Cycle hire
 

On Jul 17, 1:01*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:27:45 -0700 (PDT), MIG
wrote:

On 22 June, 14:36, Mizter T wrote:
No bikes yet of course - they'll come later, and the system goes live
on 30 July. I've a more lengthy post gestating in my head about the
CycleHirescheme - must get on with putting fingers to keyboard and
post it soon!

I've noticed some Things in Tavistock Place. *The first I'd noticed,
but I probably hadn't been paying attention. *No bikes yet.

They aren't covered (and apparently people have been mistaking them
for parking meters).

Ha, yes, I hadn't thought that that might happen, but the "Things" -
the 'payment column' unit - do look a bit like parking ticket
machines. Once the bikes themselves arrive on the racks then perhaps
the potential for such confusions might be lessened.


I have yet to see a parking bay and totem for the scheme with my own
eyes. However I do keep seeing them in the background of Flickr photos
or on the telly.

There's a number around, not sure of what percentage has been
completed yet. There are also several sites where the groundwork has
been done, and there are metal 'base plates' awaiting the installation
of the racks themselves, and the 'payment column'. I know there are
some planning permission issues with regards to some of the sites, but
there are also other sites on which work has only recently begun, and
I *think* some others where nothing on the ground appears to have
happened yet - but I suppose if that may be explained, at least in
some cases, by the location only being a provisional one or the
information I've looked at being out-of-date.


I did see someone riding past 55 Broadway yesterday lunchtime on one of
the new bikes. It did make me pause and think as to whether the scheme
was live yet.

No, the system goes live on Friday 30 July, just under two weeks away.
Meanwhile the first two "Cycle Superhighways" officially 'open' this
Monday (19 July). I'll try and write something about them shortly.


I still can't my head round the charging model although I've not devoted
a lot of brain power to understanding it. [...]

It's not really all that complicated - see the fees and charges on
this page:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/12444.aspx

First off you need to pay an "access fee" to be able to use the system
- this is £1 for 24-hours or £5 for seven days, or else £45 for a
year's membership. Then you pay for how long you use the bike - no
charge for up to half an hour, £1 for up to an hour, then it starts to
jump up somewhat at £4 for an hour and a half etc etc (see the table
for details).

The thinking that users will only borrow the bikes for a short period
of of time (to make a journey across central London), and will return
them to a dock once they get 'there' - the charging model is thus
intended to ensure that bikes stay in circulation and remain available
for other users. All the other bike hire schemes in major cities (of
which there are now several in Europe and around the world) seem to
broadly follow this principle.

The cycle hire scheme only really covers zone 1 plus a little bit
extra in parts so hirers should be able to get from one side to the
other within an hour (it'll be interesting to see how many might
'split their journey' though and return and then re-rent a bike at an
intermediate docking station so as to remain within the 'free' half-
hour!)

[...] It's going to be very
interesting to see how it goes. I'm still not sure whether I think it is
a good idea in principle or just a waste of money scheme from a Mayor
who loves cycling.

I basically think it's a great idea for lots of reasons, and I don't
think it being something of a pet project of Mayor Boris invalidates
it either! FWIW, I think that Ken was warm to such an idea too, and he
was generally pretty keen on cycling measures even if he wasn't
himself a cyclist.

The fact that many other cities now boast similar schemes would, I
think, inevitably have meant that a cycle hire scheme for London is
something that would have been seriously considered before too long,
were it not for the current Mayor taking it forward now. And in a
sense, the fact that it's being taken forward by a Tory Mayor could
work in its favour, by defusing some of the inevitable criticism that
will come its way.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure that TfL wouldn't have been faced with a
totally blank sheet of paper when the edict came down to implement
such a scheme - I'm sure some preliminary investigations had already
been done.


A recent press release was very careful to mention the possibility of
"teething problems" which is a subtle way of trying to defuse the
inevitable furore when a journalist can't get a bike out of a rack or
finds a rack full and has to cycle to the next one to end his trip.

I think it's just an honest take on all the various teething problems
that I think will inevitably occur - and one can easily imagine a
whole gamut of them. In a sense I suppose that's spin through honestly
and lowering expectations that all will be perfect from the word go,
but with something so novel I think it'd be rather foolish to promise
everything would be hunky-dory right from the beginning.

Cycle hire
 

In message
,
Mizter T writes
No, the system goes live on Friday 30 July, just under two weeks away.
Meanwhile the first two "Cycle Superhighways" officially 'open' this
Monday (19 July). I'll try and write something about them shortly.

That will be the existing cycle path near here that's suddenly been
painted bright blue?
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

Cycle hire
 

In article
,
(MIG) wrote:

On 22 June, 14:36, Mizter T wrote:
On Jun 22, 12:35*pm, Basil Jet
wrote:

The Mayor's new cyclehirestation at the east end of Southwark Street
looks complete, if anyone's interested.

It is - it's the one outside the new-ish Blue Fin building. I went and
had a look at it last week. There's another one just the other side of
Blackfriars Road on Stamford Street, outside King's Reach Tower, that
also looked finished, but was surrounded by fencing, so perhaps not
quite there yet. In several other locations the preparatory work has
been done, resulting in there being metal base plates ready and
awaiting the next stage of installation of the docking station.

No bikes yet of course - they'll come later, and the system goes live
on 30 July. I've a more lengthy post gestating in my head about the
CycleHirescheme - must get on with putting fingers to keyboard and
post it soon!

I've noticed some Things in Tavistock Place. The first I'd noticed,
but I probably hadn't been paying attention. No bikes yet.

They aren't covered (and apparently people have been mistaking them
for parking meters).

Most I've seen so far have nothing above the ground but I saw one this
week with a full information point which makes the purpose pretty
unambiguous. Not sure but it could well have been Southwark Street.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Cycle hire
 

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 17, 1:01*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
I still can't my head round the charging model although I've not
devoted a lot of brain power to understanding it. [...]

It's not really all that complicated - see the fees and charges on this
page: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/12444.aspx

First off you need to pay an "access fee" to be able to use the system
- this is £1 for 24-hours or £5 for seven days, or else £45 for a
year's membership. Then you pay for how long you use the bike - no
charge for up to half an hour, £1 for up to an hour, then it starts to
jump up somewhat at £4 for an hour and a half etc etc (see the table
for details).

The thinking that users will only borrow the bikes for a short period
of of time (to make a journey across central London), and will return
them to a dock once they get 'there' - the charging model is thus
intended to ensure that bikes stay in circulation and remain available
for other users. All the other bike hire schemes in major cities (of
which there are now several in Europe and around the world) seem to
broadly follow this principle.

I'm confused too. Maybe Paul has the same problem. It's how the "access
fee" of up the £45 a year and membership and the "Key fee" of £3 relate.

There appears to be nothing about becoming a member on the link given.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Cycle hire
 

In article , ] (Steve
Fitzgerald) wrote:

In message
,
Mizter T writes
No, the system goes live on Friday 30 July, just under two weeks
away. Meanwhile the first two "Cycle Superhighways" officially
'open' this Monday (19 July). I'll try and write something about
them shortly.

That will be the existing cycle path near here that's suddenly been
painted bright blue?

Oh, it that what the blue bits are about, is it? They only seemed to run
orthogonally to anywhere I wanted to ride this week.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Cycle hire
 

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:27:45 -0700 (PDT), MIG
wrote:

On 22 June, 14:36, Mizter T wrote:

No bikes yet of course - they'll come later, and the system goes live
on 30 July. I've a more lengthy post gestating in my head about the
CycleHirescheme - must get on with putting fingers to keyboard and
post it soon!

I've noticed some Things in Tavistock Place. The first I'd noticed,
but I probably hadn't been paying attention. No bikes yet.

They aren't covered (and apparently people have been mistaking them
for parking meters).

I have yet to see a parking bay and totem for the scheme with my own
eyes.

There are two near my office - one on Bishopsgate and one on Commercial
Street, i think, with stelae and stands. There's plumbing for one on my
commute, on New North Road where it forks off from the road down to Old
Street, but it's not complete yet. None have bikes.

I still can't my head round the charging model although I've not devoted
a lot of brain power to understanding it.

I see the indefatigable Mr T has explained all downthread. But basically,
the take-home point is that short trips are cheap, and long trips are
disproportionately expensive, with the break between short and long being
at about an hour.

It's going to be very interesting to see how it goes. I'm still not sure
whether I think it is a good idea in principle or just a waste of money
scheme

It could be both.

I'm confident it will not be good value for money in terms of travel. It
will certainly do nothing to help existing cyclists - we already have
bikes! - or potential cyclists who could commute in from the suburbs,
where there won't be any Things. It might enable modal shift from bus and
tube to bike for the terminal legs of commutes that come into London by
surface rail; i have a hard time seeing people switching from tube to
bike if they're already underground when they arrive in town. It will be
useful for tourists, and for people who live and work in zone 1 -
students, perhaps?

from a Mayor who loves cycling.

I wish people would stop saying that. If Boris really loved cycling, there
are all sorts of things he could do to make it safer, easier, and more
popular. Like not deciding to disband the Commercial Vehicle Education
Unit, which was the only police unit which actually enforced safety rules
on lorries. I know there was a minor furore over that - i don't know if
the decision was eventually reversed. Either way, he could also be
spending the money he's spending on absurd blue paint on something else,
providing more cycle parking on streets, pushing for more cycle capacity
on trains serving London, making sure the planning rules about cycle
parking are actually enforced, and so on. Instead, he's just chasing
headlines.

tom

--
And dear lord, its like peaches in a lacy napkin. -- James Dearden

Cycle hire
 

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010, Steve Fitzgerald wrote:

In message
, Mizter T
writes

No, the system goes live on Friday 30 July, just under two weeks away.
Meanwhile the first two "Cycle Superhighways" officially 'open' this
Monday (19 July). I'll try and write something about them shortly.

That will be the existing cycle path near here that's suddenly been
painted bright blue?

Exactly.

Christ.

tom

--
megaptera novae angliae, soundwork chris draper, push, pull, open, ..

Cycle hire
 

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:42:11 -0500, wrote:
I'm confused too. Maybe Paul has the same problem. It's how the "access
fee" of up the £45 a year and membership and the "Key fee" of £3 relate.

My understanding is you don't need a key and can hire a bike with your
credit card but can opt to have a key if you like which will speed up
the hire process.

The payment station takes credit cards, and keys, and lets you do
things like sign up to the scheme and check your usage. Once you have
joined it prints a receipt which includes a 5 digit code, all digits 1-3,
which you then type into the dock of your chosen cycle to release the
bike. This is important at the bigger docking stations which might have
30+ bikes, the furthest a resonable distance from the payment station,
as you wouldn't want 'your' bike to be taken by a scoundrel.

If you have a key you can short circuit the payment station and insert
it into a reader next to your chosen bike, enter your PIN and ride into
the sunset.

Or at least I think that is how it works. I'm looking forward to finding
out on the 30th.

David

Cycle hire
 

On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:03:30 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

from a Mayor who loves cycling.

I wish people would stop saying that. If Boris really loved cycling, there
are all sorts of things he could do to make it safer, easier, and more
popular. Like not deciding to disband the Commercial Vehicle Education
Unit, which was the only police unit which actually enforced safety rules
on lorries. I know there was a minor furore over that - i don't know if
the decision was eventually reversed. Either way, he could also be
spending the money he's spending on absurd blue paint on something else,
providing more cycle parking on streets, pushing for more cycle capacity
on trains serving London, making sure the planning rules about cycle
parking are actually enforced, and so on. Instead, he's just chasing
headlines.


Well, he is a journalist. Of sorts.

Cycle hire
 

In article ,
(David Walters) wrote:

On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:42:11 -0500,
wrote:
I'm confused too. Maybe Paul has the same problem. It's how the
"access fee" of up the £45 a year and membership and the "Key
fee" of £3 relate.

My understanding is you don't need a key and can hire a bike with your
credit card but can opt to have a key if you like which will speed up
the hire process.

The payment station takes credit cards, and keys, and lets you do
things like sign up to the scheme and check your usage. Once you have
joined it prints a receipt which includes a 5 digit code, all digits
1-3, which you then type into the dock of your chosen cycle to release
the bike. This is important at the bigger docking stations which might
have 30+ bikes, the furthest a resonable distance from the payment
station, as you wouldn't want 'your' bike to be taken by a scoundrel.

If you have a key you can short circuit the payment station and insert
it into a reader next to your chosen bike, enter your PIN and ride into
the sunset.

Or at least I think that is how it works. I'm looking forward to finding
out on the 30th.

And membership?

Also, does anyone know how one finds the nearest stand to a particular
address? I might use this between King's Cross station and the office.
I've seen a stand across from the station in Belgrove St but haven't seen
any near my office which is off Great Peter St.

--
Colin Rosenstiel