London Cycle Hire

Well you should should them how it's done!

Story on stolen boris bikes

I have tried to use the bikes around 10-15 times in the last couple of weeks. At various times of day and night, largely from the City and West End.

I am coming to the conclusion that for people like myself - trying to replace 20-30 mins walks / short hops on tubes in busy parts of town - it doesn't work at present - the system is too small and full of bugs.

Of my attempted rides on the bike, less than half have been successful. The most common problem is a lack of bikes. Yesterday this was unsurprising (the strike and all) but even then the bikes must have been somewhere. Have we got to have much greater knowledge of the flow of bikes to make the present system work? The app and internet couldn't tell me. (And no, bikes weren't being deposited around the City / Liverpool St!). I have had the same problem with a lack of bikes in Holborn, Soho and Clerkenwell, at various times.

This means that I cannot plan to use a bike to get from A to B. I have tried to approach it like this, but it has failed (and I've missed appointments etc because of it). Instead, as an unreliable service, it's a bonus /add-on for a bit of a laugh if you're lucky, rather than a form of transport.

As I have been saying for years, a better use of the 150 million quid would have been on reliable and safe bike parking hubs for commuters.

Story on stolen boris bikes

A bit of a silly article. We all know that bikes will be stolen and the organisers have accounted for that.

Aside from the hyperbole of it being 'mercilessly' destickered, it's clearly not painted black unless they meticulously replaced the numbers on the stay. I also don't understand why the author thinks this would be in addition to the ones already acknowledged as stolen?

Why would a thief bother locking it up unless he's willing to lose his lock due to TfL cutting it off (oh, the irony)? Perhaps somebody hired it and locked it up as they were doing their errands. They then lost their keys/forgot about the bike/got run over by a bus/abducted by aliens and the bike remained. That's at least as plausible as a thief paying to convert his hire bike to a stealth bike with such attention to detail.

I am coming to the conclusion that for people like myself - trying to replace 20-30 mins walks / short hops on tubes in busy parts of town - it doesn't work at present - the system is too small and full of bugs.

This means that I cannot plan to use a bike to get from A to B. I have tried to approach it like this, but it has failed (and I've missed appointments etc because of it). Instead, as an unreliable service, it's a bonus /add-on for a bit of a laugh if you're lucky, rather than a form of transport.

As I have been saying for years, a better use of the 150 million quid would have been on reliable and safe bike parking hubs for commuters.

I've been using the BBs since they were available, and I have to say I think it's a great investment. It encourages more people to abandon the tube or buses in favour of an environmentally friendly, anti-congestion method of transport. By raising the number of cyclists on the roads, it should encourage drivers to be more careful, and the Council to install more cycle lanes.

I also think relying on the BBs to get you to appointments was an error. They're great for getting me where I'm going in reasonable time, but they're hardly courier bikes.

@jamiejay - I don't think you quite got my point. It's not about the speed of the bikes it's about availability. More than half the time I have planned to use one I have not been able to, and that includes several 20-30 minute walks trudging from one docking point to another.

I'm glad to hear you've had good experiences of them but if most people can't use them - with even early-adopters struggle to get hold of them - then they'll remain a bit of froth on top of the transport infrastructure - like tourist buses - rather than anything regular Londoners can rely upon (unless they are geographically lucky, or work very non-standard hours). Maybe it'll change, maybe it'll expand, but if the system's failing now imagine what it'll be like when casual use is eventually allowed.

State funding for cycling isn't a magic pot of never-ending money, and these wasteful investments in blue mean we haven't got other cycling things, probably now for a generation. As someone who thinks smurf lanes are also largely a waste of time, and failing to be able to use the BBs, I see this as something of a tragic fail.

Tube strike yesterday so my friend Jane decided to Boris bike to work. She has never ridden in London before.

Her nearest point to home is Whitechapel, the most easterly station. Her nearest point to work is Olympia, the most westerly station.

Fair play to her - 20 miles total of riding through tube strike traffic and she absolutely loved it. I cycled home with her, nice and slowly and we did a great mix of traffic conditions, including along the embankment from Parliament square to Tower Hill. With some help from me she really got the idea of holding primary position and being a part of traffic. She saw some great sights that she has never seen before and kept stopping to take photos and appreciate the sunset.

She was tired at the end, but not too bad or too saddle sore. Definitely a thumbs up experience for her.

I'd just like to give her a great big chapeau.

Story on stolen boris bikes

Looks more like a bike from the same company, than a stolen Boris bike - wheres the rear guards gone ?

^^awesome.

wheres the rear guards gone ?

Thieving bastards.

Looks more like a bike from the same company, than a stolen Boris bike - wheres the rear guards gone ?
Looks like the early prototype BBs we had for testing before the deal with Barclays led to colour change and more advertising space. We gave ours back to TfL, maybe someone held on to one.

@jamiejay - I don't think you quite got my point. It's not about the speed of the bikes it's about availability. More than half the time I have planned to use one I have not been able to, and that includes several 20-30 minute walks trudging from one docking point to another.

I'm glad to hear you've had good experiences of them but if most people can't use them - with even early-adopters struggle to get hold of them - then they'll remain a bit of froth on top of the transport infrastructure - like tourist buses - rather than anything regular Londoners can rely upon (unless they are geographically lucky, or work very non-standard hours). Maybe it'll change, maybe it'll expand, but if the system's failing now imagine what it'll be like when casual use is eventually allowed.

State funding for cycling isn't a magic pot of never-ending money, and these wasteful investments in blue mean we haven't got other cycling things, probably now for a generation. As someone who thinks smurf lanes are also largely a waste of time, and failing to be able to use the BBs, I see this as something of a tragic fail.

I know you meant availability, my comment about couriers was a bit misleading.I accept that's a problem, but it was always going to be! We've only had the bikes for a few weeks now, and if I remember right we're going to have more stations put in and more bikes being moved to empty docking stations as money starts coming back in from the scheme.

Don't look at it as a method for commuters to get to and from work, look at it as a way of getting around casually. Having lived in Paris for some time I've been frustrated at the lack of Velibs at my local stops when I've wanted to go somewhere, particularly on sunny days, but once you accept that they're not reliable you can love them for what they are!

Of course, that doesn't exactly make them worth the investment. I agree that the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

but once you accept that they're not reliable you can love them for what they are!

I suspect I won't ever love them I'm afraid! It's hard to love something that I've paid for twice (taxes and the card) but can't use. And I'm not using them for commuting but for just getting around town.

If I want to get somewhere casually then I can't plan to include a bike on the route, so then I'll do something else (as I'm doing this evening, I have my own bike on me, plus all my locks.)

perusing the latest copy of "The In & Out" newsletter of the Naval and Military club (St James's Sq.) as you do,

came across this which provided me a moment or twos mirth:-
" Moving on, as they say. Did you know that Boris bikes (or if you prefer the Barclays London Bike Hire Scheme) have found their way to St. James's Square? Just thirty yards (alright, 25 m) from our front door we have a docking station filled with dashing blue cycling machines. Up to 30 minutes of bike hire time is free so, by my calculation, Members travelling by train to any mainline London terminus can then get to their club free of charge. Take a glance at..(web details given) to loearn all about it. Then throw away the oyster card! Stop making cabbies rich! Raise two fingers to RMT tyranny and celebrate 2 wheel freedom! (p.s its de riguer for the chauffeur to follow discreetly behind)

so thats what the most establishment of establishment establishments is saying.
Has made me even more antidisestablishmentarianist reading that.

As I understand it one of the reasons so few bikes have been stolen is that, unlike the French ones, they do not come with locks - crappy locks that thieves can easily break.
I have ridden the bikes a few times now. But only for very short periods. The main reason being that after a couple of minutes my wrists start to ache like crazy. I can't see any way that I could use one for even quarter of an hour. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem so I guess I am just unlucky that the hand position does not suit me.

Has made me even more antidisestablishmentarianist reading that.

What has support for a theocracy to do with it?

Well, if not abandoning the support for a state which upholds the Anglican church produces duffers that can write the above, it cant be all that bad can it?

Alex on Boris Bikes:

Just spotted our very own mr Schick on the London news piece about the bike hire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mindthegap/2010/10/very_interesting_populist_hear.html

Did my first ride on one today. Not too bad!
Surprised how many people I saw using them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mindthegap/2010/10/very_interesting_populist_hear.html

Christ, what a fucking hellish meeting. All buzz words and flim-flam.

"Transparency...business modelling...projections...overall contributor"

Bleurgh...

As I understand it one of the reasons so few bikes have been stolen is that, unlike the French ones, they do not come with locks - crappy locks that thieves can easily break.

My girlfriend has lots of french friends as she lives with two. We were talking about the BB scheme and the amount that have (not) been stolen compared to the Velib scheme in Paris. The general consensus was that the generally poor from the suburbs see the Velib catering for the rich living in the centre, as such target the bikes and steal them as a big f**k you.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mindthegap/2010/10/very_interesting_populist_hear.html

Christ, what a fucking hellish meeting. All buzz words and flim-flam.
"Transparency...business modelling...projections...overall contributor"
Bleurgh...
The clip is only 8 minutes from a 2hr + meeting. mr Schick did very well representing the cyclists' experience of both the BBikes (generally good) and the Cycling Super Highways (not so good).

The meeting was much better than most of that type. They told us that they would put more BB stands around Waterloo increasing the number to 350. After that they will stop and commuters who miss out on a bike will have to find another way to work. Maybe take their own bike.