State-sponsored extortion - the rising cost of biking

Today represents an unwelcome landmark. A red letter day for all the wrong reasons. With only the prospect to look forward to of things getting worse in the future. Of course, I knew it was coming - it was just a matter of when. But that sense of nervous anticipation doesn't lessen the impact when the barrier is finally broken. Yes readers, when filling the bike up this morning, for the first time ever I received no change at all in return for the crisp £20 note I proferred to the attendant. No change whatsoever from £20 - zilch..... rien..... nichts..... nada.....

In return, I received the princely sum of 14.40 litres (3.17 gallons) of unleaded fuel, at a cost of 139.0p per litre (that's USD $2.26 per liter for our cousins over the pond) - or £6.31 ($10.28) per gallon in olden speak. And that's not even the most expensive service station I've seen recently (anywhere between 140.0p - 145.0p is the norm where I live). Surely, something is not right here?

The arguments about fuel pricing in the UK are well-rehearsed. Everyone is up in arms over them and in years gone by (when petrol originally hit £5 per gallon - oh to have those days back!) we've even seen country-wide protests and lorry blockades of petroleum plants. So what has changed in recent times to revert us to the normal British fashion of grumbling away about things but doing precisely.....nothing? More importantly, for the subject matter of this blog, at what point does biking become uneconomical?

British drivers pay two taxes on the petrol they buy at the pump - VAT (currently 20%) is charged on top of the cost of fuel and the levied fuel duty. Now, any way you slice it, this is inherently unfair - with other goods, VAT is charged on the actual cost of the goods, not the goods plus an additional levied duty. In total, nearly 65% of the cost of a litre of fuel is made up of fuel tax and VAT. In contrast, forecourt profit accounts for about 5% (with the rest taken up by the cost of refining and transportation). Extrapolate that out to take account of all the petrol that is used daily in the UK and you can start to see how much of a cash-cow this is for the Government. And, having got to this point, and considering the financial mess the country is (allegedly) in, they cannot afford to reduce such a huge and regular guaranteed source of income.

Why do we accept it? There would be uproar in America if they had to pay our prices and more than likely the Government would fall. Why are the British such a soft touch? Repeating the message over and over doesn't make it true but is it the case that having "we're living beyond our means" and "we're all in this together" drummed into us incessently over the last year or so, and having seen the futility of protest in other areas - tuition fees, cuts to public services etc - that perhaps the UK driving population is simply resigned to its fate? I can think of no other explanation. WE WILL COMPLY. Wat Tyler must be turning in his grave....

Returning to what all this means means for biking, well, I guess that depends on income and what your raison d'etre for biking actually is. Those for whom biking is a hobby to be enjoyed in spare time may use their bikes a bit less. Maybe one less track day or weekend away. For commuters, certainly in London we have not (yet) hit the levels that would mean biking is more expensive than public transport, but for those outside the metropolis I guess that would depend on where you live. Then again, add the cost of a years servicing, tyres, kit, road tax, wear and tear etc and the difference may well be marginal. Downsizing may become a live option for many people. Or simply give up and return to the daily trudge to the local train/tube station like all the other silent automatons that file into Central London each day. What a prospect.

Personally, I find London transport a miserable, expensive, unhealthy, time- consuming and thoroughly unenjoyable experience. The grin factor that I get from being on a bike (even on the commute) is, for me priceless and after all these years I simply could not go back. What say you?