wrote:


When I saw the 38 out of 40 slots occupied I thought 'Two bikes
missing', and wondered if they were in use or never there, or stolen?
Of course, this isn't right; you don't want all the slots filled, you
want some full so you can hire a bike, and some empty so you can
return one. So what do you do if you hire a bike, ride it to wherever
you need to go, but when you get there you cannot find an empty slot
in a docking station, what do you do then? I suppose that it's not
that different to driving there, and then not being to find a parking
space,but since I'm used to either walking, or taking a bus, or
occasionally a train, I'm not used to that problem. What I originally
saw a an almost full docking station with lots of bikes available to
hire could soon become a completely full docking station, with no room
to return one.

Apparently the payment machines can tell you where the nearest
alternative docking stations are. They're usually just a couple of
blocks away, so you shouldn't have too far to go.