So last week was one year I’ve been using Boris Bikes. The reminder did not really come in any sexy format, more of a “remember you need to pay” sort of email. Last year I covered briefly my first impressions after day one and, after some more extensive use, I’ve had some of my initial thoughts confirmed.
#wins
It is safe to say the scheme does its job. Need a short ride in central London? The scheme’s got it covered, and it’s the perfect alternative to the short one-or-two-stops tube journey. At the time of writing the furthest docking stations are at Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel to the East, Kensington Olympia to the West, North of Regent’s Park to the North and in Kennington to the South.
Boris Bikes in central London, September 2011
It’s constantly improving. If not improving, expanding. New docking stations have already been opened, and others have been expanded to accomodate more spaces. There are already rumours of expansion of the scheme, perhaps most notably the one reported in July about further expansion into Tower Hamlets. This would obviously be good news for us, as some of the unofficial locations would serve us well between home and, say, Canary Wharf. Of course criticism is always around the corner, and some of the most frequent arguments highlight how the expansion (do to be carried out some time next year, apparently) does not go near enough to the Olympic Park, perhaps something to do with the fact one of the Olympic sponsors is Lloyds TSB and not Barclays.
(unofficial) future locations of BorisBikes in Tower Hamlets
People are embracing them. It seems like a secondary pint, but were people not to use the bikes, the scheme would be a failure. It is not. On top of that, people seem to have silently agreed upon the sattle-turned-around-equals-bike-does-not-work already in place in Paris (btw, we did not get round to try les Borís Bikes on the other side of the Channel as I originally intended because when we went it just pissed it down).
It’s pretty cheap. £45 a year works out at less than a pound a week, provided you cycle for less than half an hour at the time that’s all you’re going to spend.
#fails, #mehs
Apps are lame-ish. Yep, moved them here from the positives, where they were last year. There’s plenty of apps to chose from if you’re on the techy side, but you would expect them to work properly. Some do not report accurately on availability of bikes or docking spaces, or do not connect to the servers at all. I got to the point where I’m basically not relying on apps at all, and if I’m lucky then fine, otherwise I’ll have better luck somewhere else. The only thing I find myself using apps for is finding stations in locations I’m not really familiar with, but that’s pretty much it. Lost interest in Chromaroma, too.
Peak hour. Yeah, good luck with that.
Creativity. Went down the drain, after the Braganza bies we’ve not seen any other partnership.
Actually, me. We moved into an area where the closest docking station is about 3 miles away, compared to the previous 8 minutes or so in Whitechapel, so that’s a massive drop in usage on my end, not helped by the fact I got myself a new foldie bike for my new commute, helped by the guys at CycleScheme.
Final-ish verdict
I don’t really seem myself using the scheme much more than I used it in the last year, particularly so if they don’t expand the covered area to where we live.
