In article . li,
(Tom Anderson) wrote:

It's not for commuters who live in inner London, because there are
no stations outside Z1 (not much outside, at least), and you're not
allowed to take the bikes home overnight. It's not for commuters
who live further out, because the stations are set up to avoid
flows to or from major rail termini.

I have yet to work out who it *is* for.

Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what I've seen
near King's Cross.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:

In article . li,
(Tom Anderson) wrote:

It's not for commuters who live in inner London, because there are
no stations outside Z1 (not much outside, at least), and you're not
allowed to take the bikes home overnight. It's not for commuters
who live further out, because the stations are set up to avoid
flows to or from major rail termini.

I have yet to work out who it *is* for.

Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what I've seen
near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for by
the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential demand
would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole system
towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a little
inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them easily
enough. Whether there'll be any available bikes at these docking
stations is another matter, and I can imagine there might not be
during the morning rush - however at other times it could well be a
different picture.

*If* there is a live status map online that shows availability at
docking stations, and *if* the prospective punter has a net-connected
mobile device, then they'd be able to check whether it was worth them
heading around the corner to the docking station on arrival instead of
getting on the Tube or bus for onward travel.

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:

In article . li,
(Tom Anderson) wrote:

It's not for commuters who live in inner London, because there are
no stations outside Z1 (not much outside, at least), and you're not
allowed to take the bikes home overnight. It's not for commuters
who live further out, because the stations are set up to avoid
flows to or from major rail termini.

I have yet to work out who it *is* for.

Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what I've
seen near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for by
the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential demand
would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole system
towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a little
inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them easily
enough. Whether there'll be any available bikes at these docking
stations is another matter, and I can imagine there might not be
during the morning rush - however at other times it could well be a
different picture.

*If* there is a live status map online that shows availability at
docking stations, and *if* the prospective punter has a net-connected
mobile device, then they'd be able to check whether it was worth them
heading around the corner to the docking station on arrival instead of
getting on the Tube or bus for onward travel.

I can see I'm going to be monitoring things then!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jul 27, 12:27*am, wrote:

(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:
[snip]
Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what I've
seen near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for by
the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential demand
would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole system
towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a little
inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them easily
enough. Whether there'll be any available bikes at these docking
stations is another matter, and I can imagine there might not be
during the morning rush - however at other times it could well be a
different picture.

*If* there is a live status map online that shows availability at
docking stations, and *if* the prospective punter has a net-connected
mobile device, then they'd be able to check whether it was worth them
heading around the corner to the docking station on arrival instead of
getting on the Tube or bus for onward travel.

I can see I'm going to be monitoring things then!

You're thinking of perhaps using the scheme on a regular basis then
for your cross-town cycle commutes? Well, if you do, you can give us
plenty of first hand accounts of how it's all working out for you
then! As long as you're prepared for all sorts of things to go wrong -
I can imagine there may be a fair amount of turbulence to come.

And perhaps more to the point so long as you realise that the system
hasn't really been designed around catering for your prospective usage
(i.e. that of the longer distance rail commuter), and are prepared for
the potential ramifications thereof. I dare say there may be a few
tricks that one could pick up on over time, such as which slightly out
of the way docking stations are more likely to have bikes, and maybe
more crucially, which will have spaces for when you get to the far
end.

But you're not allowed to declare the end of the world just because
the Belgrove St docking station never has a bike for you in the
morning! ;-)

On Mon, 26 Jul 2010, Mizter T wrote:

On Jul 27, 12:27*am, wrote:

(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:

Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what I've
seen near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for by
the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential demand
would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole system
towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a little
inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them easily
enough.

I can see I'm going to be monitoring things then!

You're thinking of perhaps using the scheme on a regular basis then
for your cross-town cycle commutes? Well, if you do, you can give us
plenty of first hand accounts of how it's all working out for you
then!

Are you on Twitter, Colin? It could actually be ideal for this. Just tweet
every time you pick up or return a bike, using a hashtag of #borisbike or
something, with a few words to say how it went. That would be pretty easy
for you, and terribly easy for everyone else to monitor. And you never
know, you might become the next Ashton Kutcher.

tom

--
Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 27, 12:27*am, wrote:

(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:
[snip]
Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what
I've seen near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for
by the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential
demand would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole
system towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a
little inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them
easily enough. Whether there'll be any available bikes at these
docking stations is another matter, and I can imagine there might
not be during the morning rush - however at other times it could
well be a different picture.

*If* there is a live status map online that shows availability at
docking stations, and *if* the prospective punter has a
net-connected mobile device, then they'd be able to check whether it
was worth them heading around the corner to the docking station on
arrival instead of getting on the Tube or bus for onward travel.

I can see I'm going to be monitoring things then!

You're thinking of perhaps using the scheme on a regular basis then
for your cross-town cycle commutes? Well, if you do, you can give us
plenty of first hand accounts of how it's all working out for you
then! As long as you're prepared for all sorts of things to go wrong -
I can imagine there may be a fair amount of turbulence to come.

And perhaps more to the point so long as you realise that the system
hasn't really been designed around catering for your prospective usage
(i.e. that of the longer distance rail commuter), and are prepared for
the potential ramifications thereof. I dare say there may be a few
tricks that one could pick up on over time, such as which slightly out
of the way docking stations are more likely to have bikes, and maybe
more crucially, which will have spaces for when you get to the far
end.

But you're not allowed to declare the end of the world just because
the Belgrove St docking station never has a bike for you in the
morning! ;-)

I have absolutely no intention of hiring a bike regularly but there may be
times when it would be helpful to avail myself of a hire bike, e.g. when
my own bike needs fixing or when I need to travel back to Cambridge
without a bike. The fact that my regular route passes the Belgrove St
docking station will be helpful in assessing the viability of this option
before committing myself, I hope.

The office end could be more problematic. The initial lack of the Smith
Square docking station will be unhelpful. I suppose I shall have to go via
Abbey Orchard St from time to time.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Jul 28, 1:55*am, wrote:
In article
,





(Mizter T) wrote:
On Jul 27, 12:27*am, wrote:

(Mizter T) wrote:

On Jul 26, 9:43*pm, wrote:
[snip]
Huh? It seems to provide for main line rail stations from what
I've seen near King's Cross.

The official line seems to be that a decision was taken that the
mainline termini stations were not going to be directly catered for
by the hire scheme (at least not initially) because the potential
demand would have been too high, and it would have skewed the whole
system towards coping with that demand, or something like that.

But as you say, there are plenty of docking stations within fairly
close proximity to the termini stations, so those armed with a
little inclination and foreknowledge should be able to locate them
easily enough. Whether there'll be any available bikes at these
docking stations is another matter, and I can imagine there might
not be during the morning rush - however at other times it could
well be a different picture.

*If* there is a live status map online that shows availability at
docking stations, and *if* the prospective punter has a
net-connected mobile device, then they'd be able to check whether it
was worth them heading around the corner to the docking station on
arrival instead of getting on the Tube or bus for onward travel.

I can see I'm going to be monitoring things then!

You're thinking of perhaps using the scheme on a regular basis then
for your cross-town cycle commutes? Well, if you do, you can give us
plenty of first hand accounts of how it's all working out for you
then! As long as you're prepared for all sorts of things to go wrong -
I can imagine there may be a fair amount of turbulence to come.

And perhaps more to the point so long as you realise that the system
hasn't really been designed around catering for your prospective usage
(i.e. that of the longer distance rail commuter), and are prepared for
the potential ramifications thereof. I dare say there may be a few
tricks that one could pick up on over time, such as which slightly out
of the way docking stations are more likely to have bikes, and maybe
more crucially, which will have spaces for when you get to the far
end.

But you're not allowed to declare the end of the world just because
the Belgrove St docking station never has a bike for you in the
morning! ;-)

I have absolutely no intention of hiring a bike regularly but there may be
times when it would be helpful to avail myself of a hire bike, e.g. when
my own bike needs fixing or when I need to travel back to Cambridge
without a bike. The fact that my regular route passes the Belgrove St
docking station will be helpful in assessing the viability of this option
before committing myself, I hope.

The office end could be more problematic. The initial lack of the Smith
Square docking station will be unhelpful. I suppose I shall have to go via
Abbey Orchard St from time to time.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

So you have your credit card details entered into the system. You pick
up a bike and start cycling. You then get knocked off - hopefully not
killed but wrecking the said bike - by a/ a black cab driver turning
left without warning - more than likely, b/ an artic. lorry turning
left or overtaking without enough clearance - frequently, c/ a stroppy
bus driver who couldn't care less about your safety anyway especially
if driving a bendy-bus - seen everyday, d/ a white van driver driving
with his left hand whilst gabbing on a mobile phone held to his left
ear with his right hand - witnessed many times a day, e/ etc. So
whilst you are awaiting for an ambulance in this traffic choked city
your booked time for the bike goes beyond the 30 minutes free time,
and then starts charging at the rate of £1 an hour or whatever. I
wonder how you get the charging process to stop as to lie on a trolly
(there are no beds available) in a corridor in the nearest A&E? CJB.

On Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:32:50 -0700 (PDT), CJB wrote:
So you have your credit card details entered into the system. You pick
up a bike and start cycling. You then get knocked off

snip

So
whilst you are awaiting for an ambulance in this traffic choked city
your booked time for the bike goes beyond the 30 minutes free time,
and then starts charging at the rate of £1 an hour or whatever. I
wonder how you get the charging process to stop as to lie on a trolly
(there are no beds available) in a corridor in the nearest A&E? CJB.

Doesn't matter. With the small bit of good luck that you clearly hadn't
used that day a passer by or CCTV camera will catch the number plate of
the vehicle that hit you and you will claim against their insurance.

The official line is if you are in an accident you should telephone the
Contact Centre although it isn't clear what they do next.

If it turns out the accident was your fault because you rode through
a red light on the pavement while swigging from a bottle of vodka,
making a call on your mobile phone, wearing sunglasses at night and
crossed the solid white line in the middle of the road then the bike
hire includes third party insurance although there is a £250 excess.
Although the policy does have a reasonable precautions clause you might
fall foul of.

In article
,
(CJB) wrote:

So you have your credit card details entered into the system. You pick
up a bike and start cycling. You then get knocked off - hopefully not
killed but wrecking the said bike - by a/ a black cab driver turning
left without warning - more than likely, b/ an artic. lorry turning
left or overtaking without enough clearance - frequently, c/ a stroppy
bus driver who couldn't care less about your safety anyway especially
if driving a bendy-bus - seen everyday, d/ a white van driver driving
with his left hand whilst gabbing on a mobile phone held to his left
ear with his right hand - witnessed many times a day, e/ etc. So
whilst you are awaiting for an ambulance in this traffic choked city
your booked time for the bike goes beyond the 30 minutes free time,
and then starts charging at the rate of £1 an hour or whatever. I
wonder how you get the charging process to stop as to lie on a trolly
(there are no beds available) in a corridor in the nearest A&E?
CJB.

Why do I need to hire a bike to get all that? I ride my own bike already.

--
Colin Rosenstiel