Boris's Bike Watch...

[Tynan]

ES/Boris said yesterday that some stations and quite a lot of the bikes aren;t ready yet, quite understandable

 

[brokenbetty]

I saw 2 in motion between Liverpool St and Cannon St this morning

I'm planning on joining up as a quick way to bounce around Central London. I don't necessarily want a 12 mile round trip to run a few errands, but getting the tube in then having a fast way to zip around a few shops would be very handy.

The problem with getting used to cycling is that walking seems to take forever these days

 

[Tynan]

'quick' will depend on there eing a handy station to drop them off at the end

 

[gaz]

Over 1,000 trips all ready made in the first 3 hours of launch.

 

[Davidc]

Yeah I think Paris' problem was mainly stolen bikes but the report this morning said that London had learnt from Paris' mistake so we'll see with that one.

I think the London hooligan is unfortunately several steps up from the Paris one (except in the banlieues and I don't think they put racks there!!)

Banlieu simply means suburb. They vary enormously and it's certainly the case that some don't have velibs. Most do.

My observation is that London hooligans are much the same as their continental counterparts (not just the Paris ones) so I'd expect London to need similar measures. There must be a support scheme in place in London, and I'd expect to see them use some of the measures I've seen in Brussels. That includes reducing the number of bikes idle but available overnight.

I didn't know, I thought the docking stations would be fully populated, I suppose it makes sense to have spare stations. I saw 6 people riding them in Tooley St. last Wednesday evening

One of the mistakes Paris made was to fully populate the stations. Some spare capacity is needed for people arriving with a bike from elsewhere. In Brussels (guess which scheme I've seen most of) the extra capacity in the morning in the shopping district looks to be about 1/3.


The Brussels velibs work well, but you need to make certain that the bike is in good order before you use it. I suspect London will be the same. I'll find out in 3 weeks when I'm there, as I intend using one instead of the bus or tube.

 

[taxing]

I'd love to give them a go, but I don't go to London very often. And when I do I don't know where I'm going.

 

[BigSteev]

And when I do I don't know where I'm going.

That's actually a very valid point. I was discussing it with a colleague and while it'd be easy for me to go from say Liverpool St to Hyde Park in under 30 minutes, he would struggle not just from being a slower rider, but from not knowing his way around London. I guess that only comes with practice.

 

[Davidc]

I'd love to give them a go, but I don't go to London very often. And when I do I don't know where I'm going.

Buy a central London A to Z at the station when you get there!

 

[nasserblue]

Navigation in central London can be bit of a nightmare, with one way systems and no entries, and the direction of traffic forced in a certain circulation route.
Those of us that are familiar with walking might find it a bit challenging.

For me there is also the safety issue, if you are an infrequent rider, traveling an unfamiliar route, with a lot of traffic, it could be a bit off-putting.

I suppose in a city of 10M, with around 2M traveling into the centre, even if it's only appropriate for less than 1%, it's still a lot of individual journeys.

 

[brokenbetty]

'quick' will depend on there eing a handy station to drop them off at the end

I'm thinking more of round trips - get the tube in, pick a bike up from the nearest location to ride around between the shops, drop it back to the same place and get the tube home.

 

[Alan Whicker]

Just seen a bloke in flip-flops tootling down Bishopsgate. I'm going to ride one over to Borough Market later.

 

[brokenbetty]

Oooo, another thing I will use them for is lunchtime errands at work. I can't ride my commuting bike in my work clothes (horizontal crossbar + pencil skirt = ) but I'd often like to. I've even been wondering about swapping it for a Dutch style bike but riding in on the tourer then grabbing a borisbike if I need one might be the best of both worlds.

 

[taxing]

Oooo, another thing I will use them for is lunchtime errands at work. I can't ride my commuting bike in my work clothes (horizontal crossbar + pencil skirt = ) but I'd often like to. I've even been wondering about swapping it for a Dutch style bike but riding in on the tourer then grabbing a borisbike if I need one might be the best of both worlds.

I've got a step through and I can ride it easily in some of my pencil skirts but some of the tighter ones make balancing a bit harder, so that's something to think about when you're getting dressed in the morning.

 

[Stephenite]

I think its quite exciting, this bicycle hire scheme, but i wont be participating as i don't live in London (or the UK for that matter). Somehow reminiscent of cricket

 

[upsidedown]

It's not just the hooligans that don't like them, the Wail messageboards are catching wind:

"So does membership include any form of driving lessons or do we have to put with even more idiots that pay no road tax, have no road sense yet still believe they have more rights to be on the road than the rest of us?

- Kahonen, Andover, UK, 30/7/2010 11:24


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Barclays-cycle-hire-scheme.html#ixzz0vAAeNEVh "



I think it's a brilliant idea.