In an article for the Liberal Democrat Voice website, Caroline Pidgeon warmly welcomes the new London bike hire scheme as a "tremendous idea", while pointing out that Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone are eager to take more credit for it then they deserve:
Despite its launch being associated with quite a number of problems – including a highly complex registration process, and a number of cyclists being overcharged – no one can deny that the scheme is proving incredibly popular. And let’s be realistic, no major scheme ever starts without at least some minor teething problems. Of course I will be chasing hard until these glitches are resolved, and they certainly must be, but the bottom line is that the bike hire scheme is a tremendous idea. Especially if the scheme is expanded it has the potential to help reduce congestion and pollution as well as making it easier for Londoners, visitors and tourists to get around the capital at very little cost. Most significantly it could play a vital role in transforming the status of cycling...
Although [Boris Johnson] can be surprisingly camera shy when it comes to defending fare rises or the fiasco of the delays over the tube upgrade programme, on this issue he simply can’t wait to get in front of a television camera. Some might think this is a bit surprising as his transport manifesto actually claimed the bike hire scheme would involve no public expenditure, when in reality the long standing contract will cost as much as £140 million.
Yet for Boris Johnson this is a minor detail and the only thing that really matters is that he takes sole credit for the scheme. Indeed speaking on Channel 4 News he used the opportunity to demolish the idea that his predecessor at City Hall should be associated with the scheme.
Of course Ken Livingstone also shows no signs of shyness and would like everyone to think that the bike hire scheme was actually his initiative. His campaign website claims that on 7 August 2007 he directed Transport for London to examine the feasibility of a cycle hire scheme – some nine months before the 2008 Mayor elections. He then had a media launch for his proposals in early 2008, just weeks before the 2008 Mayor elections.
Caroline also points out that a detailed proposal for a bike hire scheme was put forward in 2001 by Lynne Featherstone, then a London Assembly member and now the Lib Dem MP for Hornsey and Wood Green.
You can read the full article here.
The road.cc website also covers this story here.