London Cycle Hire

What's this taken from?

FOI request by Mark Gannon.

They're full of shit.

Paul Gannon, soz:

https://twitter.com/paulgannonbike/status/904729957896769536

I wonder if zip car, etc pay for access to parking spaces and the point of this is to convince the bike hire company to pay to operate there

And another, ofo:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/fresh-bike-hire-scheme-launches-in-london-with-hundreds-of-cycles-a3626971.html

That still leaves mobike, reportedly bigger than the other two, to launch in London after they did Manchester and Salford.

Couldn't find a general global bike rental topic.

Staying in Zurich and found this, crazy overpowered dockless e-bike rental.

http://smide.ch/

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Rode what I assume was one of the new Santander Cycles this morning.

Ugh - I'm 6'3" and found it absolutely awful. The more compact geometry felt very uncomfortable - it's a massive decrease in comfort for the taller rider.

New pashley ones.

http://www.pashley.co.uk/news/products/pashley-s-new-hire-bike-for-london.php

"The new design provides increased comfort and safety for smaller riders, with a lower bottom bracket and frame step through height." = might actually mean screw you tall people

Bugger.

Is the gearing the same? That was my main issue with the original ones. 1 was useless, 2 was for setting off and anything over 10 mph and you spin out in 3rd.

Felt similar. Certainly not different enough for me to notice while I was grumbling about the decrease in comfort.

Looks like you can now get a pillion on the back.

I used a couple of the new ones today. At 6'5" I didn't find them any less comfortable than the old ones; in fact they felt less twitchy, though that may have been because I had a reasonably heavy bag on the front. They are a little under-geared, but then they're more for sitting up and twiddling than really shifting. Not sure whether the smaller wheels actually made a difference, but they did seem to move off fine from a stop; they did feel a little draggy when up to speed, but whether that was the wheel size or the puncture-proof tyres I don't know.

An interesting article giving a bit of a global overview:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/05/why-we-cant-have-nice-things-dockless-bikes-and-the-tragedy-of-the-commons

Actually kinda impressed with the new ones (worked for a year on the originals).

the “tragedy of the commons” – the economic theory that individuals using a shared resource often act according to their own interests and to the detriment of the shared resource

Grasping capitalist types love this theory, of course, as it suggests grasping capitalism to be an innate human quality.

The dockless hire bikes in Bristol are actually pretty useful, although typically a lot of cyclists seem to be whingeing about them being left in 'their' bike racks.

Ah, I'd missed that nuance. I was more interested in what these companies want to get out of it. As I've said further up, I don't think vandalism has ever had a significant impact on the running of these schemes. Of course, it would be better if none occurred, but the cause of it is not some kind of 'acting against the common interest', but deep frustration and anger that bubbles over. This is not caused by 'the commons' but by social exclusion, etc.

Fuck Serco.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/06/serco-a-high-risk-client-with-history-of-failures-offshore-law-firm-found

I really hope the new cycle hire schemes do well and take Serco out of business.

I've signed up to the Ofo bike out of curiosity more than anything. Are they currently dealing with certain councils? There appear to be loads in Islington and Hackney but barely any in Westminster or Camden for instance.

Yeh, only Islington and Hackney at the moment, think theyre rolling out slowly instead of chucking bikes everywhere.

This is absolutely correct. They're currently operating in Hackney, Islington and the City of London and only enter new boroughs once an agreement has been reached with new local authorities so everyone remains happy.

When are they coming to Croydon or are they only for the Metropolitan elite?

Hopefully everywhere in London eventually. Certainly not just for the elite.

Cheers. Although I assume that they get left in the other boroughs (I haven't seen anything about it being restricted to certain areas) so how does that work. Do they not naturally "migrate" inwards in the mornings?

Croydon

there is a Box park there isn't it?