Forum Topic

Who is to blame for hire bike parking?

Interesting to see "cyclists" blamed for this situation. If there are no docking stations needed, then where can the right place be to leave these hire bikes? Apart from areas where there are lots of people?Perhaps the actual businesses behind this could be charged rent for any time that the bikes are left parked? I assume that the bikes have GPS trackers? Some income for London in compensation?https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/londoners-furious-as-cyclists-keep-dumping-bikes-outside-their-homes/ar-AA106G3H?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e310e3a017c542e5809b25a3f68c1f5e#commentsCertainly annoys me to see them, but that is partly because I live on a quieter street where there is little likelihood of someone coming along quickly who will use the bike.

David Ainsworth ● 1051d18 Comments

So Philippa if a lady is sitting on a bike and somebody touches her lightly, that's OK. But if he gives her a big squeeze on her bottom, Heaven help him. Funny how things can be misinterpreted.

Barbara Stevens ● 1047d

Paris started light touch but have now tightened up regulations.

Philippa Bond ● 1048d

Definite lack of joined-up thinking by local government. Taxpayers have had to pay billions for tactile paving on all our footpaths but if you are blind you now never know when there is a bike on the footpath through the ignorance and lack of care by cyclists and indifference by local authorities.

Timothy Horgan ● 1048d

Another crack pot. No I'm on Putney Forum, your on so many you don't know who you are replying too.

Barbara Stevens ● 1050d

Why bother to comment Barbara - since you seem to think you know everything.  I suppose you do know that you are on the world wide web?

Philippa Bond ● 1050d

Don't patronize me Philippa, you continually goggle things we can google ourselves. I said only somebody who had actually ridden one would know.  I'm sure you haven't you must spend hours with all the dribble you put on PUTNEY FORUM.

Barbara Stevens ● 1050d

Really?  At last some sensible input from Barbara.Yes, they are heavier.  They are designed to be heavier than racing bikes. They are designed for a different market. The original Mobikes had solid tyres so they didn't puncture. Many are used by visitors and tourists and people who don't own a bike and might consider owning one yet don't want to have the responsibility and stress and worry of having their cycle stolen. They are useful if you don't have space for a bike at home.  It means that you can arrive at a tube station and then hire a bike to complete the rest of your journey.Santander docking bikes are very successful in London and other boroughs have requested that they extend further out of the centre of London but I understand they are expensive to look after. Perhaps with the new dockless bikes and scooters they will manage to collate some data to show where the hire bikes are most successful as they did in Paris.  Then perhaps they should be able to create some more proper parking/docking stations for them.The biggest problem is the same as with the litter - a lack of personal responsibility but perhaps also a lack of information on how and where you can leave your hire bike as you will notice from this old article.Hopefully designs will continue to evolve improving all the time and people will become more considerate.  There has been a lot of governmental procrascination and everyone who can needs to move towards a cleaner healthier lifestyle.  Since the dockless hire bikes and scooters are on trial in various London boroughs but not all - they can be geofenced for each of those boroughs - hence the problem of knowing where one borough ends and another begins.They've been around for a long time and there is a lot of info online.https://londonist.com/london/transport/ranking-all-of-london-s-hire-bikes

Philippa Bond ● 1050d

I might be completely wrong, but when seeing some people on these hire bikes, they do seem to wobble rather a lot. Either their not used to riding bikes, or these bikes are a lot heavier than an ordinary bike to control. Only somebody who has used these hire bikes could probably know the answer.

Barbara Stevens ● 1050d

Thank you Ivonne, we see loads of bikes left over the other side of Chiswick Bridge, near the Sports Centers and they are left anywhere on roads. Practically left in the middle of nowhere.

Barbara Stevens ● 1050d

Hello Philippa,Barbara's post is very relevant to the title of this thread.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1050d

Barbara. What has your post got to do with understanding geo-fencing, hire bikes, their use and the way and where they are being parked?

Philippa Bond ● 1050d

I thought this was about leaving bikes in unusual places, they always seem to be left by sports centers or gyms, or along a main road. What has recycling and waste collections got to do with the subject. Perhaps your hoping the bin men will dispose of them.

Barbara Stevens ● 1051d

Lol  I believe it is called geo-fencing.  I'm not sure how good it is.  As far as I can see half of London don't seem to know which borough they are living in so are hardly likely to be fully aware of the change in boroughs as they scoot or cycle...  Some roads are one borough on one side and another on the other which is mighty confusing re recycling and waste collections.

Philippa Bond ● 1051d

"They don't work in the wrong borough and are difficult to manoeuvre."Wrong borough! "OK, your bike has entered Lambeth. Turn around or within 5 seconds your tyres will deflate! 5-4-3-2 ...

David Ainsworth ● 1051d

I thought that there were marked out areas for these bikes to be parked?  I presume that they should be collected and replaced in marked bays.  I believe you can be fined if you leave them where you shouldn't.I know that there are these hire bikes in both Hammersmith & Fulham and Ealing which stray into Hounslow in the middle.  They don't work in the wrong borough and are difficult to manoeuvre. There is a lot of info about them on that thread.I was looking at the Wandsworth website about cycling and was very disappointed that Dr Bike seemed to be miles and something else on there - the lessons? - appeared to have been cancelled.I thought this was interesting about the parking of cargo bikes though:https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/parking/parking-bays/non-standard-cycle-parking/

Philippa Bond ● 1051d

There is an interesting thread on this subject on the ChiswickW4 site. See Dumb DOTT (cycles) last posting currently on this was 29th.

Katrina Black ● 1051d

A hire bicycle was left in the corner of our house.  Needless to say, it was parked so badly that a pushchair or a wheelchair could not get through.After about 5 days of the bike being there, a neighbour phoned Tier (I think was the trademark on the green bicycle) to ask them to collect it.She was incredibly surprised to hear she was talking to somebody in the HQ which is in Germany and they do not have an office in the UK...  They could not find its location until she gave them the post code.  It was collected the day after....

Ivonne Holliday ● 1051d

It's a Brexit issue due to a lack of white paint to mark appropriate cycle parking bays!There is no reason why appropriate parking spaces can't be marked out and legislation, local or national changed.We actually need more dockless bikes but they need to be affordable. Subsidiaries need to be moved away from huge diesel buses to micro transport.A lot of people do not have the space to store securely their own bikes nor the capital to replace their own bikes when stolen."Who is to blame for hire bike parking?"We are for electing officials that do not want to change anything!

Ed Robinson ● 1051d