Bicycles V Vans

[dvbuk55]

Offices should not have kept any bikes for use "just in case" after the revision has been implemented. And they certainly shouldn't be letting you use bikes just for travelling to and from work.

In your opinion or fact?

It's a fact. Unless the cycle is the proscribed method of delivery. If the cycle is no longer a method of delivery for that office then here is no provision for checks, spares and servicing and is definitely not an alternative for getting to and from work. All cycles should have been disposed of after modernisation except in special circumstances. As a mode of transport there are definitely better alternatives from Halfords than the RM cycles but I'm not sure if the cycle to work scheme is still in operation.

But it still happens, RM bikes used just for travelling to and from work.

Well lets hope nobody has an accident on a cycle that should have been decommissioned and would not be deemed roadworthy, still why do I care?

[dvbuk55]

I don't doubt it just as I am sure that there are bikes hidden away for use on delivery. That doesn't change the fact that as dvbuk55 says they shouldn't be. The remaining bikes should be removed over the next few months so it will be obvious that any left after that shouldn't be there.

Most bikes are sent to Africa via The Krizevac Project charity. They are extremely grateful for them.

Each cycle had its own log and any and all repairs and scheduled services were logged and I'm not too sure if the info wasn't on some computer programme but that might be my mind playing tricks - though someone must have had an interest because at intervals replacement bikes arrived and those 7 years old were despatched as Brain says to Africa. Later on and probably because P&L was in the pipeline the 7 year rule was dropped and cycle mechanics had to decide if the cycle was safe. Something I was pretty loathe to do because you had no inkling what the inside of the frame was like.

[Gold Fox]

Fleet of vans are more expensive than keeping bicycles ( in different size or shapes ) ? ? Lets have vans first , insurance , road tax , service and fuel ...... OK now take bikes ..... minimum cost of maintenance ? is there any logic ??

[chrisj]

But how will the packets be delivered?

You would have needed more vans anyway and more drivers... And when we had drivers, there were packets being left behind all the time. That sort of arrangement will not do in these day and age of competition from all angles...

We even managed to clear almost all the packets last christmas...

Using specialist drivers was not always reliable - some of the drivers were difficult to handle by managers and people on bikes. What size packets to take? Do they take multiple packets even if the individual packets are not that large, how large should the packets they take be? And on and on... Who takes tracked - small or big?

At the end of the day, the bikes worked (I am talking in the last 10 years or so) because a large majority were not even using bikes - they used their cars.

If everyone was using a bike, there will have been the need for more bikes and more vans because people still have to have their bags dropped/

[dvbuk55]

At the end of the day, the bikes worked (I am talking in the last 10 years or so) because a large majority were not even using bikes - they used their cars.

You are bob on there chris, of the 57 cycles or so I took over only about 28 were usable and of those probably only 19 or 20 were used and the remainder were used as spares when a tyre went or the chain snapped until I had time to fix it.

[Brain Fury]

I don't doubt it just as I am sure that there are bikes hidden away for use on delivery. That doesn't change the fact that as dvbuk55 says they shouldn't be. The remaining bikes should be removed over the next few months so it will be obvious that any left after that shouldn't be there.

Most bikes are sent to Africa via The Krizevac Project charity. They are extremely grateful for them.

Each cycle had its own log and any and all repairs and scheduled services were logged and I'm not too sure if the info wasn't on some computer programme but that might be my mind playing tricks - though someone must have had an interest because at intervals replacement bikes arrived and those 7 years old were despatched as Brain says to Africa. Later on and probably because P&L was in the pipeline the 7 year rule was dropped and cycle mechanics had to decide if the cycle was safe. Something I was pretty loathe to do because you had no inkling what the inside of the frame was like.

I wish every cycle mechanic was as conscientious as you appear to have been. Many had no records of their bikes or servicing. There was an attempt to create a national asset register of bikes but it was doomed to failure because it relied on regions and individual offices to update it. There were longer term plans to introduce a database that could be directly accessed and maintained by cycle mechanics but this was overtaken by the decisions on new delivery methods.

The lifespan of all cycles was 7 years but shortly before the new delivery methods the life of Mailstars was extended to 10 years. The thing about the steel frame was that it would never fail catastrophically i.e. suddenly. It would take time so as long as the bikes were regularly inspected there should be no risk even if the frame started to split. The bigger risk to my mind was mechanics not replacing the handlebars on schedule.

It is pointless to simply compare the cost of using bikes and vans. It was never just a decision to replace bikes. That was just a consequence of the decision to change the whole delivery process.

[dvbuk55]

I wish every cycle mechanic was as conscientious as you appear to have been.

It was a question of ensuring that the cycle was as roadworthy and therefore as safe as possible. How would I have felt if a wheel fell off and spilled the rider into the path of a car or broke an arm or leg. In the day I checked cycles coming in at 5 to ensure that they had lights front and back and replaced both with new batteries on an almost daily basis because they were leaving at 7ish still in the dark. I was once knocked off my bike whilst on a main road and some arse pulled out of a side street, I was wearing a bright orange waterproof and the prick said he didn't see me and that was at midday . My point being it's dangerous enough without having a bike fall to bits whilst riding it. IMHO we are a better and more productive unit without them.

[wannabeek]

I'm so glad to see the back of the bikes, as it was getting daft with the oversize parcels. Many of the drivers were very unreasonable and not a single one of them would take anything on a Saturday - they'd race as fast as possible so they could be out the door before the townies had even opened their packet bags up. I did try doing my packets first to foil them but they 'forgot' to take them anyway!

I do hate van sharing duties tho. I wish there were the resources to have all duties as singleton van duties, I think that'd be the best as far as I'm concerned. Love it when I can do a town duty on my own because the other half is getting lapsed or covered on OT!