Do you think that e-bikes have a role to play in sustainable transport in the UK?

[Alex728]

Stigma - what I mean is the Thatcher gov from the early 80's. Thatcher stated that if you are a man over the age of 26 and still take the bus to work, then you are a failure! (in other words, you should have it 'made' and driving an exec motor by that stage in your life).

As much as I loathe the attitudes thatcho put into this country and I am no Conservative I don't think she was necessarily being anti-cycling, more anti public transport.

At the same time Norman Tebbit said

"I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking 'til he found it."

which is where the oft spun/misquoted "on yer bike" comment comes from, in fact Steve Bell used to portray Tebbit on the sort of 1970/80s 10-15 speed tourer, wearing the "pants of power" outside his cycling shorts..

To be fair there are a fair few Tories who cycle and see it as a "libertarian personal choice" and aren't against it but are still unwilling to support what they consider to be "extra" public money being spent on cycling.

Current cycle shop attitudes - i asked many of the leading NI cycle shops, would they be interested in selling me an e kit?
NO! Not enough money making in it for them, plus one Giant outlet manager said 'I'm a cycle mechanic, not an electronic one'.........can someone tell me what's wrong with that statement!

and in Britain we wonder why we always seem to miss out or lose our lead on emerging business markets.

Here's one for you - certain Gov depts concerned with environment, don't even have a cycle to work scheme! Something to do with it being too complicated with the salaries branch.

I have to be careful what I say due to still being under Official Secrets Act, but I once I worked in a similar Civil Service role on the UK mainland, and they had a cycle to work scheme years before it was released to the private sector - in fact it was what got me back into regular cycling.

The reality is that implementing the scheme isn't "complicated" but requires extra resource, and everything is being outsourced, downsized or scaled back - both in public and private sectors. I work in a finance role myself (today in the private sector) and if I was asked to look into the "cycle to work scheme" for staff would say, truthfully, that I do not as yet have the admin resources to support this, and my employers only have about 150 staff..

Also, the fact that in your area a stubborn minority of people seem very determined to repeat the mistakes of the past and thus obviously increase Civil Service security costs unfortunately makes a lot of difference as to what government intiatives get implemented and which ones get shelved, of course "security comes first".

 

[Northern Irelander]

I think you know what I was trying to say
The reign of Thatcher when the car became en vogue, coupled with the huge road developments up and down mainland Britain and protests of environmental lobby groups.

Public transport was neglected in many parts of the UK, let alone cycle routes during this time. How long has it been since the Netherlands has incorporated cycle lanes along the canal routes and in larger towns, cycling is fully integrated into their way of life.
I think we have some catching up to do!

Also in Britain, we had e powered vehicles that just didn't have street cred or were going to break any land speeds. Some still with us:

Sinclair C5 (those too young to remember, google it), mobility aids and milk floats LOL

 

[Alex728]

I think you know what I was trying to say
The reign of Thatcher when the car became en vogue, coupled with the huge road developments up and down mainland Britain and protests of environmental lobby groups.

I would say slightly after thatcho when major was in power although being the "grey man" he is often forgotten.

But living in Reading during the 1990s I remember the "eco-protests" and a lot of it happened as much becuase the govt stamped hard on the festival/traveller culture and caused it to merge with the urban rave culture and protesting became as much simply disagreeing with the government in general terms as opposed to just the eco-stuff... and of course drugs/hedonism distracted a lot of people from the real causes... I'm talking first hand experience here - I have never considered myself to be a eco warrior but I did have a lot of environmental awareness at my teenage years, but then in the 90s it was just chasing after the next rave or party - it was only in 2001 I started cycling regularly and only recently started caring about the planet again...

oh and today youths think nothing whatsoever of motoring 200 miles and back to a rave because the Police have stopped them in certain areas...

Public transport was neglected in many parts of the UK, let alone cycle routes during this time. How long has it been since the Netherlands has incorporated cycle lanes along the canal routes and in larger towns, cycling is fully integrated into their way of life.

I think we have some catching up to do!

I partly agree - we could do better but not everything across the North Sea is perfect. outside the urban areas of European nations there are less cyclists and facilities...

Also in Britain, we had e powered vehicles that just didn't have street cred or were going to break any land speeds. Some still with us:

Sinclair C5 (those too young to remember, google it), mobility aids and milk floats LOL

the last two may not have street cred but are useful vehicles in their context. apparently an unloaded derestricted milk float can do 90.... and I think electric vehicles should be used more by people like Royal Mail / BT Openreach etc.. one thing I do feel was a big mistake in Thatcho's time was the privatisation of the electricity boards, as they were all starting renewable energy projects and all these got shelved in the rush for profit...

 

[jasono]

Hi there

I'm quite new to the forum and e-Bikes in general and have only just spotted this thread

I think e-Bikes have got a real role to play in sustainable transport for the UK for a number of reasons:
They are a way to encourage more people on to two wheels and out of four
They are ideal for medium/longer journeys, errands and commutes - that os what I intend to use mine for
Something that may need challenging is a quite often heard comment that e-Bikes are aimed at those new or coming back to cycling after a break. I am a keen cyclist and feel that an e-Bike offers me a number of benefits, including: being able to cycle to work in my office gear, rather than having to change when I get there; not feeling too tired at the end of the week; being able to carry additional gear; being able to predict my journey time more accurately - as it will not matter so much if I am tired or if there is a headwind, etc

Something that would help all cyclists is a re-think on planning cycle lanes, some round here are rubbish as you have to give way at every junction. Surely most roads are wide enough to accomodate an integrated lane, the work for which could be done as they are maintained, etc. And why aren't all new roads built with cycle lanes incorprated alongside them?

Hope this helps

Jason