| This morning on the way to work as I was zipping by those people stuck in a traffic jam, I got to thinking, why don't more people ride motorbikes to work? Every morning, I see tonnes of single occupant vehicles on the road, stuck in a jam, on the way to work. If that were me, I would have long blown my head off. It is so frustrating sitting in traffic going nowhere, wasting time and fuel. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who feels that way, but why aren't there any more motorbikes on the road? 1) Too unsafe? Perhaps. But if more people rode in to work, there'll be less cars on the road, which makes it safer for the riders. No? With less cars, you could perhaps designate one single lane for motorbikes, which makes it even safer? No? Think KL roads with 20% less cars. When the fuel price increase happened, do you remember that there were less cars on the road? And you could actually feel the difference? And I'm pretty sure that's not 20% less cars. Imagine 20% less cars on Jalan Kuching at 8 a.m. or 5.30 p.m. Different? You betcha. 2) Inconvenient? Excuses like "Nanti caught in the rain, baju basah". Hell no. What's so difficult about keeping a spare set of work clothes and a towel at work? Or packing your clothes in a plastic bag and putting it in a backpack. Banyak mana la sangat creases kat baju hang on a 30 minute commute to work? Nak bawak barang? Be honest. How much stuff do you need to carry to work? Laptop can go in your backpack. There's even pannier-like devices for your motorbikes which you can put stuff in if you need to bring reports/paperwork/etc. back home/to office. 3) Need to send kids to school? Don't they go to the school closest to where you live? Send them first using the car. Or get the wife to send them on the way to work (not trying to be sexist, but there are more men than women riders so the women can drive the family car and drop the kids off at school before making their way to work). Excuses like "Oh I send my kid to private school"? Puh-leez. If you can afford private school, you're probably living in a gated community somewhere with a private school a fart's smell away from where you live, and your kid can walk there if he/she wants. 4) Uncool? Habis cool la tuh to waste 2.5 hours a day sitting in traffic, listening to crap Malaysian radios? Let's break this down a bit. Time wise. I live in Kepong (substitute that with any given suburb like Puchong, PJ, etc.), which is a bitch to get to and from work in a car. Jam on Jalan Segambut, jam on Jalan Kuching, jam on Jalan Tun Razak, jam on Jalan Sultan Ismail, jam on Federal Highway. If you like a little of a lie in, and leave for work at 7.30 and don't want to pay the toll, it's at least an hours commute to work. Each way. On a motorbike, maximum, it's 30 minutes. That's 5 hours a week (probably more coz Friday after work traffic is atrocious) for you to do something else, spend time with your kids, go to the gym, gardening, whatever rocks your boat. Cost wise? A nice, peppy Lagenda 110Z cost RM 5500. You can even cut that down by getting something even more basic like an EX5. Which I think is something stupid like RM 3500 on sale. Let's take the Lagenda for comparison's sake. Petrol: RM 200 per month (kira RM 50 per week la, which is pretty realistic)
Parking: RM 150 per month (around RM 7 per day for 22 working days a month)
Toll: RM 150 per month (around RM 7 per day for 22 working days a month) That's already at least RM 500 a month. You recoup your expenditure in less than a year, and you have (5 hours per week x 52 weeks a year) at least 260 extra hours in your year that you can do something with. That's in one year. A motorbike can last you at least 3 years (paling minimum la). Maintenance cost is pretty minimal. So that's at least another RM 12000 in your pocket to do as you like (redo the kitchen, go for a holiday, your childrens savings, buy a Powertap  ) But no. A motorbike, is uncool, a poor person's way of getting around. People might look at me like I'm poor (actually, I am, uncontrollable spending habits on cycling stuff actually ) coz I'm on a motorbike and I can't afford a car. But actually, on the inside, I'm happy as a clam, zipping past them on the way to and from work, pitying them for the lost time. Especially on rainy days. "Hahahah, tengok mat rempit tu basah kena hujan". I might get a bit wet, but I'm usually home, showered, clean and dry befreo you've even moved 2 kilometres. Who's the stupid one now? |
