Proposed London Cycle Hire Docking Station - Old St

1. Don't believe the stories temporarily spread when JC Decaux were trying to renegotiate the Paris contract. It would appear that the scheme cost them more than they had anticipated, and they weren't making as much money as projected. The scheme works extremely well and those messages of gloom are not to be over-emphasised.

2. London is still some way away from using carriageway space in all of these installations. Such space is being used in some cases, and that's a start. There are, however, some locations, as the one above, where the hire station is located at the back of the footway, causing potential conflict between people on foot and users of the scheme.

Deaths still went up in Paris when the scheme was introduced.

1. Relative to the increase in cycling, collision rates went down. There is safety in numbers. See the current CTC campaign:
   
   

http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=5225

1. If a messenger's bike broke down, they could complete the rest of their day's work on a cool, lightweight hire bike. Win-win. ;P