London - Barclays Bike Hire dockign stations

the_hundredth_idiot

pete54 wrote:

£2 per fob, apply online and you keep it on your keyring. Can't see how it's a hassle and you don't need to pay for a whole year's access to get a fob - you can use them for 24-hr or weekly periods as well.

Funny how I seem to find out more about the detail on this forum than I did when I had a chat with the "dolly burds" on the BCH stand at Lambeth Country Show.

I thought the key fobs were just for those who'd signed up for an annual pass and I expect to be an occasional user only. I need a new keyring anyway so £2 seems like a deal.

el_presidente

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

pete54 wrote:

£2 per fob, apply online and you keep it on your keyring. Can't see how it's a hassle and you don't need to pay for a whole year's access to get a fob - you can use them for 24-hr or weekly periods as well.

Funny how I seem to find out more about the detail on this forum than I did when I had a chat with the "dolly burds" on the BCH stand at Lambeth Country Show.

I thought the key fobs were just for those who'd signed up for an annual pass and I expect to be an occasional user only. I need a new keyring anyway so £2 seems like a deal.

you can use them just with a credit card, you don't NEED a fob.

gaz545

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

I thought the key fobs were just for those who'd signed up for an annual pass and I expect to be an occasional user only. I need a new keyring anyway so £2 seems like a deal.

it doesn't come with a key ring

Sewinman

pete54 wrote:

You should be able to ride across the whole area in less than 30 minutes - if not, head to the nearest station, dock your bike and take another as the time period approaches 30 mins.

I think i read that you can not hire one for 30 mins after docking. It would prevent the above.

el_presidente

Sewinman wrote:

pete54 wrote:

You should be able to ride across the whole area in less than 30 minutes - if not, head to the nearest station, dock your bike and take another as the time period approaches 30 mins.

I think i read that you can not hire one for 30 mins after docking. It would prevent the above.

5 min gap not 30 mins i thnk

pete54

el_presidente wrote:

5 min gap not 30 mins i thnk

Yes, looks like it's 5 minutes - I was assuming it was the same as the Paris Velib. Still, the area's smaller than Paris at the moment, so it shouldn't be a problem too often. The keys are £3 each, I've ordered two.

el_presidente wrote:

you can use them just with a credit card, you don't NEED a fob.

You have to faff about with the terminal though, rather than releasing a bike directly with your key.

the_hundredth_idiot

el_presidente wrote:

5 min gap not 30 mins i thnk

The girls on the BCH stand told me just dock it in and remove it straight away if you want to do a longer than 30 mins ride. But I'm increasingly wondering if they knew what they were talking about. :roll:

Re the "fobs" - when you pay £3, do you also need to pay for access then as well? I filled in the form and it seemed to suggest £4 including £3 for the fob and £1 for 1 day's hire. Is that just an upfront payment for the first time you hire a bike?

lost_in_thought

Oooooooooh on my way back to Ealing from Islington I saw loads of docks being filled with bikes! I'm really very excited about this scheme...

THI, I think you pay for the access, then for the time using the bike, hence why the £45 membership is a good deal. Obv., you don't pay for use unless you go over 30 mins, but you still pay for access.

the_hundredth_idiot

Ah, figured it all out now - took my time to read the small print. Fob on its way - looking forward to being an early adopter.

pete54

Got my key (and one for my girlfriend).

prj45

http://thebikeshow.net/scrub-away-scrub ... crub-away/

Greggyr

I'll make a journey tomorrow. Got my key yesterday in the post. There's a dock very near Condor shop, so that'll be my destination I think !!!

deptfordmarmoset

Cyclestreets.net have just launched a cycle hire route planner with all the docking points mapped....

http://www.londoncyclehire.org/

WallyP

I am hugely supportive of this initiative, and having used a similar service recently in Dublin, I was looking forward to day 1 of my BB experience today.
Unfortunately, although the map they sent me with my key, showed docking stations at Blackfriars Bridge and Tower Bridge, the two places I need them, I could find no evidence of them earlier this week. The BB support team assured me that on the live map on the website, it would show the active docking stations from 6am this morning. So I dutifully checked at 6.10, and it showed no docking station at Blackfriars, but one at Tower Bridge. Hurrah! Except, when I clicked on it, it said Liverpool Street!
So I called BB, and eventually, after speaking to 3 people (believe it or not, the support people have no access to the live map, only a printed one!!!!) I was assured that there was one at St Kathearine's Pier, next to Tower Bridge.
So I undocked a bike from a station on Queen Victoria Street - and had a very pleasant cycle through the city (yes the bikes are a bit slow and heavy, but the gear change is super smooth) and got to St Kat's Pier and guess what? Of course, there was no docking station.
I had anticipated a problem, and put a padlock in my bag, so now, one of Boris's beautiful Barclays bikes is chained up outside my office, waiting for the on street team to come and get it!
I know they are bound to have teething problems, but this was a pretty inauspicious start. Things can only get better eh?

Headhuunter

Saw racks n racks of actual bikes on the way in to work this morning and actually passed 3 people riding them along Tooley St at about 8.20am. First bikes and people on the bikes I've seen....

Headhuunter

prj45 wrote:

http://thebikeshow.net/scrub-away-scrub-away-scrub-away/

Seems a bit excessive. I don't know whether the figure £5m to have your corporate logo spread across the city is a good or bad deal, certainly £5m is pocket change to company like Barclays but to go to the trouble of actually scrubbing the logo of the fob....!

pete54

Headhuunter wrote:

Seems a bit excessive. I don't know whether the figure £5m to have your corporate logo spread across the city is a good or bad deal, certainly £5m is pocket change to company like Barclays but to go to the trouble of actually scrubbing the logo of the fob....!

Yes, I thought so too - the fob's in your pocket most of the time. Does he scrub the logo off his bank cards as well?

Off to seek out a hire bike now.

deptfordmarmoset

WallyP, I've seen a docking station (before there were any bikes, of course) just beyond the end of St Katherine's Way - it was here, just at the western beginning of Wapping High Street

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=St+Katharine%27s+Pier,+Poplar,+United+Kingdom&sll=51.477837,-0.021345&sspn=0.007471,0.018411&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=St+Katharine%27s+Pier,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.504859,-0.067578&spn=0.000933,0.002301&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.504798,-0.06753&panoid=Z94IQmjoCbGJimtr2fDCsQ&cbp=12,281.35,,0,5

WallyP

Thanks deptfordmarmoset

Yes, I can see that docking station on the Barclays cycle map at https://web.barclayscyclehire.tfl.gov.uk/maps

But it shows one right ourside our office, on Tower Bridge approach, but if you click on it, it says 'Brushfield Street, Liverpool Street' and there is no docking station here at all!

The on street team have just been to pick up the bike - crazy!

deptfordmarmoset

Aha, the wrong docking point! I think I only noticed that it was there because it was the first I'd ever seen.

spasypaddy

i want a key but i dont want to have a subscription on my account

Wrath Rob

Slightly disappointing experience today. I needed to go to the dentist and checked the map. Lo and behold there are docks within 2 minutes walk of the office and the surgery. So I wander up to the dock only to find that I need a key and can't just rock up and use it

Big Wib

Wrath Rob wrote:

Slightly disappointing experience today. I needed to go to the dentist and checked the map. Lo and behold there are docks within 2 minutes walk of the office and the surgery. So I wander up to the dock only to find that I need a key and can't just rock up and use it

that should be up and running in a month or so

pete54

Just got back from the Rapha Sample sale by hire bike. All went very smoothly, found a space to drop off in Hatton Garden and picked one up from the same station for the return journey.

The bikes feel very under geared when you first ride one, but you soon get used to riding sedately, and the brakes on the first one weren't too effective (better on the second one).

Will make another journey to Shoreditch this afternoon.

mrc1

WallyP wrote:

I am hugely supportive of this initiative, and having used a similar service recently in Dublin, I was looking forward to day 1 of my BB experience today.
Unfortunately, although the map they sent me with my key, showed docking stations at Blackfriars Bridge and Tower Bridge, the two places I need them, I could find no evidence of them earlier this week. The BB support team assured me that on the live map on the website, it would show the active docking stations from 6am this morning. So I dutifully checked at 6.10, and it showed no docking station at Blackfriars, but one at Tower Bridge. Hurrah! Except, when I clicked on it, it said Liverpool Street!
So I called BB, and eventually, after speaking to 3 people (believe it or not, the support people have no access to the live map, only a printed one!!!!) I was assured that there was one at St Kathearine's Pier, next to Tower Bridge.
So I undocked a bike from a station on Queen Victoria Street - and had a very pleasant cycle through the city (yes the bikes are a bit slow and heavy, but the gear change is super smooth) and got to St Kat's Pier and guess what? Of course, there was no docking station.

It's opposite the Bridge pub on Tooley Street approx 30 seconds from Tower Bridge!

WallyP

Just been out for a lunchtime tootle from Tower Gardens down to Wapping and back. I've noticed that the info at the docking stations isn't very comprehensive, nor is it accurate.
The maps printed on the docking stations don't show all of the other locations, and when you look for the info on nearby stations on the screen, it doesn't show all of the nearest ones, and only gives the street name - you can't click on it to show a map of the location.
However, people are very interested in them, and there are lots of disappointed people around when they find out they need a key to hire a bike.

WallyP

mrc1 wrote:

WallyP wrote:

I am hugely supportive of this initiative, and having used a similar service recently in Dublin, I was looking forward to day 1 of my BB experience today.
Unfortunately, although the map they sent me with my key, showed docking stations at Blackfriars Bridge and Tower Bridge, the two places I need them, I could find no evidence of them earlier this week. The BB support team assured me that on the live map on the website, it would show the active docking stations from 6am this morning. So I dutifully checked at 6.10, and it showed no docking station at Blackfriars, but one at Tower Bridge. Hurrah! Except, when I clicked on it, it said Liverpool Street!
So I called BB, and eventually, after speaking to 3 people (believe it or not, the support people have no access to the live map, only a printed one!!!!) I was assured that there was one at St Kathearine's Pier, next to Tower Bridge.
So I undocked a bike from a station on Queen Victoria Street - and had a very pleasant cycle through the city (yes the bikes are a bit slow and heavy, but the gear change is super smooth) and got to St Kat's Pier and guess what? Of course, there was no docking station.

It's opposite the Bridge pub on Tooley Street approx 30 seconds from Tower Bridge!

Thanks mrc1 I know about that one, but that is the south side of the river, the one on the map is on the northern approach to Tower Bridge. It is on the printed map, and on the official website, but it doesn't exist.

the_hundredth_idiot

WallyP wrote:

Thanks mrc1 I know about that one, but that is the south side of the river, the one on the map is on the northern approach to Tower Bridge. It is on the printed map, and on the official website, but it doesn't exist.

It's not clear from the map whether the one you want is on the bridge itself or, perhaps, almost underneath the bridge - I'm guessing it's underneath (or, at least, down that sliproad to the side which runs to the Thistle hotel. I'm sure this is a daft question, but did you look there as well?

Wrath Rob

WallyP wrote:

However, people are very interested in them, and there are lots of disappointed people around when they find out they need a key to hire a bike.

Which is my point too. Still, think of this as the beta, by the time they're live with ad-hoc hires they should have ironed out the issues too.

lost_in_thought

I want my key now now now nownownownownownow....

Hurry up!