London Cycle Hire

Hackney reviews dockless bike arrangements:

https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/hackney-council-suspends-dockless-bike-parking-to-stop-them-being-dumped-on-pavements-1-6175120

More on bike dumping in the public realm:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/uks-top-prosecutor-max-hill-lashes-out-at-people-dumping-hire-bikes-in-middle-of-paths-a4221811.html

Some figures on damage to (public) hire bikes and write-offs:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/londoners-urged-to-stop-trashing-boris-bikes-as-figures-show-200-a-year-are-wrecked-a4242016.html

Bank Bikes moving to pedal assist in future? https://twitter.com/maidstoneonbike/status/1175750974306234368?s=21

It has been talked about for the last few years, I suspect the bikes are being flashed about by the company delivering the hire scheme as a contract to renew/upgrade all the docks would be amazing for them. Would be good to revisit the idea as now dockless ebikes are a common sight so demand and use expectation is more obvious.

https://cyclingindustry.news/london-cycle-hire-wont-carry-e-bikes-as-infrastructure-deemed-not-value-for-money/

edit - I couldn't find the link but I've seen a ebike version of a santander in the past with another country/city/branding slapped across it.

Turns out Uber have stepped away from Jump and handed them over to Lime

https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/16/lime-closes-acquisition-of-jump-assets-in-europe-as-jump-bikes-and-scooters-disappear/

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/3/21312011/lime-relaunches-jump-electric-bikes-london-scooters

Following Uber leading investment into Lime

https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/07/uber-leads-170-million-lime-investment-offloads-jump-to-lime/

Bank Bikes will have e-bikes added to the fleet and price changes from September. Can't find the actual release from TfL or Santander though. Looks like the free 30 minutes for 24 hour access is being scrapped for one shot 30 minute rides only.

Found the info on TfL - https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/what-you-pay#on-this-page-2

And the press release - https://tfl-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/tfl-press-release-santander-cycles-to-launch-e-bikes-in-london-from-september

Price rises all over the UK for these fleets, just seen them jump up quite a bit in Glasgow, where usage is quite low compared to other places for sure, lots of abuse up here towards bikes too. Theres a few areas that they keep trying to put the bikes into and the locals just destroy them wholesale.

Back from Finland and pretty much every scooter, bike and e bike company are there, Finn's are a very trustworthy and considerate nation though, no one would even think of damaging someone elses stuff, or the cities infrastructure, or even that which belongs to oversea's investment giants. The result? Place is amazing to ride or scoot about, everything works, everything feels clean, and you don't have to check for folk smearing dog shit on the handlebars etc like you do here. Pricing was keen too. For a day of use, 100 mins of scooting was under 7 euro. A package with 300 mins of scooting over a month (but ideal for a few heavy days usage) was 12 euro.

Lime bikes: I finally had a go on one the other day and had been thinking of using them for short casual trips to save locking up my own bike. Also keen on the motor as am feeble with long COVID.

But at 21p / min plus £1 / trip, a 10 mins trip and back on a different bike was over £6. Which doesn't get you very far at all with stopping at red lights.

Anyone know if the rental fee/min varies? Lime are vague on this. Doesn't seem a very attractive prospect at current prices...

You can get a 24 hour pass which was at one point unlimited rides less than an hour, is currently (for me, anyway) 12o mins of riding. It costs somewhere between £8-12, seems to vary algorithmically. If I open the pass page, don't book one and open again the next day the offering has invariably improved in some respect (price or duration). It's still expensive, but if you're planning lots of short trips, or a long commute plus some lunchtime/apres dallying, it was work out pretty good.

Now I remember looking at those a few days ago and thinking they weren't much use for me as I was unlikely to do more than 2 short trips in 24 hrs...

But on looking again just now, it seems to have changed to 60 minutes over 3 days for £5 which is much more useful!

(may be algorithmically targeted at me only ofc)

This is why I don't use Lime (or the other electric bikes which seem to be a similar price). It just seems so expensive compared to options like the tube or bus.

Some interesting follow-up of this hit-and-run crash in Crouch End:

Despite the footage of the incident the Met Police told the Standard they have not been able to trace the Lime Bike rider.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “Met officers contacted Lime formally on 8 August 2024 to obtain details about the rider.

“On 25 September, Lime’s ‘Global Law Enforcement Response’ team provided the information held about the rider who was believed to be using the bike at the time of the collision.

“The information provided by Lime was limited to an anonymous email address which did not assist officers in identifying the person involved. Additionally, the account was linked to a fraudulent bank card, meaning officers were similarly unable to explore financial checks to progress their investigation.

“Should further information come to light it will of course be considered.”

Lime has been contacted for comment.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/lime-bike-crouch-end-north-london-crash-hit-and-run-b1186540.html