Barclays Cycle Hire?

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It’s fundamentally a great idea. Encourage more people to cycle. Increase awareness of cycling. Travelling convenience for those short journeys. And who knows getting more motorists experiencing life as a cyclist in London might lead to more understanding. Maybe!

We reckon that only two groups of people will use it though: tourists and people heading to meetings. A tourist because they’ll only be here for a short period of time and cycling is the best and most convenient way to see a new place. City folk because there are loads of docking stations centrally and who wants to get on the tube in the summer!

The fact remains though that if you’re a regular commuter and cycle more than 2 trips a week you’re better off owning your own bike. You can get a serviceable 2^nd hand bike for £100 or less which will be significantly better than the deliberately unattractive and heavy cycle hire bikes.

You can bike it from your house to your destination directly (no walking to possibly distant hire stations). And financially due to the design of the tariffs you could own your own bike with the cost of 1 days hire charge (£50). So we reckon – go bike yourself!

Like the cycle superhighways we hope this is the beginning of much more intensive scheme. We applaud Boris though for the increasing and necessary focus on cycling. London’s a much more fun and accessible place when you’re riding a bike!

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