fuel prices

[SeanC]

You might have noticed that fuel prices have gone up a little bit in the past year.

Has it changed your behaviour? Has it had any impact on your club?

I'm not just trying to waist some time when I should be working . I'm interested in whether clubs should seriously consider orienteer's changing transport habits when planning events/development strategy etc.

[seabird]

One possibility we are looking it is to move events on areas with good public transport links from Sundays to Saturdays (due to the more frequent service)and offer a discount for those producing tickets.

(We tried this successfully for our Long O in September)

To date transport sharing has not taken off in a big way. Maybe time to give it another push.

[Gross]

Yeh.... it's terrible... just over 60p a litre now:)

[Kitch]

yeah
thats OK for you Gross with your Western pension.

In Slovakia 2 years go we had a bit of an eye opener when over there training for WUOC. We invited locals to come and join us but basically they couldn't afford the fuel costs to get there - we gave lifts to as many as we could and a car full (full = 6 in an 80's Skoda) came on a couple of occasions.

2 students I gave a lift to coming back from the British saw it as a real problem.

running evetns that are public transport friendly is unlikely to achieve much - just from the nature of where we have to get to most of the time.

Car sharing / bus hiring and an assumption that the passengers pay their share is the way forward
It makes sense to use the spaces in your car - plus its a good opportunity to chat to people -

[EddieH]

Sadly public transport is usually many times more expensive than car, particularly when that is shared.
I remember orienteering in communist Hungary when public transport was cheap (even for residents,) and so frequent and ubiquitous that a car was quite unnecessary.

[geomorph]

Unfortunately a significant number of people treat rising fuel prices as a niggle.... it does not change their driving habits or vehicle choice, which for the most part are inefficient. Those who are strongly impacted are often those without the means to change.

25 years ago we would stick 5 in a morris minor and get 45 miles to the gallon, butt ache and leg cramps, but our current desire for safety, speed, comfort and gadgets means few vehicles attain this today - engine efficiency gains all but wiped out.

casual surveys at events show that the majority of vehicles contain 2+. By today's standards this is at least on a par or slightly better than most recreational activities. We can do better, and travel share boards such as herein, as well as public transport options when available, need to be promoted by every club on their web sites and in the event details.

It is not just about personal cost, but about staying ahead of the political pressures to reduce our carbon profile. Inevitably, if we do not make the effort, these will be brought about through access and funding support restrictions.

[Mrs H]

Ravinous and I have been banging on about environmntal issues for some time now in CompassSport - I think you will find we both touch on relevant subjects in the coming edition - although I sense that a lot of people are bored with it - but it is important. even if you choose to ignore the cost/environmental issues - the shear logistics of finding suitable car parking for large events is a night mare (and is it my imagination or has everything just got muddier in the last year?)

[SeanC]

I agree with both Mrs. H and Ravinous about the importance of reducing the environmental impact of our sport.

However I'm really thinking about the economic effects of increased travel costs. Some events our members have attended in the past 4 weekends illustrate the point.

Distance from Dartford town centre:

Benenden School (local event): 40 miles
Challock (district event): 41 miles
Houghton Forest (regional event): 75 miles
Jeskins/Ashenbank (local event): 12 miles

Assuming about 40 to the gallon and £5 per gallon, the fuel costs look like this:

£10 + £10 + £18.75 + £3.33 = £42.08

According to this bloke, we can look forward to much higher fuel bills (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7370441.stm though it has to be said that he has a vested interest in talking the price up )

Given that in many areas orienteers have to travel further than this, other than an occasional activity, does the sport have a future?

[LostAgain]

Distance from Dartford town centre:

Benenden School (local event): 40 miles
Challock (district event): 41 miles
Houghton Forest (regional event): 75 miles
Jeskins/Ashenbank (local event): 12 miles

Assuming about 40 to the gallon and £5 per gallon, the fuel costs look like this:

£10 + £10 + £18.75 + £3.33 = £42.08

Try JK 840 miles, Sandal beat 66 miles, Bramham 68 miles and British 920 miles!

[NeilC]

Return trip from Dartford the to Harvester about 150 miles (assuming you don't let Mark drive). Get the whole team of five in one car comes out about £4 each (if you include the QEII toll) - still less than half of the entry fee for a whole night's entertainment. Bargain.

[Copepod]

A few observations:

During my year working in Newcastle / Gateshead, I was able to fill my car with NUOC members to nearly all the events I went to, except for the 2 night events within walking distance of Newcastle University. Once I got a lift to Stocksfield with a car driven by a NUOC member. When introducing 2 Gateshead friends to orienteering in Sunderland, we all travelled in the same car and they dropped me near a Metro station to travel home. It does require a bit of planning to avoid wasting fuel miles, but it can be done, and is more sociable.

Tomorrow night, I am hoping to attend OD at Ryton Pools, on my way to spend a night with family in SE Birmingham, before working in Coventry on Thurs and driving home to Cambridge (2 hours journey time instead of 3.5 by train changing at Nuneaton & via Peterborough). The orienteering will add only about 10 mile detour to a 200 mile round trip, which seems good value.

In WAOC land, several members, including my partner and I travel to summer evening Galopen and SMILE events by bike - in fact, a couple of areas, such as Coe Fen, Midsummer Common and Coldhams Common are crossed by bike routes, like Town Moor and Castle Leazes in Newcastle. So, low key events may attract people who do not have cars or prefer not to use them except when there is no alternative.

I have posted journeys (some orienteering or adventure race related) on http://www.liftshare.com but never attracted any interest, but will continue to do so if I can't arrange lifts privately. Stating the obvious, one of the main problems with car sharing is where people need to arrive early or leave late to help organisers or to end up in different locations due to other commitments.

[EddieH]

on this topic, does anyone want to share a hire car in Portugal for WMOC? - I am going out to Lisbon for the previous weekend.

[Ed]

During my year working in Newcastle / Gateshead, I was able to fill my car with NUOC members to nearly all the events I went to

I'm surprised that Nottingham Uni were travelling to events in the NE. I assume you mean UNOC

Apart from the first 40km to get to the nearest orienteers, we usually have at least 3 in a car. The next event I'll be going to by train though - the advantage of city-centre sprints!

[Axel]

To overcome the problem of high fuel prices nationalize all fuel companies, Jail all the heads of the fuel companies for robbing us blind, sack this lame duck goverment for heaping tax upon tax on its long suffering people, ignore any body that believes in global warming and send somebody to Lithuania to see how they can manage to keep fuel at 60 pence a litre.

[DM]

Axel,

Am I correct in thinking you are not being serious here,everyone knows that fuel is Grossly underpriced in Lithuania due to their rather lax taxation rules. Hope it stays that way.