Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group has exposed key failings in the way the London bike hire scheme is performing.
The failings, which could be holding back the success of the scheme, include:
- A widespread failure in the allocation of the bikes across the docking stations, making it difficult for people to either hire a bike, or return a bike at the end of a ride. Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that in November 2011 there was on average 27 docking stations in London that had no bikes available for hire for between 6 to 8 hours each day. At the same time there were 31 docking stations that had no spare spaces for people to dock their bikes for between 3 to 6 hours each day.
- Internal Transport for London reports also obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly have highlighted other problems with the scheme, which include:
- Members’ satisfaction with the availability of bikes at docking stations falling since the initial few months of the scheme
- Less than half of members of the bike hire scheme stated they were 'satisfied' with the ease of using their membership key to unlock bikes in July 2011
- One in five members who were surveyed in December 2011 stated they were 'dissatisfied' with the bike hire scheme
- Casual users facing problems with using the terminals at docking stations, and also finding the print outs produced when taking out bikes not to be clear
Caroline Pidgeon, commenting on these findings, said:
“As the original advocates of the bike hire scheme Liberal Democrats think the cycle hire scheme is a great idea, but it has a long way to go before it becomes a genuine transport option that serves all Londoners.
“For a start there needs to be a far better distribution of bikes across the existing docking stations. It is shameful that there are docking stations which frequently don't have a single bike available for as much as 7 or 8 hours a day.
“Being able to find a bike should not involve having to chase around from one docking station to another.”
“Transport for London should ensure the bikes are better redistributed. If they could incentivise the scheme and increase the number of casual users it would ensure a far better natural redistribution of bikes across the docking stations.
“It is time that the bike hire scheme became more user friendly. It is simply daft that you have to insert your bank or credit card twice before you can even hire a cycle. The information provided on the display screens and from the print outs also need to be improved.
“The bike hire scheme is now 18 months old and excuses about teething problems have long passed. The Mayor should be working hard to ensure the bike hire scheme is an accessible and reliable form of transport for all Londoners.”
You can read more about this on the BBC website, at Mayorwatch, and at Fresh Business Thinking.