Can Serco run the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme succesfully?

Yesterday morning I was walking to work (Yes dear reader, sometimes I like to remind myself just how bad travel by Tube can be by leaving the bike at home) when I practically tripped across a shiny new Barclays Cycle Hire bike, propped up on Berkeley Square.  "That's odd", I thought, "shouldn't that be docked in a docking station, rather than just left in the road?"  I looked at the bike for a while, thinking about what might have happened.  Perhaps it had been stolen, perhaps someone riding for the first time had decided that London traffic was so scary that they'd literally given up the ride half way to their destination.  It was nearly 9AM; perhaps a hire rider couldn't find any available docking stations and, circling around and around in an ever increasing fit of frustration had simply given up trying and abandoned the bike to the elements and left the bike in the road and hoped for the best.  I have to admit, neither being ridden nor locked into a docking station, the bike looked strangely out of place, even forlorn.

As a member of the scheme I have a vested interest in seeing the scheme succeed and every bike stolen or missing is going to be ammunition for those who might argue against expanding it.  So, with the Mayor of London's plea to Londoners ringing in my ears (“I want everybody to realise that these bikes belong to every body — this is a partially Communist experiment") I pulled out my mobile and rang the bike hire scheme call centre.  It rang, and rang, and rang. Eventually I got through to a helpful young man who suggested I should ride the bike to the nearest docking station and dock the bike securely.  He asked for the bike's unique ID number so he could try and trace the account of whoever had owned it, and I set off on my merry way...  Sadly, the first bike hire station I tried at South Audley Street was full.  So was Conduit Street. And St George's Lane, Curzon Street, and New Bond Street.  It seemed increasingly likely that whoever had abandoned the bike in the first place had done it in desperation looking for a docking spot.

9AM had been and gone by this point so I took it to my office for safe keeping ('cos lets face it, an unlocked bike on the not so mean streets of Mayfair will last all of about 5 minutes before it is nicked) and rang the call centre to let them know what I'd done and would they mind awfully sending round their bike distribution truck to pick it up? "Of course we can, Sir!" they replied (after taking what seemed like an age to pick up the phone) "Someone will be with you in an hour!"

Two hours later I was still in possession of my ill-fated hire bike and was growing quite attached to it. Attempts to ring the call centre again (ring ring, ring ring) got me through to what was described with apologies as 'the secondary call centre'.  They explained that no, they couldn't put me through to the primary call centre, or the bike distribution team, but that they could take my name and number and get someone to ring me later...

8 hours and 6 phone calls lapsed between me finding the bike and a nice young man from the bike distribution team coming to my office (with Barclays branded fleuro vest and helmet!) to pick the bike up.  Lucky for Barclays Cycle Hire I'm a patient kind of guy; other people might have been tempted to, you know, dump the bike in the street.  At an estimated £300 a pop I'm sure that TfL are keen for this not to happen.

So where is the scheme going wrong?

The installation of the docking stations seemed to go reasonably well (NIMBY idiots in Mayfair doing their worse not withstanding), and the bikes themselves (designed and built in Canada) seem robust enough.  But there have been horror stories aplenty about people's keys not arriving (apparently it helps when you remember to pay the postage), people's keys not working, spurious charges appearing on accounts before accounts are cancelled all together and of course the fact that the scheme is yet to be opened fully to non-members.  Every morning at Waterloo on the South Bank there are teams handing out bikes to meet demand as quickly as they can - during the day central London bike racks are full - come home time the teams are back at the stations ready to receive back all the bikes they handed out in the morning.

A glut of bikes near Waterloo last night, photographed by Twitterer @Fundamentals with thanks.

Of course, we are all aware that the scheme is new and those of us who have joined are supposed to be 'pioneer members' (what, all 45,000 of us?). But Serco, the company who were awarded the £140 million scheme to run the scheme, have to demonstrate value for money and shake out the problems they are having with their call centres and supply and demand issues if it is going to be deemed a success.  I think my day with the abandoned bike demonstrates perfectly where they could begin to improve.  No one would ever take the Tube or bus if this was the kind of service they received; these are the standards that Serco should be aiming to exceed.  According to Ross Lydall on his Evening Standard blog, Transport for London top bod Peter Hendy has had similar issues with the scheme and will be giving Serco an ear-bashing as a consequence.  If our pleas aren't heard, maybe his will?
 Do you have confidence in the BorisBike scheme? What do you think needs to be done to improve the present customer experience?  As always, I'm happy to pass on your thoughts to the relevant authorities.

Cycle Hire Scheme at 2 weeks old

It’s just over 2 weeks since London’s cycle hire scheme launched here in London. As is expected – and warned of by the Mayor – the launch of the scheme has not been entirely smooth-running. At times users have reported there not being enough bikes (or available docking points) in the right place at the right time, as well as issues with membership, the call centre, the website and the software at the docking stations. Indeed, so problematic have some of these software issues been that the full launch of the scheme, which will enable casual users to hire bikes on a turn-up-and-ride basis, has been postponed again whilst attempts to resolve all these problems are made.

Photo courtesy of the excellent Real Cycling blog

Despite the warnings from the Mayor about the probability of there being issues with the launch of the scheme, and the risk associated with being a “Pioneer Member” , it would seem that we’ve been signing up in droves to use London’s newest form of public transport. Some 45,000 individuals have now joined the scheme, and together they’ve made over 100,000 cycle hire journeys between them. In an email to all members on Saturday the 14th of August, David Brown the MD of Surface Transport at TfL wrote; “The busiest day last week was Wednesday 11th August when almost 14,000 journeys were undertaken over the course of 24 hours. What we’ve found really interesting is that 93 per cent of all journeys have been half an hour or less and therefore, after the access charge, completely free!” When you compare this to the cost of a single bus or Tube journey it’s easy to see why people are taking to the scheme – it helps that the area covers the Congestion Zone where private traffic is lower than in many of the surrounding Boroughs and traffic speed averages out at about 12mph. Sustrans have been calling for the scheme to be replicated in the outer Boroughs but I can see little appetite for casual cyclists to informally use a bike where traffic levels are greater and roads are faster. I do however believe that the scheme should be expanded to cover all of inner London (much more within Zone 1 and an expansion into Zone 2). Talk of financing an extension of the scheme east towards the Olympic Park and Canary Wharf – as well as increasing the number of docking stations within the existing hire area – are already on the table at TfL and due for discussion soon.

As a cyclist, have you joined the hire scheme? How have you found the experience (I should add that I have had no trouble with docking stations or the website when I’ve needed to use it, my only problem has been docks running out of bikes when I’ve wanted to hire a bike come ‘home time’) Are problems to be expected so early in the scheme? Do you think such a scheme could work in other towns and cities around the country, what might stop the scheme succeding elsewhere? (See my earlier post on why bike hire and helmets don't mix) Is all this money being spent on cycle hire schemes really just a diversion and could the money be better spent on cycling infrastructure, or training for kids? I’m keen to hear all your thoughts!

Why bike hire and helmets don't mix

Today we focus on Australia, where the city of Melbourne has launched a bike hire scheme of its own just like the system we are about to get in London.  Unlike London, Melbourne's cyclists have to wear helmets by law.  The Mandatory Cycle Helmet Law came into being in the state of Victoria in 1990 and since then anyone on a push bike - adults or children, rider or passenger - has had to wear a helmet or face a fine of up to $100AUD or a fixed penalty notice (of which some 20,000 were issued in the first year of the law coming into being.)

Of course, successful cycle hire schemes around the world work on the basis that many of the riders who use the schemes can do so on an impulse, just turning up at a docking station, swiping their credit card, grabbing a bike and setting off across town.  And this is where cycle helmets and bike hire don't mix; the need to carry a helmet around with you negates the ability to hire a bike on an impulse.  Hiring out helmets with every bike is a hygienic conundrum and selling helmets to keep with each hire bike defeats the ability of the cycle hire scheme to be cheaper than other forms of public transport or riding your own bicycle.

Needless to say the bike hire scheme in Melbourne is proving to be less than successful as a consequence of the Mandatory Cycle Helmet Law, but the law is not going unquestioned.

Sue Abbot, an avid everyday and ordinary cyclist from the rural New South Wales town of Scone was stopped last year for cycling without a helmet and ticketed.  She has since had her ticket quashed and is currently seeking special exemption on human rights grounds to be allowed the choice of whether she cycles with a helmet or not.  Her blog charts her progress, or frustrating lack of therein.

Mike Rubbo, who writes the Sit Up Cycle blog has said from the start that bike hire schemes can not work in conjunction with cycle hire.  And last weekend he decided to do something about it...

Mikael Colville-Andersen, the rabble rouser from the Copenhagenize blog, was in Melbourne at the weekend to give a public lecture about urban cycling as part of the State of Design Festival.  Rubbo decided to time Colville-Andersen's visit with a little direct action of his own to speak out against the cycle helmet laws.  His protest?  He and a group of like-minded friends rented hire bikes and rode them in their normal clothes around town without helmets on.  That doing so could see them receiving a criminal record seems beyond belief, and perhaps doing so is what is needed for the public debate to be had about the rationale of the law.

According to accounts of the day there was a heavy police and media presence  at the little protest ride, and a number of cyclists were fined in accordance with the law for riding lid-less.  With Mexico City having repealed it's mandatory helmet law in order to initiate a successful cycle hire scheme, and Tel Aviv in Israel considering doing the same, let's hope this is the kick-start to an important debate that Australia needs to have.  And may it be a warning to our coalition Government that, despite helmet lobbyist's best efforts, it would not be a good idea to introduce such a law here in the UK (and there are indeed forces at work who would seek to see the same realised, despite the consequences)

Mike Rubbo's 2009 film 'Bike Share and Helmets don't mix', via Sit Up Cycle Blog.

The Mandatory Cycle Helmet Law in Australia served to bring about a 40% drop in cycling rates, encourages drivers to get closer to the remaining cyclists on the road, helps to portray everyday cycling as somehow sporty, unusual or 'other' and as has been demonstrated has stymied Australia's attempts to introduce a working bike hire scheme. On the contrary, in Montreal where the Bixi bike share scheme (on which the London and Melbourne schemes are modled) operates with no mandatory helmet laws, some 3.5 million KMs were ridden in the first year with only 5 accidents and none of them serious, according to the Bixi press office, which just goes to show that a lack of helmet laws hardly brings about a two-wheeled apocolypse.

Of course if you are going to race a bike down the slopes of the Alps or across the country on some gnarly dirt track then a bicycle helmet makes good sense.  But to HAVE to wear one just to hop on a bike to pop 5 minutes down the road to the shops?  Why not let adults be adults and decide for themselves?  Any investment in cycling infrastructure, cycle hire schemes and increases in cycling rates depend on it.

Cycling video round up

There are loads of videos out there at the moment on our favourite subject...


Let's start in one of my favourite cycling cities, Amsterdam, where someone has decided to express their love for cycling culture in the city through the medium of, um.. ...rap!  It's not as naff as it sounds and I enjoyed it.  The moment at 3 minutes 30seconds where the girl runs behind the back of the bike and jumps on the pannier rack is pure Holland in my eyes: I once tried to do this in front of a crowded street cafe and failed miserably, ending up sprawled across the road and being laughed at.  I can't reccomend it highly enough(!)

As most of you know by now London is at last about to launch it's very own bike hire scheme.  From July 30th some 6000 hire bikes will be available for free short rentals around the city and I for one can't wait for this addition to the streetscape.  Here's a video from Transport for London on how the whole scheme works (see if you can't spot a little animated cameo from our cycling Mayor near the end):

Lastly, Camden Council have produced this thoughtful little film about the danger posed by heavy goods vehicles to cyclists in London.  I like the fact that the messages are quite clear; that we all need to look out for one another, that a cyclist will always come off worse in an accident and that cyclists should avoid the 'danger zone' on the inside of lorries for the sake of self preservation.  It's great at least that Councils are taking steps to address this problem.  What do you think?

Out of town: Paris, and the velibe scheme

I was recently in Paris and was keen to see how the much discussed Paris Velibe bike hire scheme had changed the City of Lights.  And to check out the cyclists of Paris to see what they were riding, what they were wearing and how many of them were there.


The thing that struck me first, as I crossed town in an electric taxi (Come on London, keep up!) was just how much more traffic there is in central Paris, and how much more noticeable the congestion is - the concept of congestion charging isn't popular in France and it wasn't till I visited Paris, as a comparable city to London, that I noticed that perhaps as a consequence of the congestion charge the traffic situation in London isn't nearly as bad for cyclists as the popular media would have you believe. (Or maybe that it's not as bad as it could be.)  Clear cycling signage helped the bikes to navigate through town and avoid the worst of the busiest streets.

It wasn't long before I saw someone peddling by on a hire bike - you can spot them a mile off because they're a distinctive metallic green colour.  "Crumbs" I thought "that bike looks heavy", but whizzed past me they did so clearly appearences can be deceptive.  What's more, the bikes are striking for their 'all in one' design - they have half-tyre mud guards, integrated bright dynamo lights, a solid looking wire mesh front basket, with a lock and a kickstand.  Everything you need for a city bike, and a millon miles away from that prevalent image of cycling that I think we have here in the UK of bikes being something sporty, hyper-masculine and the reserve of fit bods in lycra (or worse, not so fit bods in lycra!)  Now whilst I'm a big fan of sports cycling, peddling your bike through a city is a totally diferent matter, and it seems to me that Paris have designed a good looking, robust bike that's fit for the job. 

The hire stations, which you see every 300 metres or so were busy with bikes coming and going and seemed easy to use too, so long as you're armed with a credit card.

I took the shots below on the Pont au Double near Notre Dame of some ordinary Parisians peddling about their daily business - and don't they look fabulous in their long coats and heels? 

As you can see all of the cycle stands in the city (placed on former car parking spaces) were busy too - always a sign of a strong bicycle culture.  It's been widely noted that ordinary Parisians trying out the Velibe scheme remembered how much they used to love their bikes, and the velorution followed naturally - I hope the same will be the case in London next year when Boris Johnson launches our very own cycle hire scheme.  The increase in bicycle share of total trips in Paris leapt from 1% to 2.5% in 2007 - more than doubled - there was a 46% increase in bicycle trips in the third quarter of 2007 following the introduction of the Velibe scheme ('Velibe' incidentally, is a made up word combining the French for bicycle 'velo' and that key stone of the French constitution 'liberte' - I think it's a rather fitting word - we are yet to find out what London will call it's scheme when it launches next summer).  The statistics speak for themselves.

I finished my 'cycle study' along the Seine on the segregated cycle pathway that runs between the Louvre gardens (Jardin des Tuileries) and the Voie Georges Pompidou - it's a crying shame that London doesn't have a similar dedicated cycle path alongside the Thames on the Victoria Embankment, and it's high-time we had one.

Cycle Show parking & the bikes of the London Cycle Hire Scheme?

The cycle show kicks off today at Earls Court in London and will be stuffed to the gills, I'm sure, with bike goodies and cycling accessories for you to spend your well-earned cash on, should you so wish.  I won't be making it this year as I have visitors from overseas and my diary is somewhat overstretched at the moment, but I'm interested to hear what anyone who goes along thinks of it.


Most interestingly, they are having to create a special 'bike park' for the expected volume of cyclists turning up on their bikes having somewhere to lock up their bikes securely.  I find it sad indeed that such a facility doesn't exist already for a big exhibition space in central London such as Earls Court - a bike rack for a week isn't much of a bike rack in my opinion - I'd like to be able to cycle to ALL events there, not just cycling related ones.  In my opinion, new provision needs to be made in planning law that all new developments (whether residential, commercial or a space like the exhibition centre) must have a certain percentage of cycling infrastructure built in - be that bike racks, bike lanes or showers in offices.  Hey presto, the velorution would build itself, but I don't see it happening for some time yet, alas...


Anyway, getting to the point... Transport for London have been boasting that visitors to the show will be able to view and try out the bikes which will be used to launch the Mayor of London's bike hire scheme next year.  Well, you saw it here first folks.  The scheme (which is yet to have a name - any suggestions anyone?) was contracted out to SERCO (the peeps who run that most bicycle unfriendly mode of public transport, the DLR, amongst other things) and BIXI, the people behind the cycle hire scheme in Montreal, Canada.  Therefore, it's probably fair to suggest that for reasons of economic convenience we'll all be riding BIXI bikes next year, which are built in Canada and look something like this:

I, for one, can't wait to try them out - though I'm not a fan of the 'basket' on the front - how are you supposed to keep anything in it?!

http://www.cycleshow.co.uk/

http://montreal.bixi.com/home/home-bixi