"elyob" wrote in message
...
snip re rental bike scheme for London
I can't see it working for the majority of Londoners, where exactly
are they going to put these bikes? At Waterloo there isn't enough room
for people's own bikes, so they reduced the space during building
works. Also, nice, everyone turns up at a mainline station .. i'd be
guessing they'd all be gone pretty sharpish. The majority og commuters
are coming into London.

As for where they'd put the bikes and stands, one of the questions asked by
the interviewer was how far I'd be prepared to walk in London to find one of
these bikes, with a range of possible distance answers. When space is at a
premium, perhaps they may be considering a multilayered approach, the
bicycle equivalent of a hoist type multi-storey car park.... As for everyone
turning up at once, yes that will happen (although of course only a certain
percentage will take the bike option). If there are places other than the
train stations to return the bikes, they'll naturally migrate away from the
train stations during the day. I'd imagine most would come back again with
the flow of people in the evening though (unless it rains - also a topic in
the survey...).

Where it could work, would be in touristy areas. A bike park in Hyde
Park, another in Green Park etc etc. However, not many tourists will
have the balls to get onto London's roads as is. I know quite a few
people who refuse to navigate London's roads on bike, and some don't
seem like the scaredycat type.

I know what you mean about cycling in London, the GPS on my phone (that
mounts on my bike handlebars) often doesn't work well among the tall
buildings and the last thing I want is to be unsure of where I need to go
with traffic all around me on busy roads.

Anyway, I think it's a lovely dream, just not really going to become a
useful addition to sustainable transport in reality. Now, give me a
bigger discount on my Brompton and now you're talking ...

(80% sure I won't have my bikescheme through by Christmas )

You never know, those little folding bikes are easier to fit into sleighs
:-)

Paul