London Cycle hire is here

helz

Thanks to those of you who responded re. problems with registering on the website - I'm still having the exact same problem so I'll try calling them when I get a chance.

dhope

Key turned up today, can't cycle in tomorrow but will get off at London Bridge and at least see if I can collect any scalps over the Bridge or upto St Pauls.

lost_in_thought

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay I have a key!

jonginge

I see a vision of a dystopian near-future: hordes of roadies weeping into their bidons after being scalped by LiT on a Boris bike.

lost_in_thought

I did scalp someone on an MTB on the old commuter on my way to get water, cash and pizza earlier.

Some might say I've been training for this day for 5 years...

:twisted:

lost_in_thought

And for the person who was saying the fobs are too big, never have my job.

edeverett

OldSkoolKona wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good Android app with a cycle hire station app?

A bit of self promotion, but I built http://dockr.co.uk today. It shows you your nearest docking stations and how many bikes they have. It's a web app so should work on most platforms, not just Andriod or iPhone (but excluding Internet Explorer).

Let me know what you think - it was built in under a day so is likely to have some rough edges.

Cheers,

Ed

Sewinman

So I have a key. Logged on to activate - it says I used said key at 9.45am today to go from Swan Street to Baylis Road. But I never!

Wondering if i should just ignore it. :?

Sewinman

edeverett wrote:

OldSkoolKona wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good Android app with a cycle hire station app?

A bit of self promotion, but I built http://dockr.co.uk today. It shows you your nearest docking stations and how many bikes they have. It's a web app so should work on most platforms, not just Andriod or iPhone (but excluding Internet Explorer).

Let me know what you think - it was built in under a day so is likely to have some rough edges.

Cheers,

Ed

"Your browser does not support Geolocation" etc.

NWLondoner

Damn website. I keep trying to sign up but it keeps saying "server not found"

edeverett

Sewinman wrote:

"Your browser does not support Geolocation" etc.

Yeah sorry about that - are you using Internet Explorer? If so there's not much I can do about it, most modern browsers allow scripts to request location information. If it's not supported then I can't know where you are. I'll investigate the possibility of letting the users enter where they are later, but for now the focus is on making it work on smart phones.

lost_in_thought

Sewinman wrote:

So I have a key. Logged on to activate - it says I used said key at 9.45am today to go from Swan Street to Baylis Road. But I never!

Wondering if i should just ignore it. :?

Hmmmm.

I'd give them a buzz, I think the key system works by allocating the number you type in to the website to an account, so if someone has typed in your number by mistake it could ahve linked your key up wrong.

Mine thinks my access period has expired, I assume it's because I haven't used it yet.

Sewinman

edeverett wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

"Your browser does not support Geolocation" etc.

Yeah sorry about that - are you using Internet Explorer? If so there's not much I can do about it, most modern browsers allow scripts to request location information. If it's not supported then I can't know where you are. I'll investigate the possibility of letting the users enter where they are later, but for now the focus is on making it work on smart phones.

Yeah IE, at work and that is all that is allowed. No bother.

edeverett

@Sewinman Thanks for checking it out anyway.

lost_in_thought

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

NWLondoner

lost_in_thought wrote:

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

5 minutes IIRC

lost_in_thought

edeverett wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

"Your browser does not support Geolocation" etc.

Yeah sorry about that - are you using Internet Explorer? If so there's not much I can do about it, most modern browsers allow scripts to request location information. If it's not supported then I can't know where you are. I'll investigate the possibility of letting the users enter where they are later, but for now the focus is on making it work on smart phones.

I've got the same thing on my android phone - SE Xperia X10 normal, Android 1.6, standard issue android browser, GPS enabled.

edeverett

@lost_in_thought Thanks for the report. It certainly works in some android phones. I'll look into it.

Edit: looks like 1.X Android phones use a different geolocation technique. This is will be my next priority.

Sewinman

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

So I have a key. Logged on to activate - it says I used said key at 9.45am today to go from Swan Street to Baylis Road. But I never!

Wondering if i should just ignore it. :?

Hmmmm.

I'd give them a buzz, I think the key system works by allocating the number you type in to the website to an account, so if someone has typed in your number by mistake it could ahve linked your key up wrong.

Mine thinks my access period has expired, I assume it's because I haven't used it yet.

I rang. Told me to logon and logoff again - problem solved. It was a "system error".

dresbo

lost_in_thought wrote:

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

As I understood it, you only have to wait 5 minutes if you want to take the same bike. Taking a different bike is fine. I could be wrong...

lost_in_thought

dresbo wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

As I understood it, you only have to wait 5 minutes if you want to take the same bike. Taking a different bike is fine. I could be wrong...

Cool. It'll only cost me £1 to find out!

el_presidente

dresbo wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

As I understood it, you only have to wait 5 minutes if you want to take the same bike. Taking a different bike is fine. I could be wrong...

I think it is 5 mins for any bike. If you had 2 keys you could "hot-swap" them though I reckon.

dresbo

el_presidente wrote:

dresbo wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

How long do you have to wait between 30 minute time periods? Or does the time period automatically reset when you dock a bike?

So, could you ride for 30 minutes, dock and immediately remove another bike, then ride for another 30 minutes, without paying for more than 30 minutes?

As I understood it, you only have to wait 5 minutes if you want to take the same bike. Taking a different bike is fine. I could be wrong...

I think it is 5 mins for any bike. If you had 2 keys you could "hot-swap" them though I reckon.

I read it in the paper, but the website is unclear. I seems to suggest you're right though. As someone pointed out, more than half an hour on one would be purgatory anyway.

the_hundredth_idiot

el_presidente wrote:

I think it is 5 mins for any bike. If you had 2 keys you could "hot-swap" them though I reckon.

Presumably that would charge you for two access fees, though?

Specialized Needs

Sewinman wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Sewinman wrote:

So I have a key. Logged on to activate - it says I used said key at 9.45am today to go from Swan Street to Baylis Road. But I never!

Wondering if i should just ignore it. :?

Hmmmm.

I'd give them a buzz, I think the key system works by allocating the number you type in to the website to an account, so if someone has typed in your number by mistake it could ahve linked your key up wrong.

Mine thinks my access period has expired, I assume it's because I haven't used it yet.

I rang. Told me to logon and logoff again - problem solved. It was a "system error".

Yup - same happened to my wife. But used teh tried and tested approach of logging out and in again. Originally, the site had her using a bike at Farringdon about 7 hours beore she activated the key :roll:

It would be interesting to see (o, on reflection, perhaps not) the DB connection behind all of this. Not 100% comforting that they have my card details but can't control displayed data!

Specialized Needs

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

el_presidente wrote:

I think it is 5 mins for any bike. If you had 2 keys you could "hot-swap" them though I reckon.

Presumably that would charge you for two access fees, though?

Yep, I thought this, too. But a possible work around if £2 not too steep for you. Cheaper than 2 buses if you are impatient/in so much of a hurry that 5 mins is too long.

I'd suggest wandering to the next bike dock - that should take 5 mins.

lost_in_thought

Apparently my key is invalid

And I can't get through to anyone who can actually help, only the people who assure me that someone definitely will call me back. Nobody has, yet.

And they still haven't refunded me from the initial incorrect payment, which was admittedly was my fault, but it was on the 27th of July.

robz400

I often get the train to waterloo at the weekends and take my bike to cycle up to Islington. This looks great, i'll leave my bike at home and hop on a boris bike.

Quite excited really! Like driving a hire car :twisted: :twisted:

Has anyone wheelied one yet??????

prj45

Woo hoo! I rode one today.

Great bikes, not actually as heavy as I'd imagined (I've picked up heavier touring bikes without the panniers), smooth, nice pedalling speed, well balanced.

The front's a little light which makes it hard to achieve the ultimate goal on one of these; doing a perfect turn into the roadside bike bay, docking with the upright while still on the bike, sitting there while the light goes green and then legging off it and walking off.

That would be very cool, I'd pay to see that.

I tried it twice today and failed.

lastant

robz400 wrote:

Quite excited really!

Me too...signed up for my key fob today. Doesn't reach as far as Clapham Junction, but for days like the last couple I can get the train up to Waterloo or Victoria and then get to Soho and back for a quid (which is better than the £2.50ish it'd be on the Tube).

Gone for the 24hr access pass and also set it to auto-renew. Not sure I'll use it forty five times a year so think it's the best option. Will re-assess after a couple of months, although I'm sure I'll be less likely to use it in the winter months...