MSE News: Fuel rise 'will force job changes'

custardy

Plushchris wrote: »

A nightmare because of all the cyclists?

Im sure you think thats a clever comment
sadly not the case
you do realise more cyclists=less cars=less traffic?

custardy

interstellaflyer wrote: »

I personally think it's ridiculous to suggest cycling 20 miles to work then 20 miles home as a viable alternative, it may suit the minority of hardcore cyclists but it certainly isn't going to suit those of us who need to get to work clean and smelling fresh, not all employers are or would be able to supply showers then there's the issue of how much earlier you would need to get to work to clean up and cool down, that makes the claimed 1hr 15mins turn into 2 hrs and then there's the wear and tear on your bike, ok not as high as a car but I used to cycle 7 miles to work and 7 miles home every day before i learnt to drive and it used to cost me a fortune in wheels, tyres, pedal cranks and batteries for the lights.

you make valid points
till the end
cheap crappy bike?
wheels? how exaclty do they wear out?
tyres? only tyre I have replaced is through damage on a pothole
thats 20 miles a day at least on over a years use. at least another year in them
cranks?
batteries for the lights?
pedals? mine are years old,still going though a little rough on the bearings
I run rechargable units and LED units
batteries are not an issue

Idiophreak

custardy wrote: »

different bike & tyres for rain?
lol
what you need is a decent spec commuter/CX (plenty out there nowadays)
full guards,700c wheels but with disc hubs
all weather spec
with all those costs you listed
what about the savings on car use/wear & tear?

I guess it's a personal thing, but I'd want to get in as fast as possible....a commuter just isn't the quickest way of doing 20 miles in dry conditions.

The whole point of listing the costs was to compare them against the amount saved in fuel/wear and tear on a car.

Driving carefully, it's around £4/day in fuel plus wear and tear on the car. I honestly think that water, food, toiletries, washing etc are going to add up to a good half this, if not more. Then add on the extra 2 hours a day it would take and I'd be saving myself £1/hour for doing it. Like I said, the sums just don't make sense.

custardy wrote: »

oh and to add
take today
day off
cycled to the gym
after the gym,I cycled into town and picked up a package from John lewis
then got some shopping
grabbed a coffee
cycled home

all done on the bike on a lovely sunny day.
anyone who drives in Edinburgh, will tell you what driving through town is like!

I've no problem with using bikes for shorter trips, for recreation, or for occasions when you're in no rush (like days off, for instance) - but for a 20mph commute I think it's a non-starter.

If I hadn't promised a nun (long story) that I'd never ride one, I *would* seriously consider a motorbike for getting around on. Much cheaper to run.

Gra76

In an ideal world I would be in a position to get to work and then carry out my normal working day using public transport.

As it happens we don't live in an ideal world. Not many people do. We're getting taxed beyond what is reasonable and sticking a further 3p a litre onto what is already an obscenely taxed resource is rather annoying to put it mildly. That's going to push diesel up to an average of 152.9p at the garages around here. Assuming it doesn't go up again before that happens. Which it probably will.

My daily commute is a 35 mile round trip and I have to visit clients properties at specific times for appointments, these clients can be anywhere within a 50 mile radius of my office and I might be out driving all day. I have no choice but to drive. I couldn't rely upon public transport to get me to anywhere near many of my clients, who don't live conveniently on bus routes or next to train stations the majority of the time. That and my office is a good 2 miles away from the nearest bus route to start with.

I can get through a tank of fuel at a cost of £70-80 without trying. My fuel costs in a month average out at anywhere between £250 and £400 depending on how busy I've been. My wife has a fuel bill of around £200 per month on top of that. That's a lot of money to be spending on something we don't realistically have any choice in.

Didn't we have roadblocks and protests when fuel crashed through £1 a litre? It's not going to be long before we're all looking at £2 per litre the way it's going, yet people are taking it lying down. It's like we just don't mind anymore and seem to have accepted it as inevitable.

As for LPG...I seem to think that's risen sharply over the last few years as well, I'm sure I can recall seeing it priced at under 40p per litre in the not-so-distant past at garages around here, and I'm pretty sure it's about double that now. Add to that the cost of installing an LPG system in the first place and you'd have to do a lot of mileage to make it break even.

We'll have to consider moving closer to work. Which sounds great but I'll get slapped with a big chunk of stamp duty when we move that'll wipe out any saving we might make for a long time to come.

You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

custardy

As I said,its not for everyone
however many folks moaning about fuel costs could cut their outgoings
I commute in the early hours
Im quicker than the bus and about 15 minutes slower than the car(10 miles or so)
going home Im as quick as the car due to traffic and destroy the bus

Oh my commuter runs road bike gearing and is no slouch.
not road bike fast but can make a decent turn of speed

smitchy73

Well I bought a Golf Bluemotion and do a 65 mile round trip half on A and B roads, and half on the motorway, I travel at around 50-60mph and get easily high 60mpg from the diesel which at the moment is costing me around £1.41(9) per litre, my tank of diesel which costs me about £70 lasts me for 2 weeks of commuting and the odd extra trip at weekends, not far though.
If I travel by public transport I have to leave home ten minutes earlier to catch a bus to the nearest train station, then catch a train at 6.30am to get me in to Glasgow for about 7.20am, then I have to fight through the train station and walk for 15 minutes to get to work, for around 7.40am, if I get an annual travelcard then I get it for around £155 per month for an interest free loan from my employer, but it takes me twice as long as in the car, plus the fact that it costs more, even though I should encompass the cost of the car, I don't as I would have the car regardless of getting the train or not, so when considering this I only take the time and fuel costs in to account.
In the autumn I plan to get an electric car, which initial costs will be lower than my current car by around £5000, it will cost around £75per month for battery lease(Renault) then charging costs will either be free through work, or at a cost of approx £1 per nightly charge if done between 7pm and 7am. I am in talks with my employers about getting a charging point into the car park at work for the purpose, they may even be able to let other people use if out of office opening hours and at the weekend, I'm helping them look at the solutions available.
I can't cycle that distance either so it's a case of public transport at extra cost and double travel time, or use the car as economically as possible and taking half the time.

whatmichaelsays

Whenever a business fails, forums such as this usually fill up with the common phrase: "They didn't adapt to the modern day". And that's often perfectly correct.

Yet, when things affect the public, such as fuel and food prices, the mantra is very rarely "we need to adapt to the modern day" and usually "somebody should do something so that I don't need to adapt". Why?

Fuel prices are not coming down any time soon. There are too many factors that will force the price up rather than down. That means that people need to change their way of life so that it is not so dependent on the idea of cheap fuel, much in the same way that people are (slowly) adapting to the idea of no more cheap credit. Whether that means moving closer to work, changing their car, changing their mode of transport or whatever else.

The reality is that nobody can or will help you so, unless you can come up with a grand solution to reduce fuel duty but find equivilent tax income / spending cuts, you need to adapt your lifestyle to the modern world.

adamc260

I've already had to quit my job as I'm paying £50 a week just to get to work.. that's before Insurance, Tax, Maintenance on my car etc etc... It's just not a viable option!

If I used public transport it would cost more and involve 3 forms of public transport EACH WAY!

custardy

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

Whenever a business fails, forums such as this usually fill up with the common phrase: "They didn't adapt to the modern day". And that's often perfectly correct.

Yet, when things affect the public, such as fuel and food prices, the mantra is very rarely "we need to adapt to the modern day" and usually "somebody should do something so that I don't need to adapt". Why?

Fuel prices are not coming down any time soon. There are too many factors that will force the price up rather than down. That means that people need to change their way of life so that it is not so dependent on the idea of cheap fuel, much in the same way that people are (slowly) adapting to the idea of no more cheap credit. Whether that means moving closer to work, changing their car, changing their mode of transport or whatever else.

The reality is that nobody can or will help you so, unless you can come up with a grand solution to reduce fuel duty but find equivilent tax income / spending cuts, you need to adapt your lifestyle to the modern world.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=51548011&postcount=84

pretty much fits in to my reply on another thread with pretty much the same subject.
people need to find a solution.
years back as a chef,I used to park about 5 miles out and cycle into work as there was no parking.

pinkteapot

I commute by train and it costs £4,376 a year. How much petrol would that buy me?

My season ticket went up by 4.6% this year. I'm still better off working where I do and paying than taking a pay cut to work locally. If that changed, I'd move jobs (or try to anyway).

Transportation price increases don't just affect car drivers.