It is a good idea in principle but I reckon it could do with some adverts in national TV with real videos of bikes going past cars.

Perhaps you pass the cars too quick for them to get a note of the url. ;-)

Sirius, they either pass me at speed or I pass them at speed. I think drivers would take it as a wind-up...

I think it's a good idea, but you need to remember a couple of things - which I say as someone who's only been back into cycling for under a year....

Firstly, most people who drive probably haven't done any excerise for (as in my case) well over 20 years and you may find the thought that they'll keel over from a heart attack scares them witless. I find it hard work but throughly enjoyable.

Then there's the perpetual scaremongering about how dangerous the roads are, which at the end of the day is as simple as being seen.

My other point concerns what happened when I started to commute by motorbike (to London from rural Kent). When I started, one could filter past all the stationary traffic, and stop near the front of the queue (this was all done very politely, I might add). If you were unlucky, you would find another motorcyclist at the head of the queue. When I went to London many years after stopping commuting, you couldn't move for motorcycles at the head of the queue. What happens when all the people who drive, ride a bike? Irate cyclcists, I suspect.

I'd get some more shirts done saying "Wish I was sitting in a nice warm car"

:)

Simon

How does he know that all the car drivers journeys are commutable by bike???

'thiscocks' - I'm sure that this bloke knows that some commutes are inconceivable by bike, but surely that isn't a valid reason to stop such a campaign? Even if it leads to just a few people to cycle, its done its job.

thiscocks, my last regular job people couldn't believe that it was commutable by bike, and that was only a 45km round trip. I'm now doing a 57km round trip which would be even less commutable then?

I think the problem is that for most people they:

A; don't have a proper bike and by proper something other than a £80 jobby form Halfords

B: Are scared of traffic, and god knows I get fed up with it myself;

C: lack the fitness to do it even once over even a short distance (remember what thats like, I do, its terrible!)

D: lack the gear to cope with the vagaries of the weather;

E: lack the motivation (don't we all have trouble at times? Mind you it only takes one experience of SW Trains a month for me, to be glad to be on the bike in rain);

F: for the rest, it doesn't fit their work/family/childcare arrangements.;

G, H J etc add any other reasonable point you might think of.

I used to commute 27 miles/day minimum by bike (I'm retired now). This was about 60% on open roads and 40% crossing Derby from north to south crossing the ring road twice. On the very few occasions I used a car (usually injury or illness) it was considerably quicker (25 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes for the 13.5 miles) though definitely not as enjoyable - even in very bad weather. Plus I didn't need to get changed.

It seems that all the reportage about cycle commuting assumes everyone lives and works in London. A work colleague who lived in Sheffield used to leave a bike at our house and commuted with me. He occasionally cycled the whole way from his home and that was definitely slower than by car.

Geoff

A lot of car commute journies are pathetically short and it's these commuters who are valid targets for this campaign. People who drive a mile or two to work or to drop the kids off clog the roads for everyone when they could (should?) be walking or riding a bicycle. A collegue of mine drives less than two miles to work every day, then pays £6 per day at the NCP. How crazy is that??

I would buy and wear one of the jerseys for my commute to college, problem is you wouldn't be able to see the logo as I have to wear a rucksack to take all of my books etc with me

The very idea of getting rained on or not being able to sit on your backside and depress a pedal to transport yourself and all your belongings to work is anathema to many drivers.

And being undertaken by cyclists is both threatening and frustrating. They shouldn't be on the road for God's sake - or the pavement! Especially if they wear protective or weatherproof clothing, thereby looking odd. And I'm going to park in their cycle lanes because they are less human than we motorists.

The car's the only way for the UK until we're all underwater and someone does an 'it's quicker by kayak' initiative. In the meantime, if someone dares to commute faster than you without burning fossil fuel to propel themselves from A to B in a ton of metal, take the tree-hugging whacko out and then use the "I didn't see him/her excuse" - this is a sure-fire hit with your fellow motorist policemen and magistrates.

I am a Daily Mail reader and I espouse their proscribed opininions. I have no mind of my own. Or maybe I've just had too much Bailey's Irish Cream. God bless James Martin and all who sail in her. Whatever you do don't think about the future! Your standard of living is tantamount and is not to be eroded by such trifles as the future of this planet or the plight of people you perceive as intrinsically different to yourself.

Many thanks Gabriel. I funded quickerbybike.com out of my savings, so national TV campaign is a little outside my budget. I agree though, it would be cool.

Sirius, I try to mooch gently past the very worst queues I pass each day and I try to make sure the logo is nice and visible. The writing is pretty big and I hope a few people read it. What their reaction is, I have no idea.

Simon, I'm about 400mm wide when I'm on my bike. Most cars are nearly 2 metres wide. If all the cars were swapped for cyclists, I'd get to work a lot quicker and would be a lot happier. The answer to your question is "see Beijing". Unfortunately we've convinced them cars are cooler and they all want to switch the wrong way. I get it that lots of people have lots of reasons for not riding. Riding is not the only way to travel. All I want to do is to suggest that riding is an alternative. You can keep your dependent, smelly, noisy, heavy, expensive, limiting, characterless, inhuman, environmentally disatrous nice warm car.

Thiscocks. I know not all jouneys are commutable by bike. Most are though. Thanks Giant Phil, that's exactly where I'm coming from. Geoff, you're right, of course, there is a London bias. The stats I found showed london journeys genuinely are quickerbybike. I'm sure this isn't true for rural commutes. It's worth thinking though that it's not just the time spent commuting that makes cycling quicker. Cars cost about £8k. Bikes cost about £700. How many hours do you have to work to pay for the extra cost of the car. Cycling is simply more efficient as a use of time, materials and money.

Thread 8. Yes, the jerseys are a nicety really. I got them made because people were asking for them. The shorts were the original idea because the logo is visible below a rucksack. I did try to get rucksack covers made but found that to get decent ones (like the HUMP ones) I'd need to order thousands. I didn't have the cash. I did get some bag covers made but they aren't the coolest, if we're honest. I ended up giving them away and losing £400.

Manonabike. Hear hear. Bravo.

Cheers all for the interest. Glad some of you like the campaign.

Preaching to the converted. But ALL trips are commutable until you get over say 15mile, when time becomes a factor. All that is required is fore thought, having most of your office clothing in the office, deodrants, wipes etc. And before anyone says its is easy for desk workers, I have done plenty of days of hard manual labour in the pouring rain and cycled. Not based in London and yet it takes the guys in the office 45min to commute just 8miles, I am covering 4 miles in 16min, on a fat 2,25 inch tyre full-susser. I feel sorry for them, a car no longer communicates status, but a lack of interest in the world and being trapped. I reckon I am a minimum of 2k better off, 2k which goes on holidays, clothing, bikes enjoyable things. Just keep at it, try not to get stressed or aggressive, they all think your mad in the winter but in the summer you can see some of them look longingly out of the window.

Martinwilly 'You can keep your dependent, smelly, noisy, heavy, expensive, limiting, characterless, inhuman, environmentally disatrous nice warm car', I hear you there.

Even by the end of last week after battling head winds every day feeling so tired as a result I could hardly turn the cranks, I was less miserable than I knew I would be sitting in a car moving at 2MPH trying to get into the city centre to work.

As for the distance debate... To be clear I'd have never said I was a cyclist having spent the best part of 10 years without owning a bike. When I got back into riding three years ago I used to only ride three days out of five and just the four miles to the train station. Without realising I've done it my whole life has been adjusted to accommodate riding further to work and it's now rare I DON'T ride the full 20 miles in to the office. I'm STILL quicker than doing it in a car too! I've lost all the middle age spread I'd 'found', I can eat like a pig and not put it back on, I can keep up with my little girl on a weekend when she's playing and I'm less likely to drop dead through heart disease. I might look ‘stoopid’ as some work colleagues like to point out but I’m better off in every way for riding.

I don't know what THE answer is to educating people, and I don't get that others don't get what I'm saying to them, but if people simply stop trying it's a lost cause.

let's face it, it's rarely quicker by bike

my shortest route to work is 11 miles which takes 50 mins by bike, 25 mins by car

my longest (scenic) route to work is 20 miles which takes 80 mins by bike, 35 mins by car

it's healthier, cheaper, nicer by bike

and how do you pass these stationary cars - overtake or undertake? the former is dangerous, the latter is dangerous and illegal (?)

moolarb, depends on the route and on the traffic. For London based commuters and it can easily be quicker by bike, I frequently have (distinctive) vehicles overtake me at one point on my commute, 2 miles later I'm overtaking them when they're at a standstill behind a half mile of unmoving traffic that slows me down not at all.

Factor in also the timbe you need to earn the additional cost of car ownership at for all the extra time you might spend you couldl find the saving is larger again! Take a look at this: http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/advice/advice_rcosts_petrol_table.jsp

If I was driving the round trips on a yearly basis would cost the nominal £2166 figure. After tax I earn about £14.30 an hour,so I'd have to work 151.5 hours a year to pay for the car to drive, or about 40 minutes a day. I do the cycle in to work in about 70 minutes and around 75 minutes home, the drive would take I think about 60 minutes and maybe the same again, though that would be without major traffic jams that could be expected on the A3 (one guy in the office took 5 hours to get to work last week over a distance I could ride in 2 hours) and around where I work.

Based on my calcs I'm therefore faster....

If I choose the rural lanes it takes 35 mins to do the 10 miles vs 20 mins in the car. For the 8 miles through Shrewsbury it's 25 vs 20. On either route the bike is more fun (but much more effort) than the car.

One day last week I had to use the car and left work at 4pm. It took 55 mins to get home through the town centre. The queues were awful, it would certainly have been quickerbybike. It wasn't much better in the morning - 40 mins round the lanes due to a diversion.

I think Martin has clarified already that his message is aimed at urban drivers; most journeys are shorter than 5 miles, many are just 2 or 3 miles. Whether he can measure its success is not really the point - he's trying and well done. I try to spread the message here but entrenched views and fear of traffic don't help. Having said that, my LBS have been really busy - they sold 20 bikes on the C2W scheme last week, so someone's buying them, despite the rain!

www.nicerbybike.com?

I think it's been nicer by car the last week or two - unless rain and strong wind in sweaty waterproofs is nice. (The weather kind of wind not the other kind which is also not good in waterproofs).

Quicker is clever because it gets drivers thinking if they are stuck in a queue and a cyclist goes by with 'quicker by bike' on their clothing. I don't think the point of it is that it is claiming that all journeys are quicker by bike, just trying to make motorists think about cycling as an alternative way of getting from A to B. Obviously some drivers will think 'aha, but my journey is actually quicker by car' but that's not the point.

richardspooner stated:

"I might look ‘stoopid’ as some work colleagues like to point out but I’m better off in every way for riding."

I think this is a big part of it. In Vancouver people are afraid to look ridiculous or silly... all because of fear that people (whom they don't know) will judge them negatively. They hold on for dear life to the idea that a car is THE status icon and they just 'couldn't' bike to work. While cars can be powerful and luxurious (Audi RS4 anyone) they only depreciate. I'd rather ride my bike anyways because it's so much damn fun, stress reducing, quicker than driving for me and it's a good way to train for the BC Bike Race!

GT

I love my daily commute, if u ever wanted to know the definition of hate just ride past a huge line of traffic all sitting there burning petrol and money going nowhere, u can feel the hate bein radiated towards u its brilliant!!!!