London Cycle hire is here

lost_in_thought

Right, key apparently sorted, for some reason they refunded the third hire period I bought too, or so they say, still no refunds in my account.

Anyhow, bought a 4th hire period, hopefully they won't refund this one too and it'll work and I'll totally ride one around tomorrow!

prj45

I'm reading if you have more that one key then the access charge get's charged to all of them each time ONE of them is used, and this is by design.

Be careful out there people!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lo ... um=twitter

el_presidente

Tried every bike at the Cannon St docking station last night and on each one my key fob flashed red.... walked up the road to Queen Victoria St and the first one I tried went green. Not sure what that was about it was slightly annoying though.

One observation, the damn bikes are so slow I keep having to remind myself to ride less aggressively, don't go for small gaps etc. Had a couple of "moments" last night. In the words of Steve Earle "They can get you into trouble but they can't get you out"

Sewinman

What does 'auto-renew' mean?

I used one yesterday, great fun but does that mean I have used up my credit and have to pay again online?

I went for the 24 hour period.

lastant

Sewinman wrote:

What does 'auto-renew' mean?

I used one yesterday, great fun but does that mean I have used up my credit and have to pay again online?

I went for the 24 hour period.

Yeah, you'll need to pay online if you haven't selected auto-renew.

I signed up for the 24hr one myself - it works by taking £1.00 worth of credit off your card, which then 'sits' (poised, waiting...like a cat) on the key 'til you use it. Once used, the auto-renew will mean it'll take another £1.00 off your card, which then 'sits'... etc. etc.

I do the same thing with my Oyster card, every time it drops below a fiver it sticks another twenty quid on it out of my account. Basically saves you ever having to log on and do it online.

nyanza

I can confirm that you get charged a quid for ALL your keys each time, even if you only use one.
Which is utterly ridiculous.

So, if you bought more than one key originally, deactivate all of the ones you don't actually use on a daily basis, otherwise if you have 4 keys you will pay 4 quid for 24hrs, rather than one.

thebluetrain

Have to say, administration of this scheme is a joke. I was allegedly cycling all night on one of these bikes and now have a £50 charge on my account! I've called the TFL / cycle hire line 6 times today, each time being told we're "very busy" and promising a call back (which has yet to come). The "contact us" section of the website doesn't work and there's no email address.

I certainly wouldn't recommend anybody join until these so called teething problems are sorted out. No idea when or if I'll get my cash back - just glad it wasn't the full £300. Sad really, that this good idea will likely be brought down by administrative incompetence...

prj45

nyanza wrote:

I can confirm that you get charged a quid for ALL your keys each time, even if you only use one.
Which is utterly ridiculous.

So, if you bought more than one key originally, deactivate all of the ones you don't actually use on a daily basis, otherwise if you have 4 keys you will pay 4 quid for 24hrs, rather than one.

I'm seeing two explanations for this.

1) It's a feature of the system and is supposed to work like this
2) It's a glitch and will be sorted.

I'm tending toward the former, because if your read the official website it actually says that this is what happens.

Wooliferkins

Careful folks, apparently it's all a foul UN plot

Monford22

I tried to use a bike this morning for the first time but my key didn't work. Anyone else have trouble using their key?

helz

I don't have a key yet - I finally managed to register the other day though. I never did manage to get the website registration page to work so I called the customer service number and spoke to an incrediby helpful guy who registered me over the phone. I got a confirmation e-mail saying that I'm now a member of the cycle hire scheme, but I haven't received the key just yet.

I left my bike at work last night because I worked overtime until 2am and decided to use the free cab home which I was entitled to. So it would have been great if I could have hired a Boris bike to get to work this morning instead of getting the train! There'll be plenty of other instances like this and hopefully I'll get my key soon. Really looking forward to it actually - I know a lot of people are saying the bikes are too heavy and the gears are all wrong etc. but I still really want a go on one!

Hrun

Nice if you live in London. Like buses these things work where there is high populations. The rest of us will keep using the car

kurako

PT today. Not far into the 20 minute walk from Victoria to Knightsbidge I thought "This is dumb. I should sign up for that bike hire thingy". So I did

My boss is thinking signing up too. No doubt that'll be his introduction before moving onto the harder stuff like carbon frames, lycra bib shorts and EPO. LOL!

barkerben

A live map of the cycle hire locations is available here:

http://cycleHire.eu

It updates every minute

helz

I got home late last night (having left my bike at work and gone out for a few drinks) and found my access key had arrived! Yay!

So this morning I walked to Tower Bridge Road (the docking station near Tooley St) then picked up a Boris Bike to ride the rest of the way to work. Checked the back wheels on six different bikes before I finally found one that spun properly. Undocking was very straightforward and everything was fine once I rode off. The gears are a bit strange and the bike's a bit on the heavy side but not bad to ride at all really, even though I had to ride much more slowly than usual. Re-docking (only about 30 metres from my office) just off Bishopsgate was really easy too. So I'm very happy with the scheme so far :-)