TfL Survey about rental bikes for public use

On Dec 21, 4:37 pm, "Paul Murphy"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

Paul Murphy wrote:
Perhaps as well as having a power assist option, the proposed rental
bikes could have a simple inbuilt gps with this capability. It would need
to be yob resistant though.

Perhaps they could have HUDs too (or voice output and screen blanking
whenever the bike starts moving). Otherwise I predict a lot of head-down
rental cyclists powering their heavy machines into car tailgates and
pedestrians as a result of looking at the map instead of the terrain.

Have you heard of the Tomtom rider (designed for motorbikes)? Even the
software I have on my PPC gives voice directions if required and it only
weighs about 190 grams. With this sort of technology its possible to make
things extremely compact and light - problem is they're also quite fragile.

Bearing in mind alot of people would go for a rental bike to see the sights
as visitors/tourists, how would you suggest they should be assisted to find
their way around or would you have them cast out into Londons traffic
without a clue?

Barcelona's scheme (which appears well used and has expanded since
launch) is squarely aimed at residents. Why not simply let people who
know where they want to go use the scheme in the first instance. They
will become ambassadors for the rest of the population. Making it
virtually free at the point of delivery helps.

best wishes
james

On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:51:51 -0000, "Jeremy Parker"
wrote:

I was interviewed at Victoria Railway Station today for market
research about plans to provide bicycles for hire around the
capital.

[snip]

Well, supposedly it works in Paris,

It does indeed, extremely well, in fact.

much to my surprise.

Be prepared to be even more surprised: there are 1,500 of them in
Toulouse, as well.

On 21 Dec, 21:56, Andrew Price wrote:
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:51:51 -0000, "Jeremy Parker"

wrote:
I was interviewed at Victoria Railway Station today for market
research about plans to provide bicycles for hire around the
capital.

[snip]

Well, supposedly it works in Paris,

It does indeed, extremely well, in fact.

much to my surprise.

Be prepared to be even more surprised: there are 1,500 of them in
Toulouse, as well.

Adshel, the bus shelter people, were going to do a Velib style think
in London but it fell through. last time Ken gave a conference he was
asked about the Paris scheme and he said a similar marketing/
advertising scheme connected with hire bikes in London wouldn't work.

"spindrift" wrote in message
...
On 21 Dec, 21:56, Andrew Price wrote:
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:51:51 -0000, "Jeremy Parker"

wrote:
I was interviewed at Victoria Railway Station today for market
research about plans to provide bicycles for hire around the
capital.

[snip]

Well, supposedly it works in Paris,

It does indeed, extremely well, in fact.

much to my surprise.

Be prepared to be even more surprised: there are 1,500 of them in
Toulouse, as well.

Adshel, the bus shelter people, were going to do a Velib style think
in London but it fell through. last time Ken gave a conference he was
asked about the Paris scheme and he said a similar marketing/
advertising scheme connected with hire bikes in London wouldn't work.

Anyone know what his potential replacement(s) think about it or why Ken held
that view? I seem to remember Tony Blair not backing the Olympics for London
in the early days, then look what happened! I've never been to Paris (or
Toulouse for that matter) so can't explain any comparisons.

Paul

On 22 Dec, 13:38, "Paul Murphy"
wrote:
"spindrift" wrote in message

...





On 21 Dec, 21:56, Andrew Price wrote:
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:51:51 -0000, "Jeremy Parker"

wrote:
I was interviewed at Victoria Railway Station today for market
research about plans to provide bicycles for hire around the
capital.

[snip]

Well, supposedly it works in Paris,

It does indeed, extremely well, in fact.

much to my surprise.

Be prepared to be even more surprised: there are 1,500 of them in
Toulouse, as well.

Adshel, the bus shelter people, were going to do a Velib style think
in London but it fell through. last time Ken gave a conference he was
asked about the Paris scheme and he said a similar marketing/
advertising scheme connected with hire bikes in London wouldn't work.

Anyone know what his potential replacement(s) think about it or why Ken held
that view? I seem to remember Tony Blair not backing the Olympics for London
in the early days, then look what happened! I've never been to Paris (or
Toulouse for that matter) so can't explain any comparisons.

Paul- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/articl...r-london-13326

Mr Livingstone has been to Paris see the Velib scheme twice, and
Decaux thinks it's only a matter of time before London launches a
similar project.

He said: "He was very impressed. Obviously, London is a much bigger
city than Paris and you would have to take into account all of the
boroughs.

"But it's not a question of whether or not. I think the bike scheme
will be happening in London. It is a question of when."