Since starting a cycling blog, I fear I may have become a bit of a cycling evangelist. Anyway, out of interest I asked my students and work colleagues why they don’t cycle to school. The distance they travel is about 1.5 miles, some up to 3 miles. The journey is not straightforward as the shortest route is not open to cyclists. These were the most common reasons they gave for not cycling:
- Cost of Bike. (Cost of a monthly bus pass is £40).
- Rain. I reckon it rains on less than 10% of bike commutes. But, the prospect of getting wet was a big factor in putting people off.
- They live at the top of a hill. (Headington hill is an ascent of about 20 metres – It’s hardly Alpe d’Huez.)
Other Reasons I Suspect
- Safety Issues. Interestingly not many gave this as a reason. It was only after prompting that people said yes it might be dangerous.
- Laziness. I know quite a few of my students do NO exercise. Therefore, this is probably a reason to not start cycling.
- Image Conscious. I think this might be true for women more than men. But, girls may worry about the image of being a cyclist. I think if one girl started cycling to school it would encourage others. But, there is often a reluctance to be the first and stand out from the crowd.
I think part of the problem is that cycling through the city centre is not so easy, there are quite a few traffic lights and heavy bus routes. The interesting thing is then when asking others about cycling most had a fairly positive attitude to cycling. They like the idea but just have some reason / excuse why they don’t. I think many who don’t cycle could easily be encouraged to cycle, if some things changed a little.
Have you heard about this film Beauty and the Bike? Really interesting project – watch the 8 minute preview!
http://www.bikebeauty.org
I think that fear of seeming unfeminine is something that might put off some women. I used to work at a company where some people criticised the appearance of a woman who cycled to work: “you can see the muscles in her legs, how unflattering”. This kind of peer pressure can be very off-putting. (But could be countered by propaganda like Copenhagen Cycle Chic.)
For the image conscious you might like to point out how regular cycling tones your legs and bum – this is likely to encourage the girls more than the boys.
For schoolchildren, one reason they might not admit to is:
10) Their parents won’t let them. This is an indirect version of “safety issues,” but in this case convincing the children themselves is insufficient. Of course, the parents then insist on driving their kids to school, which makes cycling less safe, causing a vicious circle.
HI Magic Roundabout.
Thanks for comments I appreciate them. I agree all the reasons you mention might discourage people from cycling, even though they are easy to overcome.
Hope you don’t mind the comments – this seems like an interesting place to be discussing these things!
I’d add a few suspected reasons:
4) Convenience – people think it’s easier to jump in the car, and sometimes it is. Buses are different – surely cycling is preferable to the bus for a short trip?
5) Time – people think it’s quicker to go by car or bus. Again, sometimes this is the case. Sometimes not.
6) Parking – sounds odd but they don’t build houses with sheds, garages and rear access much any more. I’ve lived in places where owning a bike is a real problem because there’s nowhere to keep it.
7) Theft – further to 6), leaving a bike locked up on the street is not only bad for it, but not likely to be a long-term option. This may be true at the workplace too.
8) Luggage – you can’t (easily) carry much on a bike. If I need to carry my laptop to/from work I generally take the car.
9) Routes – finding a good cycle route can be hard. The are lots of cycle lanes but fitting them together to make a safe end-to-end route is not always easy.
BUT…I could give you a huge list of reasons why cycling is better than any other mode of transport too!