London cycle hire scheme (idiots)

[coley20]

I cycle around central to commute, this maybe a bit of a generalization but do most of the people who have signed up for the cycle hire scheme seem a bit, well, wobbly to say the least! I have seen a few kamakazi incidents which as nearly lead to an accident

[Hollywood Wheels]

I know exactly what you mean, some of them are a downright menace. The worst was the morning of the tube strike, various suited mongs weaving all over the road without checking, no life-savers at all, just generally getting in the way. It'll be interesting to see how the accident rates for cyclists are affected, because they must be going up with the introduction of these? The VERY worst riders though are these cycle 'tour' things, with groups of tourists all over the road. I notice that the guides on many of them are now using the pavement because they're so dangerous!

[sjg]

It isn't a big assumption that people with decent cycling skills will be cycling regularly, thus have a bike already so be less likely to use a hire one. Will be interesting to see how that changes over time though - whether people who live in, or move to, zone 1 and cycle for transport will choose £45 a year on hire bike usage over owning and maintaining their own.

If your journeys (and/or the effectiveness of the redistribution) mean you can pick up a bike and return it whenever you need, no theft worries, no servicing costs, etc I can see that being pretty compelling. More so if you live in a small flat on an upper floor with no secure bike storage, which is a lot of people in the capital.

[Muzzlehatch]

In the same way that you get poor driving standards, you have to expect poor cycling standards, particularly around rental zones (which of course means all of central London).

Just because they are beginners, it doesn't mean they're deliberately trying to cycle badly or get themselves killed; just look out for each other... as that old (Honda?) advert says: We're all just trying to get somewhere.

[JimexPL]

thegavster said:

Also, in the ten weeks or so which it's been running only 5 bikes have been nicked, whereas in Paris they list 3000 in the first 12 months

The Paris bikes have locks on them. Quite handy if you want to stop for a drink or pop into a shop whilst out on the bike. Unfortunately it's a cheap cable that would take the average thief seconds to cut.

I've been using the bikes since the start of the scheme, even though I've got three bikes at home. They're heavy and slow but very convenient (I can see two docking stations from my front door, and have 3 more within a 5 minute walk).

I don't think that the standard of riding is much worse than the average owner rider - They're just more visible on the unwieldy bikes!

[Greenwich Ross]

Yes, I think it's the heaviness that's causing people to wobble about the place. They don't look terribly stable to me.

[angusc43]

I nearly had a head-on at 20mph with a Boris biker this morning. I was on a two-way section of cyclepath and he decided to overtake the folks in front of me straight into my path. Cue much panic braking/shouting from me. He just looked at me in a bovine way and cycled past without a word.....(he probably got the office and told a story of a hi-vis MB t**t nearly cycling straight into him and shouting aggressively.....).

Having said that I was expecting loads of these incidents every day but have been pleasantly surprised - I can count them on the fingers of one hand. I can only assume that a lot of the users have already cycled in London or something. Or maybe I'm just used to cyclists veering about in a random sort of way that I don't really notice any more....