MSE News: Fuel rise 'will force job changes'

TrickyWicky

Gra76 wrote: »

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.

Thats because people in this country have become moaners. They like to moan about how bad things are but do anything about it? - No, thats someone elses job.

People are quick enough to blame the ministers for this country going to the dogs but it wouldn't be going to them if people stood up to the ministers and said no. People in this country are stupid sheep and thats why we're all being milked. When was the last time anyone here signed a fair fuel uk petition? Wrote to their MP or stopped them in the town etc?

It took fair fuel uk MONTHS to get 100k signatures on their petition. Considering this country has millions of motorists I think it shows that very few of them really care.

thelawnet

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Not bloody likely, I'm not anti cycling and do enjoy a cycle ride for pleasure but I value my life too much to cycle the roads I'd need to use to get to work.

Perhaps you could show us your route to work, so we can see.

But as a matter of principle it is far more dangerous NOT to cycle than to cycle, simply because people that cycle have a far lower risk of numerous diseases, obesity, and so on.

"For the people who shift from car to bicycle, we estimated that the well-documented beneficial effect of increased physical activity due to cycling resulted in about 9 times more gains in life-years than the losses in life years due to increased inhaled air pollution doses and traffic accidents. For the society as a whole this can be even larger because of reduced air pollution emissions. If the risk presented to other road users is included, the risk of a fatal traffic accident is virtually the same for cyclists and car drivers."

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0901747

thelawnet

pinkteapot wrote: »

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

Quite a lot!

If we assume 7l/100km (40mpg), and £1.40/l, you can buy 3125 litres of fuel for the money, which would drive you 44,642km, or 28,000 miles.

Of course there are other costs associated with driving, but presumably you have a car already, so some of those are already sunk.

It makes sense to tax roads beyond the cost of public transport, otherwise there's no reason to use it.

For me, I generally find that it's significantly cheaper to drive than to use public transport.

For me to take the family to London on a Sunday will cost £34.40, taking into account 'groupsave' discount. The distance is 62 miles, and the petrol will cost, at 30mpg, in my far-from-efficient car, £12.74. Parking is free on Sundays, so why would I use public transport? It's far too expensive, or driving is far too cheap. One or the other.....

interstellaflyer

thelawnet wrote: »

Perhaps you could show us your route to work, so we can see.

Well my most direct route would be up the A34 between Milton Interchange and Botley Interchange and only a complete moron would contemplate that route, still some idiots do cycle on it, the back roads are not that good especialy in winter when it's dark and I don't leave work untill 6pm, the other thing is that I actually have a life outside work and would like to get home in time to enjoy it, 1/2 an hour against nearly 2 hours if i cycled on the alternative route, no brainer.

thelawnet

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!

People are daft. I pick my daughter up from school by bike, they are all scrambling to get a parking spot outside, but I just cycle right through the gate.

The other day my daughter overheard her classmate saying 'I want to go to the library' to her mother. So she said she did too. So we cycled there, locked the bike outside went inside. About 15 minutes later the other boy and his mother arrived. I couldn't help smirking to myself.

I have a convertible car, but I'd rather be riding my bike, on a nice nice sunny day

Cash-Strapped.T32

Idiophreak wrote: »

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.

Stuff it up yer' bum sister, broom-broom!
To be a shade more serious, I manage to run 2 bikes, one a 400 el-cheapo scoot & a big bike on a fraction of what most people spend on their cars; It really is the way forward if you're finding travel costs to be prohibitive.

Loads of people I work with ask the question "so when are you going to get a proper car?"
(while they happily use their work vehicles to go home & back every day & only use their own cars to do the weekly big-shop)

When they do, I just think of threads like this, and my insanely low by comparison fuel/tax/ins bills.

I sometimes verge upon the militant, but I don't really see why anyone with 2 arms & legs can't ride a motorbike or large scooter for the vast majority of travel; If anyone is *that* wobbly or lacking in confidence that they can't ride at least a larger capacity scooter then you'd have to worry about letting them near a car either.

On practical terms, I've been to job interviews by bike, and it doesn't mean you end up looking you scruffy or inhibit your ability to be professional & turn up with files, briefcases, equipment or moderately heavy gear (anything that's too big to be transported on your bike is too heavy to carry by hand when you get there), and even rain isn't a problem, waterproof outers are so cheap as to be unreal & work a treat.

By all means keep a car to lug your caravan around one or two times a year, but if the issue is merely one of getting to work & back, bikes all the way! :money:

Ok, there's exceptions to everything in life; Adapted motabilty cars, and shuttling 4 kiddies to nursery school, or taking the dog to the vet's might be tricky by bike (the Taiwanese seem to manage perfectly fine though ), but on the whole it's just lack of imagination imo that prevents most people from taking control of their transport costs in this particular way.

I fall into the category of those who work in a place where I couldn't realistically use a pedal bike (motorway travel, dual carriageways etc..) but if the circumstances allowed I'd be up for it, but then again by riding motorbikes the pressure to save isn't as strong for me as I'm already paying much less than a car driver doing the same journey.

TrickyWicky

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

bikes all the way!.

So what about black ice? Lack of heating, rain, drivers who don't see you because you're speeding like a maniac etc? Lack of protection...

Then there is the fact that every single motorcyclist I have known in my life has had a serious accident and ended up in hospital - every single one. One bloke was in a coma for weeks.

They might be good for fun but they're incredibly dangerous things. The most recent rider I know to of had an accident still can't use his hand properly.

Idiophreak

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Well my most direct route would be up the A34 between Milton Interchange and Botley Interchange and only a complete moron would contemplate that route, still some idiots do cycle on it, the back roads are not that good especialy in winter when it's dark and I don't leave work untill 6pm, the other thing is that I actually have a life outside work and would like to get home in time to enjoy it, 1/2 an hour against nearly 2 hours if i cycled on the alternative route, no brainer.

Lol, how spooky - this is the stretch of dual carriageway I was talking about two...Been looking over the rest of your posts in this thread and wondering if we are, in fact, the same person

atrixblue.-MFR-.

jeeze when i was working for a water authority as a contractor we had meetings every monday and the top of the agenda was fuel, always told look for the cheapest fill up in small amounts and squeeze all the fumes in the tank as much as possible work out the routs plan the miles and do a MpG - miles calculation as best we can and mark out the cheapest service station in that rout to fill up on the way back.

even the vehicle were changed from combo's to little nemo's (very impractical for the line of work we did) it was then 106p per litre.
now ive heared they have minibusses and drop workers into area's park the bus up and work the area find the nearest grub station (cafe) to have food and make their way back home in the bus, most of the vans have gone back and the end result only a few fuel cards as theres only a few minibuses saving the company cash they even have trackers fitted to the vans to make sure their not being used when not neccesary and driven eco friendly.

my BIL is a manager at a small motor factors, his vans are are on 55 plates and one is on 52. he cant afford to run one of them because the fuel allowance set by the company all 3 depots have had to store off road one van each (because their bought outright)!!! reducing turn over he's now down to 3 vans serving a 100 miles radius wich he has now had to start shortening losing profit, they are in need of another worker but thier profits dont make it viable even part time prospects.

custardy

thelawnet wrote: »

People are daft. I pick my daughter up from school by bike, they are all scrambling to get a parking spot outside, but I just cycle right through the gate.

The other day my daughter overheard her classmate saying 'I want to go to the library' to her mother. So she said she did too. So we cycled there, locked the bike outside went inside. About 15 minutes later the other boy and his mother arrived. I couldn't help smirking to myself.

I have a convertible car, but I'd rather be riding my bike, on a nice nice sunny day

I can beat a car into town on all but the quietest days.
Im no car hater. The car is great for days out on long distances
however folks need to get away from a carcentric view.
costs are going up.
we are living longer,people are driving longer. so more cars on the roads.
it will take a change of midset for many
I live in a congested city.
for many cycling is the smart answer,but they don't.
people remain slaves to their cars