Barclays/TFL cycle hire scheme in London

[salem]

By what?

Well by anything.People are injured or killed by many things. If the scheme is going to be used for millions of journeys then people will inevitably be injured or killed in time.

It may be that you are right and the lack of helmets and the number of people who are injured/killed is disproportionate to general cycling or other methods of transport. So far it doesn't seem that way but there haven't really been enough journeys to say for sure.

I remember seeing a breakdown of accident stats for various modes of transport which showed walking as more dangerous than cycling. I can't find it now though so take that with a pinch of salt. The point was that people get run over every day, it's possible that if pedestrians wore a helmet then the number of fatalities of pedestrians would fall. But in the grand scheme of things not that many pedestrians are killed and we don't bother wearing helmets as a result. I personally feel the same way about cycling, I don't wear a helmet because I don't think it's worth the hassle even though it would make me more likely to survive an accident.

 

[joustmaster]

I used a cycle hire cycle for the first time last night. I used it in the way they were designed - drunk, at night, without a helmet, and laughing manicly.

they work well for what they are. the gearing leaves you wanting a bit more on flats and down hill though.


unfortunately I had a bit of a problem and my head came clean off my body.

 

[deadringer]

decapitated? oh no.




not another one

 

[editor]

Tip: if you're cycling into Soho on a Saturday afternoon, don's do it with two minutes left of your 30 mins hire, expecting to instantly find a slot!

I took a couple of bikes out again today. Loved it!

 

[_pH_]

Tip: if you're cycling into Soho on a Saturday afternoon, don's do it with two minutes left of your 30 mins hire, expecting to instantly find a slot!

I took a couple of bikes out again today. Loved it!

I think I'm right in saying that if you get to a docking station and all the slots are full there's an option on the terminal screen which you can press and it treats it as though you've finished your hire there. It then tells you where the nearest empty slots are and you get a certain amount of time to take the bike to that docking station at no extra charge.

I cycled back to London Bridge after we were talking about it last night - took me 26m 16s according to the little journey record print out thing. I don't know if that's quick or not, didn't really know where the fuck I was going tbh. The only drawback was that the nearest docking station is on Tooley St, so it's a 5-10 minute walk back to London Bridge. It would be nice if there could be a docking station right outside the station, where the buses stop. Maybe they'll put one in in the future once the work associated with the Shard's all done, dunno.

 

[mango5]

After seeing _pH_ cycle merrily away as I waited for a bus home I registered for this. Got 2 keys on one account (day access). Anyone know if I can use 'em both at the same time? I'd be happy to be charged twice.

 

[salem]

Yes you can but be aware that even if you use only one you'll still be charged twice. Crazy and my biggest bugbear of the system.

TFL are looking at getting it changed but no indication on time so you might find that if there will be times you'll use it alone then you might want to cancel the second key.

 

[mango5]

Ah, that's a bit shit. Thanks.

 

[toblerone3]

Have any been stolen yet?

And if not ...WHY NOT?

Five have been stolen according to an article in The Independent on 27 September. Compare this to the 3,000 stolen in Paris during the first six months of the Velib scheme.

 

[skyscraper101]

Stealing is a rubbish idea. The bikes are heavy as a tank, only an idiot would want to actually own one for personal use.

 

[toblerone3]

The value of the aluminium when melted down is only worth £35.

 

[kyser_soze]

Yeah, but we're talking about the French here. They probably saw it as their duty to steal the bikes.

 

[fredfelt]

This report was in the paper this morning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/13/london-bike-hire-profit

- 7 bike riders have been injured using the bikes in a million journeys.
- The scheme is already set to make an operating profit and could start to repay set up costs

So this scheme is safer than walking, and unlike any other public transport in London does not need a subsidy per journey. Seems like everyone's a winner to me!

 

[Crispy]

An operating profit, mind you. But even that is amazing! It will be interesting to see how things change once the membership rules are removed and they're open to anyone at walk-up.

 

[editor]

It's a brilliant scheme. I love using the bikes.

The scheme will be expanded with new areas bolted on the central zone as finances permit. Top of the list are Canary Wharf, Camden and Tower Hamlets, although others are being considered.

Where's Brixton?! Grrr.

 

[salem]

They are currently building a new bay in Royal College street (Camden) which will save me 5 minutes on my walk to Mornington Crescent where I often pick up a bike.

The only issue with it creeping out of zone 1 is that cycling in central London you know you can find a bay easy enough even if you don't know where they are in advance. However once the bays become more spread out a full bay can be a nightmare. It only happened to me once at the top of Regents Park when I had to instead go to St John's Wood which added a good 10-15 mins to my walk back. Although that have since opened another one around there.

 

[editor]

They are currently building a new bay in Royal College street (Camden) which will save me 5 minutes on my walk to Mornington Crescent where I often pick up a bike.

The only issue with it creeping out of zone 1 is that cycling in central London you know you can find a bay easy enough even if you don't know where they are in advance. However once the bays become more spread out a full bay can be a nightmare. It only happened to me once at the top of Regents Park when I had to instead go to St John's Wood which added a good 10-15 mins to my walk back. Although that have since opened another one around there.

Have you got a smartphone? There's loads of free apps out there showing which dock has bays free. The Android one is particularly good.

 

[teuchter]

They still haven't got the redistribution thing sorted out properly. Over the past few weeks, I'd say that around half of my journeys either start with me finding a docking location completely empty, or end with me finding one completely full. On a few occasions I've had to go round two or three full locations before finding somewhere with a space to leave the bike. This eats up any time gained by using the bike instead of other means of transport.

The result of this is that I just can't use the bikes for any journey that requires me to be at a certain place at a certain time, because the risk of not being able to find a docking station at the end is much too high.

 

[PacificOcean]

I will still stand by my point - helmets!

How long before someone sues after being hit by a lorry with no helmet?

 

[PacificOcean]

Have you got a smartphone? There's loads of free apps out there showing which dock has bays free. The Android one is particularly good.

Not everyone, no.

 

[strung out]

I will still stand by my point - helmets!

How long before someone sues after being hit by a lorry with no helmet?

a very long time

 

[PacificOcean]

a very long time

"Where there is blame, there is a claim. Call now on 0800 4564.........."

 

[strung out]

i suspect if there's blame it will be either with the lorry driver or the cyclist

 

[Crispy]

I will still stand by my point - helmets!

How long before someone sues after being hit by a lorry with no helmet?

Should be a while, most lorries wear helmets.

Sorry

 

[_pH_]

My key stopped working today. I rang them up and after 10 minutes of talking ("yes, I have tried a different docking station.......no I'm not putting the key in with the bar code facing up.......yes, I understand your system might suggest there's nothing wrong with the key but it's not doing anything - no lights at all on the docking point.........yes I know I used it this morning but it's not working now" blah blah blah.......) the lady put me on hold to speak to her supervisor *shitty tinkly hold music* "we'll send you a new key, you should receive it within 3 working days".

How do the keys work then? RFID tag? Why would it stop working?

 

[teuchter]

That's happened to me on a few occasions...put the key in, red light nearly instantly, same on all the other bikes in the rack. Sometimes I'll try it on another rack and it'll be OK, once or twice it's worked after waiting a few minutes and trying again. No idea why.

 

[teuchter]

Oh, I see you were getting no light at all.

 

[_pH_]

Yeah I've had red lights before (I just assumed that maybe that bike needed repairing or something) but I got nothing at all today. Couldn't print out a journey record or get a balance or anything else.

 

[Giles]

I will still stand by my point - helmets!

How long before someone sues after being hit by a lorry with no helmet?

A long time, hopefully.

There is no legal requirement at all for anyone to wear a helmet to ride a pushbike, so people hiring out bikes have no legal duty to provide them.

And anyway, if someone has the awful "classic" bike accident where they rid up the inside of a truck who then turns left and squashes them with 30+ tons of gravel or whatever, a polystyrene cycling helmet would be of about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, I think.

Giles..

 

[Sunray]

There is no proof that cycle helmets make jot of difference to riders. There is a lot of evidence that wearing them just changes the injury they sustain.