What motivates us to cycle?
June 27, 2007
Two ads have been released recently which I’ve been meaning to post here.
The first is Transport for London’s You’re Better Off By Bike TV ad.
It seems to capture that sense of fluidity you get when gliding through this city.
Most Londoners live very close to safe cycle routes that would allow them to use a bike to pick up groceries, go to events around their city or commute to work.
The ad has the simple messages that you are better off riding you bike.
This Spring seems to have already increased the amount of Londoners who are choosing riding a bike over other forms of transport.
The second is CTC’s environment themed Cycle Hero cinema ad.
It shows a lot of the ways you can ride a bike with the motivation of saving the planet.
I’m curious to know what proportion of current cyclists cite environmental as the primary reason they cycle.
It is of course a perfectly good motivation for you to ride rather than drive but I would be surprised if a green reason was the main thing that made us cycle.
June 28, 2007 at 5:51 pm
There’s an old marketing saying (recently used on The Archers . . .):
Sell the sizzle, not the sausage.
Climate change may be a good reason why people should cycle more, but the things that’ll actually get more people on bikes have more to do with convenience, speed, and fun.