"Call You and Yours" on cycling

[Davidc]

I use Boris bikes when I'm in London. It's usually nothing to do with tourist venues.

It's counter-intuitive, but I find Central London very safe and sensible on a bike. More so than towns in Somerset, or Bristol or Exeter.

As for flashing lights. I use one at the back in daytime, a lot brighter than the Boris bike ones, and notice how much worse driver behaviour is if I forget to switch it on, so that may be helping with safety and comfort. It would be interesting to get real research done on that though.

 

[Frood42]

But those touristy locations are situated, and those short trips undertaken, in one of the areas of the country with the highest traffic density.

In an area where I would say drivers are more aware of cyclists (despite sub standard infrastructure), I find other cyclists in London tend to be more assertive and make themselves visible (in a good way).

Image may be a thing with the "Boris" bikes, as they appear to be in more normal clothing and mostly do not wear helmets (they also wobble a bit and on a bike and I do tend to give them even more space than I do other bikes, which also get plenty of room, it is a bug bear of mine that some cyclists do not give each other room, but then complain about other road users).

Outside of rush hour I find London to be quite nice to ride through or around, and during busy periods, while you do need to be more aware, most of the traffic is either slow moving or at a standstill, and I do like cycling in and around London.

"Boris" bikes are mainly short trips on lower speed roads.
Blanket 30mph enforced road speeds in heavily populated or touristy areas (or even 20mph in some residential areas) seems to be the answer, at least to me.

I am not a big fan of segregation (seen too many poor cycle lanes/paths), but if that is what it takes to bring numbers up and if it is done properly then I wouldn't say no to it (as long as it doesn't enforce the "get in the cycle lane" mentality).

I also liked the plans/ideas of sending cars underground and giving back the space to the local communities.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tran...oss-to-get-flyunder-in-30bn-plan-8697628.html

A dream I am sure, but I can hope...

 

[MontyVeda]

I don't think anybody suggested that flashing lights would stop all accidents... but may be a contributing factor to the 'fact' that boris bike have a low accident rate. There's plenty on here who run flashing front and rear lights day and night, and i can't think of any reason other than visibility and safety... unless they just can't find the 'off' switch.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I thought that was among the most idiotic of the ideas on the show: Boris bikes aren't involved in many accidents. They have flashing lights. So if all bikes were fitted with flashing lights there would be no more accidents. I did wonder if it was a wind-up, but I think that caller really believed this to be true.

I have to say, though, that given the extreme waywardness of some BB riders, there have been far fewer casualties than I would have expected.

 

[Hill Wimp]

My opinion is the low accident rate is due to the limited area that the "Boris" bikes are used in, they tend to be used in more touristy locations and for short trips.

I think you would be surprised. The bikes around many of the main stations are actually used by commuters in the mornings during the week and its a current complaint that there are not enough of them around the stations for this purpose. Two of my neighbours use them to travel south to north London daily.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Agreed, but do you think it's because of the flashing lights?

No, not simply that but I think it could be one factor. If I remember rightly (I've seen so many, it's no longer conscious) they have rear lights on both chainstays making them pretty distinctive from a good distance.

(In any event, I tend to ride with flashing lights during the day, and a mixture of flashing and constant at night. On the principle that it can't do me any harm - also I've a fair number of rechargeable batteries.)

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I think you would be surprised. The bikes around many of the main stations are actually used by commuters in the mornings during the week and its a current complaint that there are not enough of them around the stations for this purpose. Two of my neighbours use them to travel south to north London daily.

True and they're increasingly visible in Greenwich and environs. Which is outside the BB area.

 

[Davidc]

Agreed, but do you think it's because of the flashing lights?

They may help but can't be the whole story.

As I said above I run a bright rear flasher in daylight. Costs next to nothing and if it makes one dozy driver a year wake up it's worth doing.

 

[Frood42]

I think you would be surprised. The bikes around many of the main stations are actually used by commuters in the mornings during the week and its a current complaint that there are not enough of them around the stations for this purpose. Two of my neighbours use them to travel south to north London daily.

Not really surprised, they weren't originally designed for commuters, but they have been slowly expanding them and looking at putting them at more stations, but these are still in limited areas.

When I first started riding a bike again it was a "boris" bike from Holborn Circus to Bow, but I saw hardly any other commuters, but it did handle quite well in the snow and wet.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Not really surprised, they weren't originally designed for commuters, but they have been slowly expanding them and looking at putting them at more stations, but these are still in limited areas.




There are over 8000 of these bikes in use at any one time and there are 500 odd docking stations.

 

[Frood42]

There are over 8000 of these bikes in use at any one time and there are 500 odd docking stations.

I think the scheme is great but it is still limited to a fairly small area.

 

[Frood42]

Says who? When they were initially launched they were aimed squarely at commuters - in fact, you needed to be UK based in order to register for access.

I just walked up to a terminal and used my card with no need to register, but it may have changed by then.
If I can find the link or article I will dig it out, until then I stand corrected.

 

[Davidc]

I just walked up to a terminal and used my card with no need to register, but it may have changed by then.
If I can find the link or article I will dig it out, until then I stand corrected.

Took years for that to come in, but it's better for occasional users like me now we have it.

The trick with those bikes is to keep every journey down to the free half hour, walk for ten minutes and then take another one.That way you only pay the £1 daily access fee. Surprising how many people do that. It does add about fifteen minutes to a trip from Paddington to near Bank though.

 

[Frood42]

When Boris Bikes were first launched they were limited to those who had pre-registered for keys. As you will see, you had to have a UK address, which excluded most tourists (other than those from within the UK).

The majority of people who were using them initially were commuters. The free 1/2 hour was enough to commute from most central London stations to anywhere else in the centre of town.

They are good for commuting from say Zone 2 into Zone 1, as Zone 1 can be expensive on the tube.

 

[Frood42]

Took years for that to come in, but it's better for occasional users like me now we have it.

The trick with those bikes is to keep every journey down to the free half hour, walk for ten minutes and then take another one.That way you only pay the £1 daily access fee. Surprising how many people do that. It does add about fifteen minutes to a trip from Paddington to near Bank though.

I did like those bikes but I mainly used them to commute and now I have my own bike I no longer use the scheme.
The only time I may use them again is when the parents visit (I previously took them along the canals on the 'boris' bikes), as the docking stations can be convienient for parking the bikes up and popping into a cafe or pub for some lunch before heading off again, without having to worry about locking your own bike up somewhere.