yk

Can someone help me understand the rationale behind this scheme (or those familiar with Velib)?

From the TFL website, it says:
<i>The cycle hire scheme will:

[snip]
~ Be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
~ Alleviate congestion on the Tube and buses
~ Offer a sustainable and low emission form of transport
~ Provide a shift from car useage to cycling
~ Be convenient for local residents, business travellers, leisure users and tourists
~ Encourage local trips within central London</i>

Since the initial area is around zone 1, the targeted folks have to be able to afford to live within zone 1.

How do these people get around normally? Tube, buses, taxis. The only benefit I see is the tubes and buses will be less crowded, but in return, the roads will be more congested due to the bicycles.

Also, I have a feeling that if one can afford a car in zone 1, that person probably isn't someone who would opt for a bicycle instead.

And if people are going to use the bicycles instead of mass transit, wouldn't the tube and bus companies be losing income?

willit

I don't often agree with walkinaround, but I do tend to think along the same lines on the bike hire idea.

Cambridge tried a &quot;free bike&quot; scheme about 15 years ago - 150 bikes painted lime green - free to cycle around anywhere in town, then just leave it anywher for the next person. It lasted less than a week - People were taking away 20 at a time in transit vans never to be seen again.

I used to be a keen cyclist, but cycling in London cured me of this. A cyclist killed by a taxi driver illegally turning directly in front of them is still dead - even if &quot;in the right&quot;.

Cycle lanes are great places to dump rubbish, or park while popping into the newsagents. The only way to survive is to become a red light skipping, pavement hogging lunatic - and thus alienate every other road user.

Japan drives on the left - hardly uncivilised.

KayF

I try not to get involved in mud-slinging but feel compelled to say -

Walkinaround, you are full of it.

Kay

PatrickLondon

&gt;&gt;Since the initial area is around zone 1, the targeted folks have to be able to afford to live within zone 1.&lt;&lt;

Well, it has to start somewhere; but there are enormous numbers of people who come into zone 1 each day. The tubes and buses aren't short of customers, and it's a great deal cheaper to shift at least some on to a scheme like this than to try to enlarge capacity on the tube - or even add more buses.

All I can say is I've been cycling to work every day for the last couple of months, and my main worry isn't cycle lanes or other traffic, it's the quality of road surfaces with all the water main repairs that are going on at the moment.

sashh

KayF

because Australia won't give us visas

TheBigMan

&lt;we are an individualistic society. the concept of sharing something or of property that exists only for the common good is foreign to us&gt;

So, you've never borrowed a book from the local library, then?

PatrickLondon

Anyway, you would no more be &quot;sharing&quot; a Velib-style bike than you would a hire car or a taxi.

RM67

''And you British are the most negative bunch of people I have ever come across. If you all hate it in the UK so much why don't you leave? ''

Nice generalisation based on the post of one tosser.

walkinaround

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
If you all hate it in the UK so much why don't you leave? ''
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

we do. most of our tv shows are about leaving britain and starting a new life somewhere else. and now even the poles are leaving by the thousands as they can't bear the gloom, mould and shite after being here only a couple of years. it seems that england makes poland look like paradise.

ssachida

For the cynics who wonder who bikes in London - I do. everyday, from north london(home) to st.pauls(work) and back. London's actually a pretty good city for cycling. Yes, it can be better, but honestly, not too much to complain about.
Most bus lanes are bus/taxi/bicycle lanes - so there are plenty of cycle lanes, and no, the buses don't edge you out if you ride down the middle of the lane - you're supposed to. The bendy ones are scary though.

Cycles are the best and often the fastest way to get anywhere within a 5/6 mile radius in London. Beats the bus or the tube everytime.

ssachida

i don't live in zone 1, but every time a bunch of us from work head to say, the west end for a movie, it would be great if we could bike there, leave it at the dock and then take the tube/train/bus home.

I dont know if it will work, but I, for one, am looking forward to it.

stokebailey

Sounds like fun, ssachida. We use our bikes a lot for short trips around our city, too, and are allowed to take them on our Metro and put them on racks on the busses.

Sharing a lane with professional drivers would be a lot better than squeezing between parked cars and random motorists.

Wasn't Boris J. going to banish the bendys?

willit

&quot;we do. most of our tv shows are about leaving britain &quot;

Most? &gt;50% really? damn, I musst be missing something.

People Emigrate, some come back. There are several things about the UK that I dislike, but these are outnumbered by the great many things I like.

I have never come across any other posting who displays such self loathing. Walkingaround - I really do suggest you try and emigrate as you are obviously unhappy where you are - but your attitude is not typical, and you don't speak for most of us.

Cholmondley_Warner

Ignore it - it's either mad or a troll.

PatrickLondon

Or emigrated to DailyMail-land.

travelgirl2

helen - I loved that website. Thanks for posting it.