Comments on: Why Don’t People Cycle

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:50:37 +0000

Have you heard about this film Beauty and the Bike? Really interesting project – watch the 8 minute preview!

http://www.bikebeauty.org

By: On yer bike | The Dublin Community Blog

On yer bike | The Dublin Community Blog — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:57:08 +0000

[...] that they will get drenched on their way to work. As another cyclist puts it on his blog “it’s the prospect of getting wet that puts people off.” Well I’ve been doing a little experiment since January. Everyday I get stopped on [...]

By: Gareth Rees

Gareth Rees — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:38:49 +0000

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.)

By: Dan H

Dan H — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:14:38 +0000

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.

By: tejvan

tejvan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:19:40 +0000

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.

By: MagicRoundabout

MagicRoundabout — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:41:37 +0000

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.
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!