James J. Hill

James J. Hill was one of the richest railroad executives of his time. His business practices were sometimes unfair, and might be described as unethical, but these strategies helped him to earn the nickname of the “Empire Builder”. One of his companies, the Great Northern Railway, became the first transcontinental railroad to be formed without public money and was one of the few transcontinental lines that did not go bankrupt. Because of the success of his railways and his ability to carry them through economic depression, James J. Hill secured a legacy as one of the greatest business minds in history.

James Hill had very modest beginnings. He was born in Ontario in 1838. As a child, an accident with a bow and arrow blinded him in the right eye. After going to school for only nine years, he went to Rockwood Academy, where he was forced to withdraw due to the death of his father in 1852. He soon moved to Kentucky where he got a job as a bookkeeper. At the age of 18 he moved to St. Paul, MN where he planned to settle permanently. While in St. Paul Hill got a job as a bookkeeper for a steamboat company. He eventually worked for grocery and produce companies, where he dealt with logging their freight. This experience was vital for him in his future work in the railroad business.

In 1870 Hill put all of his experience to good use and formed a steamboat company. The company was very successful and just two years later he merged with Norman Kittson to form a monopoly in the upper Midwest. At the same time he was monopolizing the steamboat industry Hill entered the coal business and just five years later in 1874 he had a monopoly of the coal companies. Along with steamboats and coal companies, Hill also sat on the Board of Directors for several banks. While Hill is best known today as a railroad mogul, it is important to remember that even before his first railroad company he was a very rich man.

James Hill obviously had great instincts and timing in his business decisions, and his entry into railroads was no different. During the panic of 1873 the St. Paul and Pacific railroad went bankrupt. Hill had been researching the company for some time, and decided that it could make a profit given the right management. He then formed a group of investors (included Norman Kittson), and formed the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, with Hill as its General Manager. To improve it, the group bargained for tracking rights with the rival Northern Pacific railroad. He soon formed the Great Northern Railway which served Minnesota and North Dakota at first, but grew to become the first intercontinental railroad to be built without public assistance.

Over the next twenty years Hill worked on expanding his railway empire. He purchased railroads from all over the country and cut employees’ wages while charging as high of rates as his monopoly allowed. The only change to his formula was during the Depression of 1893. During this time he slashed prices on all freight in order to make shipping more affordable. At the same time his workers unionized under Eugene V. Debs and demanded better wages. In order to get his workers back he restored their wages to a higher level. During this depression his longtime rival, the Northern Pacific, went bankrupt. Ever the aggressive businessman, Hill used his friend JP Morgan to get enough credit to buy the rail line. He now had a complete monopoly over the railroads. Unfortunately for Hill on the same day the Great Northern and the Union Pacific were set to merge, William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt, ‘the trust buster’, became president.

Hill’s railroads did survive the trust busting, and he remained extremely wealthy. However he would never reach the same heights of monopoly again in his life. Hill died in 1916 and left a fortune of over $53 million, or $2.5 billion 2007 dollars. This fortune was one of the largest of the time and even more extraordinary considering his corporations went through two of the worst depressions in United States history. Hill’s legacy as an empire builder is secured in history and probably will never be matched.

Thailand bus journeys

Thailand, the Land of Smiles, has an excellent network of bus services. Buses in all shapes and sizes connect the big cities with the smallest villages.

The centre of the network is of course Bangkok, the country’s capital metropolis with around eight million inhabitants. Although the number of public transportation buses operated by the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) in the capital is adequate, the heavy traffic during rush hours (which in Bangkok virtually means throughout the day) makes getting around by bus literally a long-lasting experience. Often just walking would get you to your destination sooner. The authorities have partially solved the problem of overcrowded streets by building a mass rapid transit system utilising commuter trains.

Coaches leave from Bangkok to the provinces from three main bus terminals in the west, north and east of the city. Fares are very low; the one-way fare on an airconditioned coach from Bangkok to Pattaya, a distance of some 95 miles (150 kilometres), is a mere 110 baht (₤2). A non-airconditioned bus is about half the price, but the added luxury is more than recommended for a trip in a country where the temperature ranges between warm and very hot.

There are three main traffic arteries running through the country. The first goes to the southeast, into the Eastern Seaboard, following the Sukhumvit road, passing the country’s most popular tourist resort of Pattaya, and all the way to the Cambodian border near the town of Trat. To the north lies the country’s second largest city, Chiang Mai, some 400 miles (640 kilometres) from Bangkok. On this route, the second artery, the bus companies face heavy competition from the railways. Just as coaches, there are numerous daily trains from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, including night trains with sleeping accommodation. Trains are cheaper, but also slower. The third and final main artery runs to the south, over the long-stretched peninsula to the town of Hat Yai and finally the Malaysian border.

Again there are various types of buses to choose from for long trips, ranging from luxurious (and still cheap) VIP-style airconditioned coaches with fully reclining seats (these buses have a layout of only 34 instead of the usual 50 seats) to non-airconditioned, uncomfortable carry-everything-you-have-including-your-chickens buses with five-abreast seating which are extremely cheap. Double-decker buses have been introduced on long-haul routes as well, offering 82 seats in a two-class layout (economy in the lower deck and VIP in the upper deck.)

The most important makes used are Thai Hino, Mercedes-Benz, Isuzu and Nissan, with Daewoo, Volvo and Scania having a much smaller market share. Most buses are assembled in Thailand of imported Completely Knocked Down (CKD) kits, including the chassis and engine. Complete buses are rarely imported as this incurs a very high tax and requires a special approval for each model type. Thonburi Automotive near Bangkok assembles Mercedes-Benz chassis from imported kits and manufactures bodies. They also maintain the Daewoo fleet of the BMTA. Isuzu also has an own plant. A Volvo chassis and body manufacturer is based in Korat, northeast of Bangkok. Scania, DAF and Nissan chassis are imported as Completely Built Up (CBU) units.

Mercedes-Benz is the market leader, with 34% of total sales. The yearly sales numbers of new buses are very low in relation to the total number of buses used in Thailand. This is due to a prosperous industry engaged in rebuilding buses using old rebuilt chassis, new or second-hand diesel engines and new bodies. Only a quarter of imported engines are new; most used diesel engines used by rebuilding factories originate in Japan. Many bus operators choose for the cheaper option of having old buses rebuilt instead of buying them new, well extending the average life span of 20 years of the original frame.

The key player in Thailand’s coach network is Bor Kor Sor, The Transport Company Limited, which was formed in July 1930 under the name Aerial Transport of Siam Company Limited to pioneer Thailand’s first commercial air links. It soon started to offer scheduled bus services as well. It became a state-controlled company in 1938 and was renamed Bor Kor Sor during the Second World War. In the forties and fifties, the company also operated a fleet of cargo ships. In the sixties, The Transport Company started talks with the numerous private bus companies throughout the country in an effort to set up regulations and collaborate for providing better passengers services. Operators were urged to organise themselves in limited partnerships, joint-venture companies or unions. In 1980, the Bus Operators Association was formed.

Being a state company, The Transport Company also operates services on non-profitable routes under the Public Service Obligation which private companies refuse to serve, often with an operating loss.
The Transport Company and its affiliates serve a network of more than 300 routes throughout the country with a fleet of 8,500 buses, of which about a thousand are The Transport Company’s.

A totally different type of bus, which can be found throughout the country, is the so-called baht-bus (songtaew in Thai). These are pick-up trucks with a covered rear area for passengers. The system is very simple. Hail them down on the street, jump into the back, sit down on a bench on either side and, when you reach your destination, press a bell to let the driver know you would like to get off. Baht-buses follow fixed routes through the city; a trip along such a route costs 10 baht (₤0.20). They can also be hired as taxis, for a price to be negotiated with the driver. Some people like them, others don’t, but fact is that they are a great means of transportation for getting around in a town. In Pattaya, for example, the municipality has recently introduced a new service run by Pattaya Beach Bus Co. Ltd., with three different routes in and around the city. Fares for these airconditioned buses are fixed at 35 baht (₤0.75). But until now they have proven to be very unsuccessful. Why? Because baht-buses are cheaper and more plentiful. The stream of baht-buses driving along the main roads seems endless. And who needs air-conditioning for a short trip anyway?

The infrastructure in Thailand is improving rapidly, thus shortening travel times as well. Ten years ago, a trip from Bangkok to Pattaya or vice versa could take up to six hours, especially on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons as many Bangkok residents flee the crowded city for the weekend. The Sukhumvit road, then the only direct connection between these two places, used to be clogged up entirely. Driving (or rather, standing still) on this road was a nightmare. On top of that, the road passes through a number of towns and villages along the way. But things have dramatically changed since then. A large section of Sukhumvit now has an elevated part as well, where the upper section is a toll-road. And there is a complete new motorway from Bangkok to Pattaya, which runs a bit more to the east of Sukhumvit and does not pass through any town. The trip from Pattaya to Bangkok’s International Airport can now be done in two hours or less.

Safety is a bit of a concern here. Bus drivers make long hours, and the driving skill of Thais can certainly not be classified as among the best in the world. Obtaining a driving licence is very easy, and that also applies to bus drivers. They heavily rely on the main rule of the road in Thailand, which says “the bigger goes first.” They will pull out onto a busy crossroads and expect everyone else to stop for them. But the addition of three-lane motorways has certainly improved the situation considerably, now that buses can overtake slow lorries without endangering the rest of the traffic.

Another branch of the transportation industry which competes with long-haul coach services besides the railways is low-cost airlines. A number of carriers have started to operate on Thai domestic routes over the last years, apart from the flag carrier Thai Airways, which also has dropped its air fares considerably. Although the majority of people travelling home to the countryside from Bangkok cannot afford to pay even the lowest air fares of 499 baht (less than ₤10.00), these flights to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and other province capitals with airports do take a considerable amount of passengers away from bus services. Sometimes the choice between bus and airplane is easily made. The trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son for example, in the north of the country, takes six to eight hours over a mountainous, dangerous road, while the hop by plane is a mere thirty minutes.

Undoubtedly buses will keep playing an extremely important role in the daily life of Thais, especially in more remote areas in the northwest and northeast of the country. Rising fuel prices have increased operational costs and fares, but the lack of a good rail network throughout the country will guarantee that demand for bus and coach services remains high.

Gifts for commuters

There are few things less appealing than getting up in the mornings to go to work. Unless of course, your route to work involves a long bus ride, two train interchanges and a short walk before you get to the office. In the rain. Or during winter. Or both. Add to that the pressures of delays, crowds, dirt, noise and pollution and it’s no wonder many commuters find themselves stressed and anxious well before they even get to their desks. Luckily there are gadgets, knick knacks and gifts that can make commuters lives a little easier.

Toys for grownups

A long commute is awfully boring. You can pass the time with a button click and a screen flick, whether you are playing games, watching movies, listening to music or “reading” an audio book on your mobile phone or your MP3 player.

Nintendo DSi

For the child within us all, a Nintendo DSi is the perfect gift. Many commuters while away the hours playing games on this portable player.

Adults can enjoy grown up games like the NY Times Crossword Puzzle, revisit their teen years with The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks or indulge in role play with Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron. Other games that are available for DSi are classics like Jewel Quest, Tetris, Pinball, and Space Invader.

An iPhone is the obvious all-singing, all-dancing choice for a mobile phone, camera, media player and internet browser all-in-one plaything, but the iPod Touch will work just as well for playing music and videos if your budget is slightly lower.

The Samsung P3 is another sexy portable player, now complete with Bluetooth for use with wireless headphones. You can drag-and-drop your media files if you connect it to your home computer – the media player recognises a variety of different file types.

To drown out the sound of the rushing trains or the traffic outside, the new Shure SE115 Sound Isolating Earphones are the smart commuter’s best budget bet. These headphones isolate sound and offer a personalization fitting kit for greater comfort. On the other end of the market are the legendary Sennheiser headphones, which are large, over-ear phones that block out noise and minimize distortion.

Perfect commuter laptop for use while standing

The ASUS Eee PC 1000HE is the netbook that I’m using right now. It’s the perfect commuter laptop. So light that you can use it standing in a packed train, holding it with one hand. And of course, it’s tiny, so you can throw it in your everyday bag and not have to think about a special laptop bag. And did I mention the battery life? 9.5 hours! After the iPhone, this is my favourite gadget.

All you need now is some media to play. iTunes offer gift cards for music or podcasts for Apple enthusiasts, or you can download your favourite tunes from napster.com or kazza.com. You can also buy audio books to listen to on your ride in. The BBC is the UK’s leading audio publisher and their audiobooks are available from traditional bookshops and entertainment stores like HMV. Online sites such as audible.co.uk offer audiobook downloads for a fee.

Bibliophiles will also like the Kindle from Amazon or the Reader from Sony, both e-books with the capacity for hundreds of books. Commuters can stash their entire library into a device that is about the same size as a paperback and bring it with them wherever they go.

Victorinox

Everyone who commutes eventually needs a knife, a pair of scissors or a toothpick. All commuters need a Victorinox penknife. I have the creditcard version in my travelcard holder.

Useful and unique gifts

A great gift for the hygiene conscious commuter would be travel sized bottles of hand sanitizer. Many chemists sell these. Look out for alcohol-based sanitizers as these effectively kill off the bacteria that cause colds. A thoughtful touch would be a bottle of hand moisturizer to complement this gift – no one likes dry hands! In light of the recent swine flu scare, other useful gifts for commuters are a few pairs of gloves or face masks. You can order these online from janices.com, which stocks organic cotton products.

For the sleep-deprived commuter afraid of missing his or her stop, a portable alarm clock that vibrates or rings will help. However this is not always foolproof, as trains do not always run perfectly on time and you may still miss your stop if your train is early. Commuters on the London Underground have the option of using Wake Me Up At … Stickers, round, brightly coloured stickers that bear the legend “Wake Me Up At [Tube Station]”. Cute, kitsch and good for a laugh, the stickers come in a set of nine, covering stations like Earl’s Court, Piccadilly Circus, Waterloo and Embankment. Some stickers are left blank so you can add your own station. If you think you can place your trust in your fellow commuters, order your set of stickers from designmuseumshop.com.

If you take the same route every day, you probably know your transport system like the back of your hand. Just in case you do get off track, however, it would be handy to have a map lying around. Forget about the normal paper stuff – they tear too easily and aren’t environmentally friendly. Whether you are commuting in Paris, New York or London, head to shop.tfl.gov.uk where you can find credit card sized, mirror polished, etched stainless steel maps of the Metro, Subway and Tube.

And to keep it all together, a commuter needs a hardy, durable card holder. The best ones are designed so that there is no risk of your cards falling out. Steel or silver card holders won’t work for electronic transport cards, so choose leather, plastic or cloth versions. At the high end, luxury brands like Montblanc and Hermes offer some glossy leather card holders for the discerning commuter, while in the mid and low range, anything goes. They can be found on Amazon, Kelkoo and eBay.

Many commuters can’t start their day without coffee. In these cash sensitive and environmentally aware times, the best gift for a coffee-loving commuter would be the “I am Not a Paper Cup” reusable mug from Target. In the style of Anya Hindmarsh’s “I am Not a Paper Bag”, this mug looks like a normal polystyrene coffee cup but is actually made from porcelain, with a reusable plastic lid to prevent spillage. However, to keep tea or coffee warm, commuters may prefer a traditional thermal flask. The website corvusweb.co.uk stocks a sleek and functional flask that can hold just under a pint of your favourite morning brew. The flask comes in six different colours guaranteed to make the morning brighter.

Commuting In New Orleans

New Orleans is unique when it comes to commuting. It was the first to have a commuter railway, the St. Charles Streetcar line (which is the oldest continuously operated railway in the world). Yet it has failed to keep up with most modern cities in that it lacks any sort of high-speed rail service to move people from outlying communities.

This has proven to be more of a problem since Katrina. Before the storm, most of the city’s residents who would not or could not drive were content to walk, take a bus or ride the streetcar to work. Now, however, many of those residents have been displaced to the outlying areas — some as far as Baton Rouge. For most of these people a car is the only option, as there are very few other alternatives.

For residents who have returned to New Orleans, streetcars (which were out of service for 15 months after the storm) and busses remain a great way to get around town. This was how most of the city’s hotel and restaurant workers commuted to work before Katrina and remains so today. For those who can afford it, the city also has ample taxi service.

New Orleans also has several ferries that carry both pedestrians and cars across the Mississippi River daily. They run from 6AM until either 8:45PM or 12:15AM daily, depending on the ferry. Many people who live across the river from New Orleans depend on the ferries to get them to and from work each day. Unfortunately, the city does not have a water taxi service similar to Boston or London.

For many middle class workers, there is little choice but to drive into the city. There are a few bus routes, including one from Baton Rouge called LA Swift. While free after just after the storm, it now costs $5 one way. For many who are living in Baton Rouge while waiting for their homes to be repaired here in New Orleans, the two hour ride each way is worth it compared to the $20 to $30 in gas such as trip would cost them in a car.

While there has been talk for years of putting light rail service to connect New Orleans’ streetcar lines with its suburbs and airports, so far that is all it has been is talk. It is becoming increasingly hard, however, for people to afford either the time or money it costs to commute by car daily. Some think it is only a matter of time before light rail becomes inevitable, There is even talk of rebuilding a sky rail system – similar to that used in the 1984 World’s Fair to transport people back and forth across the river.

Choosing your cycle route

Even when facilities are provided, some cyclists prefer not to have to change their clothes when they get to work. Sometimes it’s just not practical. For example, if you have to attend a morning meeting at an office just a few blocks away from your workplace and decide to cycle straight there, you will want to be able to walk from the cycle rack to the meeting room without making any adjustments other than putting your cycle helmet in your backpack or cycle carrier. Even if you rarely attend meetings away from the office, you may still not want the bother of having to change your clothes when you arrive at your destination. One of the tricks to arriving feeling fresh and looking professional, is to make your ride in as effortless as possible. While what you wear is important, how you get there is too. Take the easiest route you know. This isn’t necessarily the shortest route, but often the one with the flattest terrain. Some of the most stylish cyclists in the world can be found in Amsterdam. It’s very rare that you see anyone riding in Lycra in the cycling capital of the world. These commuters cycle in their everyday business attire. And they’re able to arrive at work looking polished because they don’t ride up hills (admittedly, they’re lucky enough to live in a city that’s very flat). So do as the commuters in Amsterdam do and cycle leisurely if you want a perspiration-free commute to work.

Another trick to arriving at work looking as though you’ve done little more than ride the elevator to your desk is to equip your bike with a device of some sort to enable you to carry what you need on your bike rather than on your person. This is especially important if you want a crease-free shirt; there’s nothing that’s going to ruin a freshly ironed shirt quicker than a heavy backpack thrown on top of it. A basket on the front of your bike will work but whatever you put in it may not be that secure (it’s likely to jump out should you ride over any bumps). Furthermore, a basket doesn’t provide any protection from the rain (unless it’s covered), and it’s a difficult look to carry off unless you’re an elderly spinster cycling in 1940s England. A much better option is to get a simple rack fitted to the back of your bike and fix carriers (panniers) to it. You can get one or two depending on how much you need to transport. If you’re going to be carrying a lot of items, it’s probably best to get two to even up the load (a bike can be difficult to manage, not to mention a little dangerous to ride, if there’s a considerable weight on only one side of it). These carriers can be easily and quickly lifted off and carried around with you. They come in various shapes and sizes, some of which are very smart looking and similar in design to a brief case. A good quality carrier will be made from durable, waterproof material and have some sort of reflective device fitted to it to help other road users see you in the dark.

As for clothing, wear multiple layers of loose-fitting items which you can take off and put back on depending on how warm or cool you get. If you’re wearing pants, use cycle clips to prevent the hems getting covered in grease or caught in your cycle chain. Make sure no item of clothing is flapping about as you cycle (e.g. an unzipped jacket), because if any part of it gets caught by another vehicle, the consequences might not be too good.

Read more: Necessities for your cycle commute

Work facilities for the cycling commuter

Before you start mapping out your cycle route, find out what facilities your employer offers in the way of showers and change areas. If you’re going to be cycling only a very short distance, and will have a relatively leisurely commute to work, then you probably won’t need much in the way of change facilities – you’ll be able to just park your bike and walk to your desk fresh as a daisy. However, if you don’t want to cycle in your workplace clothes, then you will need at least somewhere to change. While it’s easy to change in the washroom, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to keep your cycling clothes in there, which means that you’ll have to pack them up and take them with you to your desk. It’s much more convenient if there’s a change area where you can safely leave your clothes ready for when you change back into them for the return ride home.

Some employers are a little more enlightened than others and encourage their employees to use environmentally friendly modes of transport for commuting, such as cycling, and to this end offer their employees full facilities, which usually include a change area, and showers. This makes life very easy for the cycling commuter as she can shower once at work after her ride in, thereby not only saving her blouse from getting all sweaty and creased, but also saving on her household water bill.

As an aside, if there are no showering facilities where you work, you might want to draw your employer’s attention to the importance, and benefits, of encouraging employees to leave their cars at home and take alternative modes of transport to work. One way an employer can do this is by offering adequate facilities (e.g. showers and change areas for those people who wish to cycle, run, or even walk). The very least an employer can do for those members of the workforce who wish to cycle is to provide a safe and protected area in which to store bicycles. It’s difficult for an employer to refuse such a request given the need to reduce our collective carbon footprint, which we can do by using less motorized transport. Not only that, but any employer worth their salt will recognize that healthy employees (those that exercise for example) tend to have fewer days off work because of illness. Furthermore, if there’s limited car parking at your workplace, then this is yet another good reason for your organization to offer its workforce cycling facilities.

Read more: planning your route

Benefits of a cycle commute

• You will get fitter.
• You will lose weight (providing you don’t increase your current calorie intake).
• You will be doing your bit to help protect the planet, and, as a result, feel less guilty when you use your car.
• You will be able to avoid all the inconveniences your fellow motoring colleagues will have to deal with. For example, there’s every probability that when there’s a major incident on the roads in the vicinity of your workplace, and everyone’s arriving at work late, you won’t be affected (you can always get off your bike and wheel it past the difficult spots).
• You could very well inspire your colleagues to start cycling to work, which is a great feeling.

These are just a few of the many benefits of cycling to work. Once you give it ago, you are bound to find more. And when you see others following in your footsteps (or tire tracks), you might not be so bothered about the small grease stain on your pants or the few creases in your shirt. You’ll want to wear those badges of honor with pride!

Cycle commute necessities

A helmet should conform to current safety standards, be light in weight, and provide adequate ventilation.

If you’re commuting in winter, then you will almost certainly need lights. Again, lights should conform to current safety standards and be fit for purpose. For example, if your cycle route is mainly off road (along unlit trails), then choose a light that’s designed for cycling in such conditions and not one that’s designed for road cycling (the former will help you see where you’re going, while the latter will help you be seen by others). If in doubt, go to a reputable cycle store and ask for advice.

Make sure your bike is fitted with fenders (mudguards) if you’re not changing your clothes once you get to work. A rear fender will help keep your back free of grime when cycling in wet conditions.

And if you’re still not entirely convinced, consider the benefits…

Win an exclusive tour of London Transport Museum

You can be a part of a London Transport Museum exhibition and win a behind-the-scenes tour.

All you have to do is share your London commuting experiences.

London Transport Museum would like to know where you travel from. How long does it take? How do you pass the time? What’s the strangest/funniest thing to happen to you on your commute?

If your story is selected you win an exclusive tour of the London Transport Museum, and may feature in an exhibition opening in autumn 2009.

Send your story in an email to communities@ltmuseum.co.uk with your name, telephone number and email address.

Good luck!

Dealing with the weather on your cycle commute

There’s no getting away from it, at some point every cyclist has to deal with the weather. The rain is most cyclists’ number one weather foe. Some cyclists deal with it by not cycling in it; others deal with it by dressing appropriately, gritting their teeth, and peddling through it. If you want to join the latter camp, then you need to buy good waterproof apparel. While the commuting cyclist can, in the main, get away with wearing his or her everyday clothes to ride to the office in, when it comes to dealing with inclement weather, clothing that’s been designed and manufactured specifically for cyclists is the better option. For example, a jacket designed to be worn when cycling will be longer at the back than the front. This is so that when you’re bent forward cycling and the jacket rides up your body, your lower back won’t be exposed to the elements. Similarly, a good quality waterproof cycling jacket will not only prevent you from getting wet, but will wick moisture away from your body when it starts heating up so you’re not left sweaty, and will be equipped with ventilation zips to help keep you cool. As with cycle carriers, most cycling clothing is designed with reflective piping to help you stay visible when it gets dark. Waterproof and windproof jackets and pants can be folded up and stored in your carrier for use in bad weather.

One item of cycling apparel that’s especially useful if you’re cycling any real distance is a pair of padded tights or shorts. These are made from Lycra and fitted with padding in the seat to provide comfort and cushioning when in the saddle. These are particularly useful for the cyclist who sometimes finds that riding leaves him or her feeling a little numb in the derriere.

While you can quite happily cycle in your regular working clothes or leisure wear, good performance cycling apparel will last longer, make your ride more comfortable, and protect you better. And there’s no need to worry about looking as though you’re competing in the Tour de France (you should be so lucky!); most cycling clothing is discreet without flashy logos or symbols.

If you want to buy good quality cycling apparel, some brands to look out for are Altura, Campagnolo, Descente, and Pearl Izumi.

Read more: work facilities for cycle commuters

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