Petrol price hike

[jaganm]

It appears that our government has finally woken up and hiked the price of petrol/diesel by 2/1 Rs/ltr. I still think that this is too little. When the price was adjusted last, crude was at 55 USD/barrel and the dollar was close to 50 INR (effectively 2250 Rs/barrel). Today crude is at 90 USD/barrel which translates to 3600 Rs/barrel (@1USD=40INR). The cost has gone up by 60% and the price barely by 4%.

What pains me is the fact that the government subsidizes this out of the tax that you and I pay. The single guy in the car/SUV is laughing at the poor sod riding on his bike or the bus, because they are paying for his travel. Revenues that could be used for other development activities are being squandered away just to get a few votes. We are going to pay a very high price for this stupidity in the future.

Many of the forum members are already doing their bit, using their cycles. Howeveer, we need to spread the word and get people off their cars and onto greener means of transport (motorcycles, cycle, walking, public transport, anything is better). I find talking to friends and colleagues about this to be an exercise in futility, they amuse themselves and listen patiently but are reluctant to take even a small step that causes them any discomfort. How do we bring about a change in the attitude of our people? Even if it's only a small change, that will still be a step in the right direction.

[shree]

Most employees in our office use the company bus nowadays. With offices shifting out of the city, and commuting taking what it takes, there is less incentive to drive a car to office now-a-days. My manager was saying that his company-owned car is actually a waste.

Yes - "discomfort" is the key. Besides, there is no aspirational value for the junta to come in the bikes - who wants to risk being looked down upon by everyone including the security guard ?

The value of biking as a way to keep healthy is what I have seen working. One of my colleagues is thinking of riding a cycle, and I've offered him mine. He is currently stuck making excuses like "let the office get a gym, then a shower, and then I'll start".

All this reminds me of a set of cartoons a colleague forwarded sometime back - they were comparing Asian & European/Western culture. It showed the western folk shifting from Cars to Bikes & us shifting from Bikes to Cars!

[balu]

Your colleague sounds suspiciously like me

Balu

[shree]

Balu : you know what - when I wrote it, I thought you might get the same doubt But you don't need my bike - so you aren't the same person! This guy is a team-mate, and comes from Kaggadasapura.

And just today morning I met one guy Balu (not you again, but Balasubramanyam from Intel ) in the tea shop next to Shell petrol bunk. I had seen him yesterday too, and today we got talking. From a car, he has been shifted to riding an AXN DX in a bid to reduce weight & get healthy again. He mentioned that many of his colleagues in Intel are thinking of the same.

[Gauthaman]

To my show my gratitude to the society which got me hooked to cycling, I have tracked down 29 colleagues in my company. Of which 11 are commuting to office daily by bicycle. Others are into weekend riding. Some of them have a bike but do not use it and are anxious to give it a fresh lease of life. The cycling club within the office is in nascent stage. There are interesting reward points which my colleagues in Germany get if they commute to office. So, we are thinking introducing a scheme of 'reward points' in India which can be traded for goodies like gloves, tights, helmets, bike lights etc.
One we reach a critical strength of 45 members, we are going to lobby for shower facility for people commuting by bicycle.

(45 is a magical no. for me because it is 1% of the employee strength )

- Gauthaman

[madhupn]

In our company it's far more difficult to make people think of cycling. Strange but true, with all this traffic woes, our company has a policy which gets tax exemption option only for people who are using cars!!! They can show the petrol/service/maintenance bills for tax exemption. What this policy did is, encouraged some of the people, who used motorbikes, to spend some money and get a car!!! So, if I talk to them about using Cycle… I don’t want to even imagine their reaction

[abhi]

General mentality.. an example of a conversation in our office lift between two other people..
1: Ghar ja rahe ho?
2: Haan...
1: Kaise jaate ho?
2: Cycle pe..
1: Kya baat kar rahe ho?

I just had a small chat with 1 after 2 left and told him to join us on the rides. Lets see if it happens..

The good this is that more people are cycling these days and 1 told me that there this company called Mysis(?) which has about 45 people cycling to work everyday. He also said that it would be difficult to convince people at his office.

[mahtab]

I posted this on a blog site sometime ago. And, i shared it with a few colleagues...


[i]Granted that I began cycling to work because I could not be held at ransom by the auto wallas! I will not give in to the corruption! I will not pay extra just because!

My annoyance at the lack of good public transport drove me in into the entire “cycling to work culture.” But my angst soon turned to gratefulness.

Cycling has become my morning cuppa coffee
My office has a basement parking facility. The first day I rode to work, I realized we didn’t have a “spot” for bicycles…well! No one else rides to work, so why would we?

I was looking around for a thingamajig (pole/pipe/grill) to lock my bike to, when the director of the company drives past in his gas guzzler into his parking spot. He looked at me quizzically and began looking around to help me out. I told him about how I am going to ride to work from now on….he looked at me and said “Great! Good exercise!” and had “I think she is kukoos” written large on his face.

Well, word got around and people took detours to the basement to “see” my vehicle. Some of the other girls in the office thought it was a neat idea but…

But, isn’t it dangerous?
But, it’s too hot outside. I don’t want to get all sweaty and such.
But, I live too far out or I would definitely take it up.
But, what will my folks say?

The skepticism in the office is balanced by the reactions on the road. Not a day goes by when I don’t hear a “wow” or “sahii yaar” or “aunty on bike” or “see akka is riding a bike.” It’s amusing to be at the receiving end of envious looks, or to be the potential role model for little girls learning to ride, or the smiles from bike riders.

How do I become a pedal promoter?[i]


The head count of people commuting to my workplace by bicycle since the time i first started (late last year) = 3 (inclu me). Yay! Its a slow rate. But what the heck! Atleast people are shaking off the mental block that's holding them back.

[ramesh]

At my office I see several people riding by cycle (from different strata). Three of whom I talked are particular to use cycle whenever possible and want to do it for the sake of health/pollution or just for the heck of it.

One of them, a Ph D riding on a hero jet, was very happy when I mentioned him that I have been seeing him cycling regularly and was really appreciating it.

The expressions of my colleagues after seeing me cycling were varying from "good for your health, your pocket and environment" to "why on earth you are doing this" to "what a pitiable state you are in". I just ignored all those negative comments, and only for those who were worth a response were given a one minute pep talk on why I want to do. You know, you cannot convince/explain everybody. .

For few of us, the initial deterrent was from our own family, particularly mother and wife . They would either give the reason of status or the traffic related problems. Good that we could overcome the deterrence .

[RNair]

"The skepticism in the office is balanced by the reactions on the road. Not a day goes by when I don’t hear a “wow” or “sahii yaar” or “aunty on bike” or “see akka is riding a bike.” It’s amusing to be at the receiving end of envious looks, or to be the potential role model for little girls learning to ride, or the smiles from bike riders. "

Most of the time these are comments from people who are cowards and they envy you! They wish they could do the same. It takes courage in a society to take up an active lifestyle as most people are content getting married, buying a house and working for rest of their lives like slaves. If i was you I would be proud of myself.

[govindaraj]

One thing I enjoyed after commuting to office by cycle, was the feeling that I am unique, and the funny comments I get from people. This really gave me a special indetification. I wouldn't blame the guys who don't cycle to office, or the guys who mock at me, I was one of them 3 months ago.

As you said it takes courage to do somehting different than the janata.

The fisrt week I bought the cycle, most of my friends and colleagues, said that I have wasted money on the bike which would be left to rust. Honestly I myself had that fear. But after a month of cycling, I felt that it was the most enjoyable thing.

This forum and the blogs is a good motivational factor too. More number of people started thinking about "what a nice way to commute" rather than "what a weird idea" after reading this forum.

Also lot of people ask me why I do this (cycling) and expect answers like trying to reduce weight, save money, very few say save petrol....but the real fact is that I ENJOY doing this. I have become more efficient at work, since I have come to office early to avoid the sun and leave early before the sun goes down. I really felt that guys sitting late in office regularly, (if required u have to) were wasting prescious time. They tend to procastinate things since as they would stay late.

So...guys enjoy your rides...