London’s hire bike love-in has never run smooth but they’ve become a commuter favourite
Greetings from the cycling capital of Britain.
In the early weeks of autumn, London’s crowds seem as thick as ever, even as the weather cools and the summer tourists depart. This means I’m not alone in looking for the best ways to beat traffic jams, and I’m ready for conversion when I find a group of believers who say they’ve found the right way to a faster commute.
Cyclists cross Westminster Bridge in London.Credit: Bloomberg
For example, Nicolas Moura told me that on a busy day he could get through London faster than an Uber. That’s why I have ears. His solution is to use rental bikes, which were installed throughout the city 15 years ago. Mind you, he is a very fit cyclist and admits to having a flexible approach to traffic lights, which helps when cars and buses get gridlocked at the corner.
Moura started using the bikes as a student when the project started in July 2010, and still uses them because she has a home in Kensington and a job as a financial analyst. It even recently traveled 100 kilometers a day to test the limits of the network. One hitch, he admits, is that docking stations quickly empty out once rush hour begins. “If you’re looking for a bike in the city after 6.30pm, you’re done.”
He’s not the only one who loves what Londoners call “Boris bikes”, the thousands of shared bikes introduced when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London. Although Johnson remains a divisive figure, he is remembered for introducing the cycling plan after his Labor predecessor Ken Livingstone launched the feasibility study. “This is the best idea he’s ever had,” says Moura.
The city started with 5,000 rental bikes at 315 docking stations in major districts near the center. There are currently 12,000 bikes in more than 800 docking stations, including 2000 battery-powered bikes. There’s one big difference between this plan and the others: The bikes have to be returned to a docking station. They cannot be left anywhere, on the sidewalk or on the street.
Bike dock rental on the pavement beneath 30 St Marys Axe, aka the Gherkin, in London. Credit: Bloomberg
Transport for London, which runs buses and tubes as well as bike hire, is so proud of bikes it ran a competition for people to send in photos of their bike journeys. Moura won with a photo of himself and his wife and their bikes when they arrived in Chelsea for their wedding last year.
Cicibel Lucas loves bikes so much that he twice ventured well outside the normal area in the hopes of taking a photo of himself and his bike with the deer in Richmond Park. His photo also received praise, and he deserved it because he had to make a long journey back to the docking station. Originally from Guatemala, Lucas has lived in London for six years. “I wanted to get involved and feel connected to London,” he says. Cycling around the city helped him do just that.
