauseam) count for nothing.

The lack of infrastructure in this country, the perceived danger of being on the road and the appalling anti-cyclist rhetoric in the media combine to deter the many, many people who would like to cycle more.

The Government has, unsurprisingly, done nothing. They are too busy telling us about how Brexit will be great for us, a land of milk and honey, to care about the people of this country. With their offshore investments and tax-avoidance plans sorted, they want to destroy the NHS and run down the public transport network, build more roads, freeze fuel duty while talking up electric and driverless cars as the answer to everything. London mayor Sadiq Khan has done f**k all since taking over from Boris while other bodies are unwilling/incapable of doing anything proactive. My Tory MP is a brexit-loving, sycophantic puppet of the far-right movement in Poland and elsewhere, in the pocket of Saudi Arabia's military, and appears to care more about his backhanders and his second job as a consultant than anything else. Shropshire council is a corrupt cabal of incompetents who couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, even if it laid on expert staff to advise them. It's truly sickening. I suspect it's the same elsewhere. They are condemning millions to breathe polluted air, doing nothing to reduce the congestion and pollution that costs this country £billions. Thousands of lives blighted by road crashes, toxic air, the life-shortening stress of living by busy roads.... it's criminal.

Simon E wrote:

burtthebike wrote:

Slightly good news I suppose, but what is really needed is for more people to be cycling more often, not just the same people riding farther. 

No it's not good news, it's shameful.

Our much touted success at the Olympics and the Tour de France, the London hire bikes, the constant talk of needing to be more active and to tackle obesity (1 in 3 kids primary schoolkids overweight etc etc ad nauseam) count for nothing.

The lack of infrastructure in this country, the perceived danger of being on the road and the appalling anti-cyclist rhetoric in the media combine to deter the many, many people who would like to cycle more.

The Government has, unsurprisingly, done nothing. They are too busy telling us about how Brexit will be great for us, a land of milk and honey, to care about the people of this country. With their offshore investments and tax-avoidance plans sorted, they want to destroy the NHS and run down the public transport network, build more roads, freeze fuel duty while talking up electric and driverless cars as the answer to everything. London mayor Sadiq Khan has done f**k all since taking over from Boris while other bodies are unwilling/incapable of doing anything proactive. My Tory MP is a brexit-loving, sycophantic puppet of the far-right movement in Poland and elsewhere, in the pocket of Saudi Arabia's military, and appears to care more about his backhanders and his second job as a consultant than anything else. Shropshire council is a corrupt cabal of incompetents who couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, even if it laid on expert staff to advise them. It's truly sickening. I suspect it's the same elsewhere. They are condemning millions to breathe polluted air, doing nothing to reduce the congestion and pollution that costs this country £billions. Thousands of lives blighted by road crashes, toxic air, the life-shortening stress of living by busy roads.... it's criminal.

With the sole change of "Shropshire" to "South Gloucestershire" I could have written exactly the same comment, and I suspect many others could have too.

Even worse is the media, especially the BBC.  There is a prog on R4 which I listen to "You and Yours" and they have just finished a series of articles about obesity; guess how many times the mentioned cycling.  It's a round number.  Despite all the studies showing the overwhelming health and other benefits of cycling, I've never heard anyone on the BBC mention them, despite their having had any number of progs about health, obesity, congestion, pollution and global warming.  Reminds me of Thursday, when I was on our local BBC call in show featuring eye tests for drivers.  One guy rings in and said it should apply to cyclists, not electric disabled buggies, horse riders or pedestrians, only cyclists, but he denied being anti-cyclist.