Midas Cars Forum - www.midascarsforum.com

Hey All,

I've currently on the research stage of my latest Uni project , inwhich is to look at ways of improving a daily journey, of a persons everyday commute - whether that be walking, in a car, bus, train etc.

Im looking for peoples opinions on the subject, the aim of the project is to make a product or development of transport to make it a good commuting daily journey.

Any suggestions for 1 + 2 would be greatly appreciated. :

1. The bane of my journey to workplace / education / etc is..... (walking, bus, train, car)

2. My Daily Journey could be made better by.....

On average how long do you spend per day travelling?


Thanks in advance for looking, any reply is much appreciated

Sam

A MK2 Challenger tank will never get stuck in traffic, has a maximum speed of 56mph and can run on anything flammable

Regards

Jeremy Clarkson

That's an interesting subject. I have spent thousands of miles on my bicycle for commuting to stay fit and get around traffic jams. One day I asked myself how I could improve on that. I wanted to combine sports/fitness with commuting. This has 2 advantages; 1) you get stronger and fitter every time you go to work, b) you don't have to spend the weekend or evenings in a gym or go to a sport club.
So I discovered the Rowbike and have been using it almost every day the last 3 years. When I got it, it had many flaws and I have dealing with them one by one until it is now reasonably reliable. Last year I bought one for my wife and modified it according my experiences. It has turned out to be even better than my own Rowbike.
That said when my Midas is ready I will build a new frame and come up with a few ideas of myself to make the concept even better.
So to answer your question my idea was to improve commuting by combining it with a work out and I have also found the answer in the rowing type bicycle.
The real surprise was that I thought viewers would regard it as stupid and nerdy (because it's different), but in fact young to old yell at me that it's a cool bike.
Here's a video I made of it this summer:
http://youtu.be/z4tO6AjVQD8

Dewsnap Mk1 wrote:1. The bane of my journey to workplace / education / etc is..... (walking, bus, train, car)

2. My Daily Journey could be made better by.....

On average how long do you spend per day travelling?

1. Cost of travel via train is equivalent to fuel costs and that's in a '91 mini - I believe public transport should provide a you'd be stupid not to / cheapest option of commuting. More people use it more funds better miles per gallon per person more cars off the road etc etc

2. My daily journey consists of cycling 2.5 miles to train station catching a 55 mile train and another cycling of less than half a mile. Total journey two hours door to door.

The bane would certainly be inadequate services for cycling, be that on the roads - no cycle lanes. On the train - park bike in the disabled area no racks on the train though there is always minimum of me and another cyclist on the train with the Max I've seen at five. As its handicap priority technically they could chuck us all off for one wheelchair access user...
And secure bike locking - mine was stolen two weeks after moving to new offices and the kicker? Week before I had asked to use the office garage...to be told it was fully subscribed with 12 users to 4 racks. Most I've seen on any day are six bikes...like a gym people have subscribed and then are not cycling...when I do it daily in all weathers and will over winter! Top this off they have a 6metre space for bikes and they only have four ground hoops when they could easily put a 12 bike wheel grip lockup! /rant over!

Hans - I have never seen something like the rowbike very interesting!