HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Commuter Cyclists' Triumph

James Styring, Cyclox co-ordinator, www.cyclox.org | 23.06.2004 20:08 | Indymedia | Oxford

The Oxford Commuter Challenge 2004 showed that for short city journeys using a car is by far the slowest way to get around – a real waste of time unless you’re carrying a heavy load. Cycling and walking are convenient, fun and healthy – and they’re actually quicker, too. At 8.15 am on 15 June, cyclists took 10 mins to cross the city, while doing the same journey by car took the same amount of time as walking. See report and photos, follow links below.

Oxford Commuter Challenge 2004
Oxford Commuter Challenge 2004


CYCLOX (the Cycling Campaign for Oxford), OxPA (Oxford Pedestrians’ Association) and OxFoE (Oxford Friends of the Earth) did a COMMUTER CHALLENGE from the Bingo Hall on the corner of Cowley and Magdalen Roads to Oxford railway station at 8.15 a.m. on Tues 15 June.

We timed everyone travelling from Cowley Rd to Oxford railway station to see how quick each mode of transport is. This year’s results match almost exactly the times recorded on Botley Rd last year (2003). Again the cyclists came first, taking only 10-11 mins; a motorised wheelchair user, the bus riders and a unicyclist all took 20 mins; but the biggest surprise was that the walkers arrived in just 35 mins, only 1 min after the car driver who came via Longwall St / Banbury Rd (34 mins). The car driver who drove via Donnington Bridge / Abingdon Rd arrived in 26 mins. SEE FULL RESULTS LISTED BELOW.

James Styring, Cyclox co-ordinator and organiser of today’s event, said: “Yet again, on a different cross-city route, the bike is more than three times quicker than any other form of transport at peak commuting times. And even walking the 2.2 miles from Magdalen Rd to the station is no slower than going by car. The Challenge shows that for short city journeys using a car is the most expensive and slowest way to get around – a real waste of time unless you’re carrying a heavy load. Cycling and walking are convenient, fun and healthy – and they’re actually quicker, too.”

We chose 15 June to promote National Bike Week (12–20 June). Cyclox has organised bike rides every night of National Bike Week, with fun rides for cyclists of any age and ability. We want to show people the little-known cycle path and towpath routes that can make cycling in Oxford such a pleasure. Details on www.cyclox.org.

We will do another challenge on this same route in a year’s time to compare journey times on Cowley Rd before and after the £1m safety improvements have been implemented.

RESULTS BREAKDOWN Oxford Commuter Challenge 2004
Cyclists Jonathan Wheeler (Cyclox) 10 mins
Penny Jaques (Cyclox) 11 mins
David Jaques (Cyclox) 11 mins
Les Hitchins (Cyclox) - on a folding bike 11 mins

Electric scooter (motorised wheelchair) Robin Brooks (Oxford City Council Shop Mobility manager) 20 mins

Unicyclist Peter Lister (Cyclox) 20 mins

Bus Alastair Lane 21 mins
Peter Riches (Oxford Bus Company) 21 mins
Ray Jones (OxPA) 21 mins

Walkers Corinne Grimley-Evans (OxPA) 35 mins
Jill Haas (OxPA) 35 mins

Car drivers Karl Wallendszus (OxFoE) - Donnington Br/Abingdon Rd 26 mins
Ros Weatherall (Cyclox / OxPA) - Longwall St 34 mins

www.cyclox.org

James Styring, Cyclox co-ordinator, www.cyclox.org
- e-mail: cycloxcontact@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.cyclox.org

Comments

Hide the following comment

No cyclists crushed

25.06.2004 22:18

I think it's important that cycling-related Oxford posts should include something to the effect that no policemen or civilian drivers killed any pedestrians or cyclists by driving over them, during the event being reported. This has happened enough during the last year to justify remarking on the fact that it *hasn't* happened.

Mr. Demeanour


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech