Could you please answer some bike commute questions?

Seven people have been kind enough to read through the first chapter of the Bike to Work Book. Their excellent feedback has been taken on board and many changes made to the text. It’s now ready for ‘placing on the page’ and the PDF book extract will be ready for early next week. Want notification when it goes live? Sign up here.

The next stage is to get a whole load of real life anecdotes from experienced and not-so-experienced bike commuters. So, if you’re real, alive and ride a bike to work, I’d really appreciate answers to the following questions. I’ll include as many as possible in the book. UPDATE: I’ve had 50+ excellent responses. Thanks to all those who took the time to answer the questions below. The ‘real life’ sections of the book are now full!

If you think I’ve missed off an important question or two, please add it in the comments section below for all to see.



Name:

Town:

Age:

Job title, and company if you want:

Months or years commuting by bike:

Bike make:

Is it fully equipped? (ie lights, rack, fenders?)

Distance ridden to work:

Distance ridden from work:

Why do you commute by bike:

What do you do when the weather is bad?

What facilities does your workplace provide for bike commuters?

What facilities does your workplace NOT provide for bike commuters, and you’d like ‘em to?

On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is least important and 10 is most important) how important is it to have showers at your workplace?

As a rough percentage, how many people bike commute at your workplace?

Has this increased/decreased this year?

Have you noticed more people, in recent months, taking an interest in maybe starting to cycle to work?

If you have, do you think this is mostly health-related, gas price-related or carbon footprint related? (If all three at once, which is the most important)?

How much of your route to work is off-highway, perhaps on cyclepaths or similar?

Do you take direct road routes to work, almost the same route you’d drive, or do you take a very different route?

Which is quickest transport mode to get you to work: car, bike, public transit?

Do you cycle all the way or use a car or train or bus part of the way?

How ‘cycle friendly’ is your town or city? Is it getting friendlier?

If you’re married or have a significant other, does your spouse/partner ride a bike to work? If not, why not?

In addition to miles to and from work, roughly how many additional ‘work miles’ do you do by bike, flitting from meetings or on errands?

If a co-worker, who’s never cycled to work before, asked for you the most important advice on starting, what would you say?