Good to hear you get 15 minutes extra to find another station. I am happy to be proved wrong about all my scepticism.
A colleague who normally cycles anyway has used the scheme this morning. He is planning on stopping using his bike to use one of Boro’s everyday. I am not sure that was the plan! He walked over half a mile at the end of the journey due to the lack of docking stations near here (Opposite Westminster Abbey).
Judging by those who were cycling around the city this afternoon I don’t think it’ll be long before someone gets splatted on one. Saw a near miss that made me close my eyes while waiting for the lights to change. Some suit weaving all over the road/pavement and a car almost caught him as he came off the path onto the road. I think this must of been the first time this guy had been on a bike for a very long time!
The sad thing is that as soon as someone gets taken out while on one of Boris’s bikes, the family will be chasing compensation like a shot as their loved one wasn’t supplied a helmet. As ever, it’ll be someone else’s fault and there’ll be a huge payout.
No doubt the first time this happens it be the beginning of the end of the scheme :crying:
It’s a pretty good idea though so hopefully I’ll be proved wrong.
I went for a blast as soon as I got home. Got it back just in time. 29 minutes and 40 seconds. They are quality bikes, just like Dutch ones, no weight on your wrists and you sit upright. 3 gears, disk brakes (or they may be drums) that work effectively. I think I’ll be using them frequently.
That’s good news, Jobie.
The positioning of the docking stations does appear a bit strange. On my commute from Croydon to Westminster I only see one, halfway down Kennington Lane, which strikes me as being a very odd place to put it.
Very surprised they haven’t put one in a corner of Parliament Square or at the Horseguards end of Green Park. Security can’t be the reason for not doing this as they’ve put up with dodgy-looking geezers in tents for the past nine years.
There is a bay planned for the back of the QEII Centre in Storeys Gate. Other than that, the places you describe are in the Whitehall Black Hole I mentioned.
There were 3 guys riding around the block where my office is yesterday … whooping and hollering at each other … just riding around in circles (I saw them come by at least 3 times) ringing their bells so people would look at them - seeming very smug/impressed with themselves. I hope this novelty wears off soon.
We`re up for this, we rode past many docking stations yours was the only empty one.:)So Kensington cafe to Eltham Palace.Eltham Palace an art deco treasure with tea room and local girls in black dresses and white pinnies.Oh joy pinnies bicycles and deco pudenda.:w00t:
Some geezer on a Boris bike in the Independent on Sunday:
Where’s the healine" “Volvo driver hears the call” or something similar?:w00t:
Saw 2 in use as I made my way home yesterday. The 2nd one jumped the lights off Victoria Street onto Parliament Square. I couldn’t watch, but he somehow got away with it.
Nice to know that they are being properly used (to jump lights, that is…)
Yeah I thinnk they missed a trick here. The bikes are easily tagged and so could be monitored going through traffic lights etc.
Any red jumping and the rider gets a fine docked straight from their credit card.
That’s funny, I was thinking the same thing myself. easy enough to do, I’d reckon.
No they won’t !
Boris’s TFL spokesman Kulveer Ranger was on the radio this evening answering questions & one was about why the system wasn’t Oystercard friendly, the answer he gave is that it’s because the technology is too expensive - he reckoned it’d cost the thick end of an extra £20 million to do it.
Why all the bays in Kennington? Does this mean that Kennington people filled out the form differently from the rest? When asked 99.9% of Kennington residents said ‘Yes please, we want lines of blue shoppers parked outside our flats! Yes we do!’ . Went past them this morning and odd that the bay in Kennington Lane was full but the bay in Black Prince Road was almost empty. Are people setting out from Black Prince only to discover that a) they can’t cycle/ b) they have a heart condition/ c) they have picked one with a dodgy wheel… and have to give up and park by Kennington Lane? Good for tourists but as said locals will surely just buy themselves a decent bike that hasn’t had three thousand other peoples arse cheeks on it.
Surely it is because Oyster technology has been hacked!
