This was the very catchy slogan of one of the motorcycle pressure groups some years ago when they were trying to convince people that using a motorcycle to get around on made good sense.
Now, being on the “inside” we know that this is so, but the wider community still doesn’t seem to be entirely convinced. That is why the front page article in last Friday’s Sydney Morning Herald was so interesting.
In order to evaluate the merits of various forms of commuting (and, I suspect, to embarrass our Transport Minister), they gave 6 people the assignment of travelling from Ryde (in the heart of the Transport Minister’s electorate) to the city centre by 6 different methods. The progress of each competitor was monitored and their total elapsed time was recorded.
Final results read as follows.
First: Scooter, 25 minutes
Second: Push bike, 32 minutes
Third: Car, 37 minutes
Fourth: Train, 1 hour 12 minutes
Fifth: Bus, 1 hour 14 minutes
Sixth: Running, 1 hour 20 minutes
Now there are a myriad of conclusions which can be drawn from this experiment, but please allow me to draw just a couple.
1. Obviously the scooter/bike will win, as it can filter the traffic and not be stuck in traffic jams for as long.
2. The two methods of public transport did a woefully inadequate job of serving the commuters’ needs even compared to a car, the train taking almost 3 times longer to deliver its commuter to the same spot (and, remember, this is a journey of only 15.5 kiometres!!)
3. All the bleating about how we must get people off the roads and onto public transport becomes a total farce when the system can’t cope with the number of people who are using it NOW, let alone how many WOULD be using it if cars were banned, (for example) from the city centre as the eco-Nazis are suggesting.
The lesson is clear. If you want to get about, get a bike.
