Cycling

In a bid to save money, and partly due to the tube strikes of last week, I’ve started cycling in London. From Fenchurch Street Station to where I work. It surprised me just how quick it is to cycle the 2.5km (didn’t know how far it was myself, but that’s what the websites say). Taking around 15mins. This is some 10mins quicker than taking the bus, and if you include the 10mins you normally have to wait for a bus as well, actually cuts a good 15-20mins off my journey times. Add to this the fact that by cycling in central London, I will be saving around £800 in travel expenses a year, and everything seems great, not only will I be saving money, I’ll be improving my overall fitness.

However, now we come to the stumbling block, train companies do not/will not allow you take bikes on their trains during the rush hour, whilst I can understand this, surely it makes sense to have exceptions on 2 or 3 trains in the morning and evening rush hour. Though even worse is the train company I use, c2c, who make an exception in the morning rush hour, but not in the evening rush hour, that makes perfect sense, let people into London in the morning, but don’t let them home, well done people. These policies are in conflict with Transport For London and the Mayors office, both of whom are publicly trying to get more and more people to cycle, yet if they don’t consult with and put pressure on the train operators all their good work will count for nothing as no one will be able to get in or out of London during the rush hour. The only exceptions they do make are for folding bikes, but these can cost a small fortune for a decent one, and the only company that seems to make proper folding mountain/road bikes is Dahon, with prices starting from £330.