Increase of Bikes and Scooters on UK Roads
The financial difficulties being experienced by many since the economic crash is perhaps one of the main reasons for the rise in popularity of motorbikes and scooters in the UK. Road users realise how costly it is to keep a car on the road today particularly with spiralling fuel prices. Many road -users are switching to motorcycles and scooters as another, more cost efficient method of travelling. Motorbikes and scooters go through less petrol than motor cars plus scooter insurance is generally less expensive thanbike insuranceorscooter insurance.
Recently the Motorcycle Industry Association have released statistics which show that the sales of bikes, scooters and mopeds have increased by 23% in comparison to the same period last year with the greatest increase in sales being in motorbikes which increased by almost 30%. Registrations for all powered two wheeled vehicle have grown by over a quarter compared to the month of January 2010 with the figures showing that there is apparently a trend towards practical bikes. There has been an increase in popularity of entry level machines, i.e. 50 cc to 125 cc and scooter style bikes had the highest number of new registrations. The most popular brands are Honda, Yamaha and Triumph with the Honda CBF 125 cc specifically having the highest amount of vehicles registered.
The CEO of MIA (Motorcycle Industry Association), Steve Kenward attributes the rise in popularity of motorbikes and scooters to road-users’ reaction to the time wasted in traffic congestion coupled with the considerable cost of running a car. He comments that a motorcycle or scooter is easier to park, cheaper to run and has less CO2 emissions and that these factors all contribute to making motorbikes and scooters vehicles more attractive to road-users.
The Motorcycle Industry has been trying to encourage drives to switch to bikes and scooters for over two years, and was involved in the launch of the Get On campaign. This initiative offers an hour of free training to anyone who wishes to learn how to drive a bike or scooter. The Get On website allows visitors to find a motorbike training centre according to his/her postcode (there are over 160 centres in Britain) and site visitors can book free lessons via the website. Following one hour’s training, every rider will be advised on what legal steps have to be undertaken before going on the road, such as going through a compulsory basic training course, and what steps have to be taken to get a full motorcycle licence. The increase in sales of motorcycles and scooters, particularly the less powerful machines, would suggest that this initiative has been popular.
In June this year there was a UK wide Ride to Work Day which encouraged workers to commute by bike or scooter. The goal was to demonstrate how much more enjoyable the everyday commute could be on a two wheeler, how much congestion could be reduced and how much travel cost could be reduced.
The eMCI was launched on the same day to encourage the use of electric bikes and scooters. The largest charging network in London, Source Capital, was recently also launched by the Mayor, Boris Johnson, and the network hopes to have over 1200 charging stations in London by 2013. In areas outside London it’s often not possible to have sufficient charging points, but some electric motorcycles and scooters have solved this problem by having removable battery units which can be charged separately. The eMCI are calling for the Government’s “Plug In Grant” for cars to be extended to include electric motorcycles and scooters as part of future transport policy. They are also seeking government support for start up businesses in the field of low carbon technology for electric powered two wheelers. These initiatives could result in a dramatic increase in the production and sales of electric bikes and scooters which could result in less cars on the road and less carbon emissions.
