Walk or cycle to work, says the Government

[yellowbrickwhorl]

I'm just deciding whether to walk or cycle the 25 miles to and from work each day. Which would be preferable, do you think?

campion

Actually in the thread I'm thinking about, the OP is planning to move house and wondering if their potential destination is too far away from the school she wants to send her DC to. So nothing to do the quality of schools on her doorstep. That's the sort of mindset (that this sort of journey is normal) that I think should be changed.

If I lived only a couple of miles from work I would be walking there anyway I certainly don't feel comfortable cycling into central London, nor am I willing to pay for a bike to do this

If only everyone worked within walking (or cycling) distance of where they lived... cloudcuckooland I think it's called.

Anyway, back in the real world, where most of us live, I'm going to take up IIets suggestion of a little self-drive taxi and use that.

If only everyone worked within walking (or cycling) distance of where they lived...cloudcuckoolandI think it's called.

Exactly, and what happens if you move house? When I was younger I lived in loads of different flatshares.

I'd love to walk to work but there just aren't the jobs, and no, my job can't be done from home.

It’s a bit of conundrum for me.

I work across two sites in London.

One site is about an 1 hr 15 mins walk each way. I could feasibly do it (although I might be a bit sweaty on arrival at work, as it’s a lot of uphill trekking!).

The other site is too far to walk to, and I can’t drive because there is absolutely no parking available anywhere within walking distance. The Tube doesn’t go there, and bus to and from is rammed in normal rush hour times - I wouldn’t feel safe getting it if it continued to be that busy.

@yellowbrickwhorl

Mine's about 16 miles. Should take me about under 5 hours one way according to google but I'm a fat old lazy cow so I'll add on a couple of hours! Also I think it may be longer as I'll need to take along a couple of cans of oxygen, a camp chair for a sit down every now, a huge water bottle and a portaloo... fuck it, I'll just take loads of camping gear. Maybe pull it in some sort of cart like a fat little donkey

Also a bike ride may be fun! over 2 hours on a major A road.... but then I REALLY like living and don't want to end up as road kill as there is no way my little legs will get up to a decent speed unless I go down a REALLY steep hill.

Obviously if you live a long way away from your workplace then you can't instantly change to walking/cycling there, but perhaps it's something that should be thought about in the future when you are changing jobs/moving houses.

Wow

Whenever I look for a job, I apply for lots of them and take the one I'm lucky enough to be offered. Some of us aren't so highly in demand that we actually get to choose these things. MN really amazes me sometimes.

I could theoretically cycle to work as it’s under 4 miles, but unfortunately it’s just not safe to do so. Winding roads with no lights and drivers who ignore the speed limits. And since my commute would not be done by many people, there won’t be any improvements to this.

a huge water bottle and a portaloo

In all seriousness, even if I did end up walking 4 or 5 miles, there just aren't enough public toilets any more, and if it's your morning commute then you can't even sneak into a pub at that time of day. At least with train/tube travel there's still a few stations that have loos - if you're lucky, as many of them have closed. If the government want us to walk that far during hot weather, they're going to have to provide more places for women to have a pee.

The only places I know where everyone works within walking distance of their workplaces are the soaps on TV.

I'd love to see safe cycling lanes. It has been lovely to see families able to cycle safely on roads that are usually too busy.
I've a feeling our little run down industrial town is not likely to see any funding though. It would be pretty useless for getting people to work too as we're very much a commuter town.

Cycling is marvellous on a lovely day in spring, summer, autumn. Fast forward to a gusty, windy day with driving rain when you can hardly see in front of your face...and poor visability for car/lorries/van drivers.

I was blown over by fierce gust of wind whilst cycling home from work and was nearly run over but for a bit of luck. Another time almost killed by a bus pulling out without signalling or using the side mirror.

Walking is very time consuming, also affected by weather conditions and according to the distance needed sometimes very tiring/exhausting. It could affect work performance. Not too comfortable sitting all day feeling sweaty either.

Of course I understand the ethos behind the idea and applaud it. I feel it would only work though for journeys to and from work of up 5 miles max walking and 20 miles max cycling. And most roads just aren't not safe enough at all. Just my opinion.

Think the govt are also planning on pushing through the legalisation of electric scooters. Someone at work has one and it’s great, he overtakes me on the cycle path and must be gone 12mph plus as that’s my average speed. Dd would probably use one rather than take the train and if they’re legal I’d get her one. She could get into town in 20mins on one.

I am front of house where I work and have to appear presentable. I’d happily cycle if customers don’t mind me smiling at them with a load of flies stuck in my teeth and hair that looks like the wild woman of Borneo!

Oh, the irony.

HS2.

As a pedestrian,my experience of electric scooters in France was anything but positive. They appeared from nowhere,usually going far too fast (12mph is fast!),weaving in and out of pedestrians and couldn't be heard.
There was a cavalier attitude at best and accidents at worst.
The news that they may be legalised here without proper scrutiny didn't cheer me up at all.

So do people ride electric scooters on the pavement or roads?

Walk to school when it opens not go half a mile in a Chelsea tractor would be my message.

So do people ride electric scooters on the pavement or roads?

DW is religiously careful not to use roads as her scooter isn't approved for road use. It's limited to 4mph and she rarely gets to that.

But don't worry, most scooter users can't get too far before a blocked dropped kerb, or random step stops them in their tracks, so you aren't too likely to be bothered by them.

I’d very happily cycle the 32 (?) miles to work and back every day but not sure what I’m supposed to do with my laptop etc or where I’m supposed to leave my expensive bike or how I’d manage to use either a motorway or an insane A road that often scares me in the car to do house calls in the city once I got there.

I was just curious really. I can see it being a bit of a problem if people are zooming about on narrow pavements on scooters.

Currently scooters are illegal on both roads and pavement. The govt are looking at allowing them on pavements only I believe. Not roads I don’t think.

I’m also very lucky that there are shower facilities at work. So I get up, cycle to work and then shower, change and breakfast. I do agree though that I wouldn’t Have had time if I had a school run or nursery to do. Depends on your set up. But when Dd was little nursery opened at 8am and I started work 7 miles away at 8am. She only went to nursery on a Thursday and my boss didn’t start work until 8.30am but it was a race to beat my boss in every day and in 3 years he never clocked that I was late to work every Thursday! And that was with a ten min car journey, could not have done a 40 min bike ride.

If we have the same problems here as in France we can look forward to deaths and serious injuries from electric scooters.

4 mph DGRossetti? Apparently not.

ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-50189279

A mere 5hr20 walk to work, making it a 10hr40 round trip. Doable!