Bicycles in London
Ken Livingstone’s newest proposal is to introduce a city bike hire scheme with up to 6,000 bikes located across docking stations every 300 metres. It is rare that I support just about anything he does. I am not a fan of his transportation policies in general, nor do I like the fact that cost of living in this city keep rising. He acts as though he is a friend of the poor, one who wishes to make life cheaper for those south of the Thames: the section of London which elected him, and yet has done exactly the reverse, with mass transit fares rising year on year!
However on this occasion he has done something I like. The city bike hire scheme is, unlike the Low Emissions Zone, a good idea. Although they stem from the same environmental policy, the Low Emissions Zone hurts London by making it transportation costs for businesses rise. As a business gets richer, its transportation costs rise: consider it a penalty for success. This is because the larger the vehicle needed for supplies, the higher the emissions, the higher the L.E.Z. penalty.
From the press release about the bike hire scheme:
A Central London bike hire scheme, similar to the recently launched Paris scheme, with up to 6,000 bikes located across docking stations every 300m so Londoners and visitors have quick and easy access to a bike. This will be supported by a series of easily navigable routes so that people can enjoy London’s sights by bike.
The city bike hire scheme only applies to pedestrians, and is a genuine convenience; thanks to this measure, people can get around the vast city faster and cheaply: two things the rest of his massive transportation bureaucracy completely fails to achieve.
By giving free bus travel in any zone on any Travelcard, Ken has saved me £300 a year on my annual travel cost (live in Zone 4, travel by tube/train into Zone 1 from Zone 2)… even with inflationary rises, I’m paying less than I was when he was first elected.
Lucky you. Each of my bus journeys costs 400% more than it did when Ken was first elected. My tube fare has increased four-fold.
I like the idea, but what will these bikes look like in 2 years time, And these so called docking stations will they be coin operated, or will you need to get some Card that can track who uses the bikes? Just wondering…
Alex
This idea originates from Copenhagen in Denmark.
The trouble is, it’s not hard to get people to ride these bikes in summer. The problem is, they just sit there in winter. And there not pretty. Having said that, this scheme is proven to work and i fully support it.
Udayan, the tone is very “this side of the river is better”. A little snobbish. I quite like Ken. better than Steven Norris at any rate.
I’m a fan of Boris. You know, he cycles to Parliament every day. I hate both sides of the river equally.