The London Biker

I sometimes take a moment to post here about crazy, funny or just outright stupid adverts and PR stunts I see. This time, I’m posting one of the best I have ever come across. Let this video download in full before you press play, make sure you have your sound on and then watch it full screen.

Wonderfully crafted, expertly executed.

(watch on YouTube)

Last week I posted a short note on the cost of travelling into London from Buckinghamshire via public transport vs the motorbike. The difference was startling, I was expecting public transport to be more expensive, but was hoping to be able to dismiss the difference easily, and argue that the time spent on the train reading the paper, listening the the archers podcast (obviously not working – that’s not possible in standard class) and having a little nap. But at nearly £50 difference per week I simply can’t.

As expected a few people messaged me on the blog, and via facebook to point out where I could make the public transport options cheaper, I’ve also spent some time this week finalising the costs of the motorbike. The main points made were that the working year is not 52 weeks, that a monthly pass would be cheaper, that combining my train and zones 1-2 travel card would be more economic and that I should include the depreciating value of the motorbike in my calculations. Fair enough, let’s recalculate with those suggestions. All worked out per week for comparison.

Public Transport

• Weekly train ticket with zones 1-2 travel card* – £90.24
• Bus daily return to station** – £15

Total = £105.24

Motorbike

• Weekly petrol*** – £51.74
• Weekly Insurance**** – £5.53
• Weekly Tax – £0.92
• Weekly Servicing***** – £7.69
• Depreciation****** – £9.61

Total = £75.49

That’s still £29.75 per week difference, or £1547 per year. It’s a much smaller difference, and if I were to calculate the motorbike figures JUST for using it for work (dividing yearly costs by 45 rather than 52) it’s only a difference of £3.69 per week (£79.18 per week).

So taking all of that on board, is sitting on the train reading / having a nap worth £29/25 per week? Not really, especially when you consider that I have the motorbike for use all of the time, and yes I’d need to pay petrol for those outings and yes servicing costs may increase, but that’s the same if I use the train to anywhere other than London.

My headline may be misleading, perhaps being green isn’t for the rich when it comes to transport – but until there’s a solid cost benefit to using public transport over my personal transport; I, and I suspect a large portion of the population will continue to head into the city using their own options. At least I’m not doing it in a cage! Next post… carbon footprint comparason on the journey.

As ever, your thoughts, comments  and correction of my maths most welcome.

* Monthly season ticket multiplied by 12 and divided by 45 (my working weeks per year) to get weekly figure.
** Includes 1 mile walk to and from the bus @ £3 return per day per week.
*** 462 miles per week to and from work, 10 miles per litre of petrol = 46.2 litres per week @ £1.12 – (((46.2 * 2)*5) / 10)* 1.12
**** Insurance = £287.69 per year / 52 (I get to use the bike all of the time so not a fair comparison to divide by 45)
***** 2 Major Services @ £200 each / 52
****** £3000 depreciated to £500 over 5 years = £2500/5 = £500 per year / 52 = £9.61 per week

I’ve given public transport a real go, and it’s all perfectly acceptable. I sit on a clean train that takes just over 35 minutes to get me from darkest Buckinghamshire to deepest London – well Marylebone – and another 30 minutes on the bus over to Old Street.

I take a taxi home in the evening and Catherine takes me to the station in the morning – that’s £7 a day, or rather, the same amount it would cost me to get the bus (after a 1 mile walk to/from the stop) there and back… yes I know… evil…. cars.

But here’s the thing, I can’t make the numbers work. I like to think I’m doing my bit for the environment but how can I afford it? It’s a privilege for the rich. Work with me on these numbers.

Public Transport Costs

• Weekly Train Pass: £73
• Weekly cab/buss ticket: £35
• Weekly Oyster Ticket: £20

Total: £128

Motorcycle Costs

• Weekly petrol: (50 litres per week @ 10 miles / litre) £57
• Weekly insurance: (based on 12 months / 52 – fully comp most expensive quote) £9.61
• Weekly tax: £0.92
• Weekly servicing: (2 major services per year @ £300 each / 52) £11.53

Total: £79.06

I can bring down the public transport train pass price by about £7 per week if I buy a monthly pass – but then I don’t save if I don’t go in (unlike the bike) so I’m trying to compare like for like – and £7 per week just doesn’t cut it with these figures.

So that’s it folks. Public Transport it just too expensive for me to be able to afford it. I’m going to have to jump on the bike – and these figures are hardly cheap – two full major services, top notch most expensive insurance and worst case millage figures at an estimated 10 miles more per day than google maps suggests. I suspect in real life it’ll be even less.

I don’t mind the cold and the wet – I’ve commuted into London for years on the bike – I’m just disappointed that our public transport system is so expensive as to be out-of-reach. I’m sure the solution to this is to continue to stack tax on petrol until it’s so expensive as to make public transport seem cheap.

As most of you know I’ve been living in Melbourne out here in Oz for about 14 months now. It’s been a blast – working for a pretty funky company that’s allowed me to explore new ideas and ‘do cool stuff’ as well as discovering a pretty funky country.

Squash with Ken... even though he won the trophy he's still a pretty nice bloke.

Australia has been good to me – it’s helped me lose a not-insignificant amount of weight (4 Stone/26 Kg), it’s helped me discover an active lifestyle I didn’t really understand I had or could even make happen. It’s provided me with friends that I’m going to be exceptionally upset to leave behind…. it’s a culture and a life-style I’m reticent to say good-bye too. Working out of Australia has been a real experience – I’ve never really heard the phrase “drink a can of harden-the-fuck-up’ and get on with it” before – but I have to say I agree with the general principle… Melbourne is the arse-end of beyond as far as the rest of the world goes, but that doesn’t seem to matter when you’re here – only when you’re on a plane trying to get here.

I'm going to miss the ride-outs with Nigel - actually I'm just going to miss Nigel.

I land back in the UK on Thursday (17th) morning – I’ll be in the office from Friday (18th) and back to my old tricks – still working for Lonely Planet – just doing it from a slightly more ‘connected’ city… which should make my life a little easier… oh… and being in the same hemisphere as my wife may also be quite pleasant – scrub that – I can’t wait to get home to Catherine.

I shan’t miss a few things from Oz – the price of books for example, or the sad lack of any technology launched in the rest of the world in the last 12 months, or the customer service (seriously… I didn’t think it could get worse than London). But they’re trifling things and I don’t want to sound like I’m moaning. I am looking forward to being in London again – how well it’s connected to the rest of the world, the feeling that you can actually change the world and the ability to grab absolutely anything you need – ever – by jumping on the bike and finding the right part of town… then haggling for it! I’m also rather looking forward to being so near France and the rest of the continent again… I didn’t think I’d miss the ‘idea’ of being able to dash over the channel…  but there you go.

Here it is then – the final post from Oz, the final goodbye in the office and the final farewell to dear friends… but as the New Zealanders say… “you don’t lose a friend, you simply gain a place to stay in London.”

Well that’s done. Mr Thompson (Director General BBC) and Mr Smith (Chief Executive BBC Worldwide) have left the building. They spent today here at LP Towers out in Footscray. Once I got over the picture of the two of the most influential and powerful people in world media in Footscray it was good to see them getting the latest news on what Lonely Planet is up to, what we’re planning next and how our relationship stands right now.

And relationship is the right word. Over the last couple of years it’s fair to say that both Mark and John have come in for a barrage of complaints and concerns from other media outlets. As Mark described the journey so far – a bit ‘bumpy’. But here’s the bit that made me happy. One of the first things John said, quite passionately, when he stood up in front of the whole company was “Lonely Planet is not for sale”. He emphatically stated he had no thoughts of selling Lonely Planet and that Lonely Planet was incredibly important to BBC WorldWide. That was a great boost to the gathered throng who’ve grown tired of the rumours and rumblings out of the UK that the BBC was being forced to get rid of LP. Then what topped it for us was Mark standing there saying exactly the same thing.

So am I confident about the future of LP? Damn right.

This weekend sees the start of a few small runs out of Melbourne – a little further afield than I’ve managed before – and with any luck they’ll contain as much excitement as the full-on trip would have done.

The big outback trip looks as though it wont happen – news on why at a later date – so I’m attempting to get some combination outback, off-road, on-road runs in over weekends. That essentially means no more than 500km at the most over two days with one night camping.

This is the first of that series of runs and is the famous Ballarat, Bendigo, Melbourne triangle. Bendigo and Ballarat are towns built on the history of Gold – and both are responsible for the early wealth of Melbourne. I’m expecting great sweeping vistas across the goldfields and majestic and dirty off-road sections that will challenge the road tyres on the XT660

Blogs posts and photos of course as and when I’m on the road this weekend – but no video as the camera is still in the UK.

Any suggestions or detours on this route? Anywhere I simply can’t miss? Stretch of road that will make me cry? Please do help…….

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