To get a good sense of how popular bicycles are becoming in car-centric countries, you sometimes need to look at it from a different angle.
Amsterdamize faithful Alan sent me this nugget from the Guardian, a few excerpts:
UK calls on sex shops and bailiffs in slump
“What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago the nation was oblivious to impending economic disaster; today it is calling in the bailiffs, begging for more credit cards and looking for cheap thrills, or so directory inquiry requests suggest.”
…
“The figures, based on about 130m calls a year to 118118, compare requests for numbers from January to June 2007 to the same period in 2008 with some surprising variations. “When we saw these figures we couldn’t quite believe the huge difference in call requests between last year and this,” said William Ostrom, spokesman for the company.”
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“The retail picture is equally glum. Calls for secondhand shops increased by 299%, while office stationery and supplies fell by 46% and menswear fell by 8%. Calls for restaurants fell by 6% while calls for takeaway pizza were up by 97%.
But there is some good news. Concerns about the environment may finally be triggering behavioural change. Calls for bicycle shops increased by 94%, railway travel increased by 27% and recycling services by 150%; requests for airlines and airports fell by 5% and taxis by 11%. There was a small increase in the number of people calling car dealerships (15%) but this could be explained by people shopping around, said Ostrom. “Overall our travel figures suggest people are still travelling but their habits are changing. Everyone is taking a step to the left, those who holidayed in the Seychelles are going to Europe, European travellers are staying in the UK and UK holidaymakers are staying at home.”
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“The data gives a worrying picture of the nation’s sexual predelictions. Requests for pole and lap dancing outlets were up 469%, calls for escort agencies increased by 40%, while calls for sex shops increased by 1,312%. “I hesitate to say that the UK has gone sex mad, but the figures do seem to paint their own picture,” said Ostrom.”
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“It will be interesting to see the figures for the second half of this year when I think we will see the effects of the global economic crisis really hit home,” he said.”
Yeah, I wanna see those figures too! ;-p
WHAT TO DO NOW?