Fear for your lives next summer

The Cycle Hire scheme is very well-managed, backed by solid funding, moving ahead well on schedule, and will be a success. All of the worries expressed in this thread have been considered and addressed--e.g., the cost of vandalism is factored into the scheme's running costs, etc. There is now a considerable amount of experience, from Paris and dozens of other cities, of the impact of such schemes, and nothing about it is a novelty.

I'm really looking forward to it. We expect it to usher in a change reminiscent of the early days of congestion charging, although its full impact will only be released gradually as more bikes and hire stations are added, and the scope of the hire zone increased.

Heavy night?

They have something similar in Trondheim. Lived there around 10 years ago, and used to use them alot. Trouble was all the functional ones would collect at just a handful of popular destinations, as most people used them for oneway journeys.

Tidal flows will be a problem in London, too--i.e., most people travelling radially into the centre in the AM peak, and radially out of the centre in the PM peak, but it is expected that bikes will be redistributed evenly throughout the daytime. Remember that London is insanely busy and full of people in a hurry, and the number of bikes so far is a drop in the ocean compared to the millions of individual journeys undertaken in London every day.

Bikes will generally be functional owing to a solid maintenance back-up. The Trondheim scheme sounds like one of those older schemes that weren't fully thought through.

I expect to see one converted to fixed, sprayed baby blue, with pink grips for sale at £600

If you stuck on a pink chain, that would be gorgeous!

I think that the nodders who hire bikes should be made to shave their legs for aesthetic reasons.

I'll give it 2 months before the bulk of the bikes have been lobbed into a canal or smashed up by scrotes.

I reckon most of 'em will end up in Brixton which will be convenient for me when I want a pub bike.

The Cycle Hire scheme is very well-managed, backed by solid funding, moving ahead well on schedule, and will be a success. All of the worries expressed in this thread have been considered and addressed--e.g., the cost of vandalism is factored into the scheme's running costs, etc. There is now a considerable amount of experience, from Paris and dozens of other cities, of the impact of such schemes, and nothing about it is a novelty.

Really?

So no LBS's will close as a result in the loss of business that comes about as people choose to rent bikes rather than pay of maintain their own ones?

How's that working?

why does the reporter sound so nervous

Really?

So no LBS's will close as a result in the loss of business that comes about as people choose to rent bikes rather than pay of maintain their own ones?

How's that working?

In Paris and other cities, bike shops have seen business increase in line with the general increase in cycling that piggybacks on the hire bike scheme.

The hire scheme has had a major effect on traffic in Paris and other cities, which sends a hugely positive signal.

most of the cycling bodies say positive things about the scheme but sotto voce -- not wanting to piss over the mayor's latest wheeze -- think it'll make little difference. it's largely a zone 1 thing so it's an expensive answer to a non-existent problem.

the only regulars who require mass transport around zone 1 are commuters at train stations, and the hire stations are NOT going to be near stations to stop commuters using them. so, who's left? tourists mainly, I guess.

what this will mean is that boris will LOOK like he's doing a lot for london cyclists whereas in fact very little is happening. the "cycle superhighways" amount to little more than spraying a bit of pavement blue, and a few cycle lessons here and there, whatever positive spin the LCC try to give it.

edited to add: here's something that would actually change cycling in London for better. won't happen under boris.

what this will mean is that boris will LOOK like he's doing a lot for london cyclists whereas in fact very little is happening. the "cycle superhighways" amount to little more than spraying a bit of pavement blue, and a few cycle lessons here and there, whatever positive spin the LCC try to give it.

Have you been paying attention at all?

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1513

We do not currently envisage Cycle Superhighways to be a success. We hope that this will change.

And we even have critical things to say about the Cycle Hire scheme:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1479

But yes, Cycle Hire will be a success. It can always get better, of course.

I was just in Amsterdam recently and hired a similar thing (Mac Bike, I think it's called). Very quickly got used to the city's transport system, and had no problems at all. I'd be wary of a visitor coming to London and thinking it's going to be as easy, though. You have to be much more assertive here, and there's a limit to how assertive you can be on a bike that weighs about 5 times what a fixed weighs. But then again, Paris traffic is similar to London and it seems to work there.

I think Velocio's assertion about LBSs will indeed not be a problem. There are new shops opening all the time, life is good for bike shops. They'll be fine.

The Oyster card thing is, indeed, an image (rather than practical) problem, as the credit card deposit will mean that using another card (oyster) to pay for the use of it seems silly and overcomplicated.

Shame that they won't be near stations. That seems INSANE to me. This will change if the launch goes well, presumably, as the bleedin OBVIOUS place to put them is where train commuters can use them - surely?! Oliver tell me why not!

For the record, cycle-highways came from the previous administration.
I think they could be a great idea if they consisted of whole roads rather than some joined-up cycle lanes painted blue.

I don't suppose there is any political will for that as it would exclude motorists.

Shame that they won't be near stations. That seems INSANE to me. This will change if the launch goes well, presumably, as the bleedin OBVIOUS place to put them is where train commuters can use them - surely?! Oliver tell me why not!

Well, this has been debated ad nauseam, and there are a number of reasons for it. There are stations from which tens of thousands of commuters emerge in the morning--some hire bikes in front of that would indeed not be very useful. If you want to dream of train-bike integration, you need to argue for more cycle carriage and cycle parking (for people's own bikes) at stations. A cycle hire scheme isn't going to cut it. There are a number of other, more minor reasons not worth going into.

"Have you been paying attention at all?"

Well, I flicked through my edition of London Cyclist the other day and noted all the (non-existent) highways etc and thought a double-page spread with large maps meant some kind of approval of the scheme, implicit at least.

On reflection, what I meant was that the LCC seem to want to be positive about cycling in general so aren't in a position to shout and scream about the f*cking uselessness of the present set up. (Crap Cycling in Waltham Forest also does that ably!)*

Spending tens of millions (or is it hundreds of millions?) on a scheme that does nothing for the bulk of London cyclists sticks in my throat a bit. But then I guess your average London commuter, racer, sports rider or non-Zone 1 resident is not the target audience for the hire scheme.

• for fans of political studies, this is a classic insider versus outsider dilemma faced by most pressure groups
  

Surely it would make more sense to use Oyster cards- not everyone has a credit card.

With Oyster one could put the deposit on just like a top up for prepay, and it then reinforces that the hire bikes are part of an integrated transport network.

Also the Oyster card and reader tech already exists- no need to reinvent the wheel and it's got to be cheap now that they have been knocking it out for yonks.

Plus it would yield some interesting stats for transport planners as your Oyster card is trackable.

For the record, cycle-highways came from the previous administration.
I think they could be a great idea if they consisted of whole roads rather than some joined-up cycle lanes painted blue.

I don't suppose there is any political will for that as it would exclude motorists.

So did Cycle Hire, and indeed the long-delayed Cycle Hubs idea, but the present Mayor has endorsed them all, and there is no reason to believe that he isn't genuinely passionate about cycling.

However, we have not heard of many high-order measures for Cycle Superhighways. For instance, we have heard that there are at present no plans to return any one-way gyratories to two-way operation, meaning that the proposed Cycle Superhighways are threatened with split alignments and all the other unpleasant effects of gyratories.

Do write to the Mayor supporting the LCC's manifesto on Cycle Superhighways that I linked to above, or show us your support at the Cycle Show.

the "cycle superhighways" amount to little more than spraying a bit of pavement blue,

at the cycleshow there is going to be 'an interactive' thing showing the proposed superhighway.

I will be taking a video.. I encourage others to do as well so we can compare it to the reality.

I'm really really scared that the blue pavement thing will be all that happens.

If they get this right - the combination of the superhighways and the rental bikes will be amazing for getting people into the centre, where all hell will break loose as the blue bits end and people need to go another 0.5 mile.

I rode on a new piece of bike lane on the A2 this morning. It stops, randomly, half way along the road, just in the right place to let you fight it out with the HGVs. This is brand new road design. I have no confidence in current generation of planners to do anything better.

Surely it would make more sense to use Oyster cards- not everyone has a credit card.

With Oyster one could put the deposit on just like a top up for prepay, and it then reinforces that the hire bikes are part of an integrated transport network.

Also the Oyster card and reader tech already exists- no need to reinvent the wheel and it's got to be cheap now that they have been knocking it out for yonks.

Plus it would yield some interesting stats for transport planners as your Oyster card is trackable.

my take:
the Oyster card has been hacked and cloned. (if you had come to a certain security group in London a few months ago you could have seen a live cloning demo. it's very fast. PM me for details.)

The systems that the bike company will use are seperate and IMHO that is for good reason. I suspect (but I have no evidence as an outsider) they will join together when Oyster V2 happens 'in the future.'

Would also be nice for going for pootle around town with friends who have no bike to show them how quick and convenient cycling can be.

I'm all for this idea- seems a shame to divorce it from the Oyster card though, as if you could use that to check a bike out it would seem a natural extension of the capitals transport system.

the oyster card thing is an excellent idea although much easier to use if it got nicked off you.

might be worth mentioning it to tfl?

Shame that they won't be near stations. That seems INSANE to me. This will change if the launch goes well, presumably, as the bleedin OBVIOUS place to put them is where train commuters can use them - surely?! Oliver tell me why not!

I heard that it's because they would be too popular...

cycnic:
Southern trains are doing a brompton hire scheme at Waterloo, I guess they also wouldn't like the competition.

the oyster card thing is an excellent idea although much easier to use if it got nicked off you.

might be worth mentioning it to tfl?

see my note about cloning oyster cards. don't go ths way. :)

Southern trains are doing a brompton hire scheme at Waterloo, because they are such a bunch of cunts about letting you take your own bike on their smelly, cramped trains and it's another way of profiteering.

fixed.

see my note about cloning oyster cards. don't go ths way. :)

That the cards can be cloned is well known- but it's not that much of an issue to the general populace is it?

You need to have the know how and the tech to do it, and realistically it's just not worth doing so that you can obtain a free bicycle.