London Cycle Hire

You're going to race the first moped you see, aren't you, just to see if you can.

I might give it a go... hoping to make a roadie cry though with a cheery wave

Whats that got to do with anything?

We would not have the scheme without a big corporation stepping in to finance it, that the reality of it.

Bollocks.

Even if that is the case, it doesn't automatically give Barclays carte blanche to plaster their name all over it.

This is different to normal advertising. It's on the street, public streets. Boris has sold it off for a pittance. Billboards and all that are privately owned.

It's depressing how willing people are to accept and even defend corporate BS

Gonna give it my first try today, in suit and tie.

I got totally Boris'ed at the lights on Aldersgate / Beech St by a guy obviously late for his meeting. I was fit to drop after my day at work couriering, and my knee is still fucked now (long story, but I'm off work to give it a rest today).

I could barely do 2mph come 4pm and fair play, this guy looked me up and down and was first off into the distance. . classic.

Proof that brute strength will prevail - whens this Boris Cat gonna be then?

But Neu, London Buses hold advertising, and so do underground / overground* stations... .Wasn't Ken going to fund it using Congestion Charge profits, or was that just my delusion?

*wombling free

This is too far though. They've actually called the cycle paths barclays superhighways. The fucking Road is now a Barclays advert.

THe whole thing cost £140m, the £25m is welcome but to say the whole thing was impossible without it is bollocks, and that this had to factor in massive levels of branding is not true. As was said elsewhere, the french one got private funding but has no branding.

Fact is the english are a walkover. We think nothing can happen without a corporate sponsor. This might be the case when we live in a self serving society, but it doesn;t have to be the case

neu is right that corporate sponsorship came along quite late in the day. The intention under the previous Mayor was to fund the scheme without corporate sponsorship (the Paris model of allowing a large advertising agency to run it wouldn't have worked here, as it would have involved negotiating separate advertising contracts with all local authorities--in Paris, it was in the Mayor's gift to grant city-wide advertising space). Whether that would have worked is another question, but it was certainly the intention.

Oliver wasn't jc decaux asked to be the sponcer like in france and they declined?

We met them in 2008 and they explored the possibilities, but the above reason meant it wasn't viable for them. I don't think they bid.

Bollocks.

Even if that is the case, it doesn't automatically give Barclays carte blanche to plaster their name all over it.

This is different to normal advertising. It's on the street, public streets. Boris has sold it off for a pittance. Billboards and all that are privately owned.

It's depressing how willing people are to accept and even defend corporate BS

Its also depressing how people attack something just because it has had to have corporate money to get up and running.

And how is it any different to all the other advertising the government sells off? The problem here is you dont like Barclays, not that you dont like afdvertising on the bikes

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23863904-now-mayor-plans-pound-81m-second-wave-of-bicycles-for-hire.do

Sounds pretty good.

JCDecaux didn't decline, their proposal was turned down, it involved loads more billboards going up around the city as well as changing ads on bikes.

Ah, I wasn't aware that they'd actually made a proposal at some stage.

Bollocks.

Even if that is the case, it doesn't automatically give Barclays carte blanche to plaster their name all over it.

This is different to normal advertising. It's on the street, public streets. Boris has sold it off for a pittance. Billboards and all that are privately owned.

It's depressing how willing people are to accept and even defend corporate BS

+1

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23863904-now-mayor-plans-pound-81m-second-wave-of-bicycles-for-hire.do

Sounds pretty good.

It would sound good to me if they extended it equally West, it's good that you can cycle through Hyde park & then ditch the bike but surely it would make equal sense to include places like White City (large shopping area) and Hammersmith (lots of offices) for example?

The problem here is you dont like Barclays, not that you dont like afdvertising on the bikes

I don't see that that is what he's saying at all...?

or south! to include the tourist meccas of brixton high street... and west norwood bus depot... yeah ok. maybe not.

So if it was an 'ethical' company, a social enterprise or a charity paying for the sponsorship, would that make a difference, or is it any private enterprise branding at all that's wrong?

ah crap. it's the nodder/headphone handbag fight starting up again...

For me it's the idea of turning public streets in the city into opportunities for selling things that fucks me off.

In addition, the fact that Barclay's is a massive, banal banking corporation is a shame, and turns me off to the whole thing..

It should be a public service, provided by central government, but we don't do stuff like that here, do we.

There is of course nothing wrong with Barclay's funding it, but their conspicuous branding makes it very clear that it's a marketing opportunity for them.

This might sound idealistic and worthy but, as Neu says up there ^, people (IMO) are way too accepting of this intrusive aspect of urban life.

It's ugly and it gives me a headache.

Death By Boris - CycleHire Race

Camden start point, cycle up north and do a reverse Death TT (up Swains Laine, down wests), first one to sock back in at Camden is the winner.

Thoughts?

I still fancy the Royal London Hospital to Olympia challenge. 8.3 miles, can you do it on a 22kg 60GI bike.

it is possible that this can be interpreted by joe public as a somewhat cynical attempt by the good folks at barclays to claw back some fluffy good PR after that rather messy business last, last year what with the banks being dragged ass backwards through the media on account of their less than savoury practices - could be worse - could be sponsored by BP!

There are probably parallels to be made between this and the helmet debate.

nice...hopefully that kind of ad-busting will start appearing on all the bikes...