please empty your brain below
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And to think that I used to stand on picket lines outside branches of Barclays protesting about their sanction-busting operations in apartheid South Africa.
"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"
Gavin | 03.08.10 - 8:12 a.m. | #
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DG, your faithful readers now fully expect a comprehensive DG-style review of the cycling experience... Please!
EP
Eskimo Pie | 03.08.10 - 8:13 a.m. | #
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Sorry, you won't catch me on a bike in London, no matter how much people plead. I'd be a danger to road traffic, and (more importantly) to myself.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 8:15 a.m. | #
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Blue is a silly colour for bicycle lanes - in Belgium and Holland they use a sort of pinkish hue - but then, they're not sponsoring anybody.
Having said that, I've not been into the centre of town in ages to see whether they have put down yellow cycle lanes to sponsor the 'Villo' hire bikes - but I hardly doubt it.
zed | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 8:44 a.m. | #
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Did you not see the story in the Standard on the cycling scheme last night? Not too many mentions of Barclays, but I lost count of the number of times the phrase 'Boris Bikes' was used...
Marc | 03.08.10 - 9:17 a.m. | #
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The Barclays superhighway from Morden to the City runs past the end of my road. As of last night, there was a great big gap in the blue stripe where utility workers had dug the road up and put black tarmac back afterwards. It'll be interesting to see how long the rest of the stripe lasts.
I can see a Borisbike rank (or whatever you call it - depot? docking station?) from my office window. On Friday lunchtime, it was almost empty because so many people were trying the bikes out, but it was full again by the evening. Yesterday lunchtime, it got down to about half-full before filling up again. It's currently completely full, although I did see three people riding Borisbikes on my walk into work this morning. It'll be interesting to see how things develop.
Someone said they're so big and heavy, it's like pedaling a shed. I have no inclination to find out for myself...
Baldassaro | 03.08.10 - 10:01 a.m. | #
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Are we all familiar with the rhyming slang expression 'having a Barclays'?
Gripper | 03.08.10 - 10:33 a.m. | #
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When it comes to branding cycling, what about Sky rides?
Peter Cameron | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 11:18 a.m. | #
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Not you again Diamond Geezer! Why do people keep thinking that the blue cycle highways are blue because of Barclays?
The colour was decided upon long before Barclays became involved, and it's not even the right shade to be Barclays blue!
sweek | 03.08.10 - 11:41 a.m. | #
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I think sponsorship of things like this is a very good thing, provided TfL gets a significant contribution from the sponsor, not just a token. In fact I don't care what something is called nor what it looks like if it provides a good new sustainable transport option.
Sorry, having said that, I will NEVER call them B***s Bikes!
logistical | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 1:02 p.m. | #
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Cycles are always danger, Bus drivers and lorry drivers are always frustrate because one hundred people are inside the bus should they go slowly behind this just one person? there are one hundred thousand pounds worth of goods are in Lorreis and trucks should they go slowly behind this just one person? what would happen if car or bus or lorry hit you, they are not going to get a even a scratch but very danger for cyclyst
London is not suitable for cyclyst its only suitable in countryside
Kaka | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 1:28 p.m. | #
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This past weekend I tried out the equivalent scheme in Paris (which was not sponsored by advertising, or at least not so that I noticed). For the most part it worked pretty well, and it's an undeniable bargain to cycle round an entire city for one euro a day (so long as you keep each journey to less than thirty minutes).
Drawbacks include rolling up to your destination rank with 29 minutes on the clock and finding it full, so you that can't dock your bike. They do have a way around this but it's still a slight hassle.
All in all I thought it was a rather fantastique scheme and it's good that London is following suit. However ... a very pleasant Sunday in the capital city of a bike-friendly country, in a month when all the locals have fled, still leaves me a little wary of attempting the same thing here.
Nightmale | 03.08.10 - 1:58 p.m. | #
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Bull's eye!
You pay for the cinema ticket and you're still fed 30 minutes of commercials and trailers. You pay to hire a bike and you're still flashing the logos and brands.
That's really ridiculous. Either make it free or cut the ads, you can't seat on two chairs.
yurri | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 3:29 p.m. | #
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They've been going like hot cakes from the rack near me, and a man is now delivering some more. This seems to be rather a laborious process - he gets them down off a trailer one by one, rides them across to the rack and puts them in. If everyone who's taken one tries to bring it back to the same place, they're in for a shock...
Baldassaro | 03.08.10 - 4:26 p.m. | #
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Kaka, unless you haven't noticed there are more than just the one cyclist in London.
It is perfectly safe to cycle in London, been doing it everyday for 5 years with no accidents and I always arrive much quicker than I would using any other type of transport.
London is perfect for cycling and anyone who says it is dangerous is very wrong. Give it a go and you'll see what I mean!
Lewis | 03.08.10 - 6:02 p.m. | #
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Love the sarcasm! Great post!
CornishCockney | 03.08.10 - 6:23 p.m. | #
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The TFL website still shows the original 2009 design standards - a greyish roundel lettered "London Cycle Hire", ditto on the bike frames in New Johnston, and not a mention of Barclays in sight. After all, why use a blue roundel, that's London River Services.
Kim | 03.08.10 - 7:01 p.m. | #
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When cycle hire first developed - there were many meetings between the TfL marketing minions about what colour the cycle hire roundel could be given. Given each "mode" of transport within TfL now has it's own distinctive roundel colour - there were lots of rules - lots of them to do with mass reproduction issues, including on the internet. I didn't really understand most it - however it was clear there seems to be two choices. A blue somewhere between the river blue and DLR blue and pink. Given the roundel would be appearing on streets across central London, I don't think pink was the best option in the eyes of many conservationist. So well over a year ago - long before that bank was on the scene - cycle hire had been designated a "blue-ish" colour.
It wasn't bank blue though and the colour was tweaked in the last few months prior to scheme delivery to accommodate the sponsor but I can't tell the difference. I am sure someone will dig up early promotion material or montages with the original blue.
The bank money only partly off-sets the costs of the scheme. The user fees help subsidise the running costs. The bank money doesn't cover much of the capital investment to get the scheme up and running and there are lots of expansion demands/ideas already. We'll keep paying to use cycle hire (for as long as there are tolls on the Dartford Bridge at least).
The Paris scheme is sponsored - but in a different way. The advertising company that runs it is allow to put up poster panels all over Paris but as Paris has much wider streets - there is room for these things. In London, the narrow streets mean this wasn't an option.
| 03.08.10 - 7:38 p.m. | #
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So I'm expected to go Barcling then. This seems a Biking mad idea.
Mwmbwls | 03.08.10 - 9:23 p.m. | #
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& the blue is based on the colour they ue in Copenhagen - it apparently stands out more than the old green ones: http://www.sightline.org/images/blog-2007/Copenhgn-blue-bk-ln-350w.jpg
Geoff | Homepage | 03.08.10 - 11:01 p.m. | #
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What’s the legal position IF I fall off and leave my brains all over the road? Can my wife sue Barclays for not providing a safety helmet?
Not that I intend to try it out you understand.
Peter | 04.08.10 - 12:07 a.m. | #
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Ironically, I work for Barclays at Canary Wharf office (I know, but someone has to do it) and I can't use the bloody bikes because someone didn't have the good sense to put some docking stations in Canary Wharf. I was planning to cycle from Moorgate to CW which would be a pleasant 20 minute cycle along the river. However, the last docking station is just past St Katherines Dock. Very useful.
Johnny Topaz | 04.08.10 - 12:32 a.m. | #
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I love the Paris scheme and use it all is a bit tentative and under-resourced (only 6000 bikes in London, vs. 24000 in Paris? Come along Barclays, that's bit stingy), especially considering that the need is for short trips, not just around the centre, but into local centres. Canary Wharf is a good example - if you live down the Isle of Dogs and need to get the tube into town, you need the DLR or a bus (which can be crowded in the rush hour: perfect for a short bike ride.
BTW, I'd have thought the tabloids might want to reserve "Borisbike" for - well, some other eventuality, shall we say.
Autolycus | Homepage | 04.08.10 - 1:37 p.m. | #
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Dear Boris, please can you make the ridiculous amount of paint, metal hoarding and other road ornaments non slip in the rain?
Love
Albert
Albert | 04.08.10 - 6:23 p.m. | #
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Invests In Cluster Bombs. Offers Loans For New Limbs.
Mat | Homepage | 05.08.10 - 1:20 p.m. | #
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I really like the idea. We will soon have many cyclist sport men and women in the UK.It has always been the Italian and French people who loves the sport. Not a bad Idea at all.
Thanks
London Movers | Homepage | 07.08.10 - 1:57 p.m. | #
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