New docking stations for SW London

Three new docking stations will open on 28 July, with 78 docking points in total, on Abyssinia Rd, Limburg Rd and Clapham Common Northside, TfL has announced. This will improve access to Clapham Common and the busy shops and restaurants nearby.

Looking at a map, this will add 3 new stations towards the SW tip of the current area. One might hope that an obvious next step would be to add more docking stations north of the A3 eastwards towards Clapham Common tube station and the busy areas of central Clapham, where Superhighway 7 makes its way southwards. I have seen a new station under construction at Stockwell tube.

In a recent online Q&A session Nick Aldworth, head of Barclays Cycle Hire, said that intensification rather than a major new expansion was the current priority. There are certainly areas within the current scope of the scheme which woefully lack capacity. Expect to see more 'mini-expansions' like this one happening in the coming months.

In other news, a new sponsor is sought for the scheme.

Space for Boris Bikes

I hope you, like me, took part in the LCC's Space for Cycling Big Ride last Saturday. Unsurprisingly, I was on a Boris bike.

Half of all the local election candidates in London ended up offering their support. Of those elected, the challenge now will be to get them to act.

Here is Andrew Gilligan's encouraging speech from the day.

Also in the news is the first competitive race on Boris bikes. I hope it takes less than 30 minutes to complete.

The current phase of expansion is nearing its end, but a few new docking stations have been sighted going in, including near Stockwell tube station. Usage this spring has been encouraging, but without a new sponsor, we may not hear of new plans for a while.

Cycling the Extension - some early thoughts

Despite the bad weather, it seems the extension has been a hit, especially in Hammersmith and Fulham. Though not everyone is happy.

And Boris biking is good for our health. I think the article is useful in pointing out that Boris bikers, despite being portrayed as inexperienced, are no more likely than any other cyclist to be involved in a collision, and that the health benefits far outweigh the small chance of injury.

So yesterday, seizing a gap in the rain, I headed west. Here are some initial thoughts:

Hammersmith and Fulham
I struggled to find a bike at first, as there are few stations in the West Brompton area, and those I did find were empty. Eventually cycling, I enjoyed the streets close to Craven Cottage and the riverside. However, Hammersmith Broadway really needs to be rethought for cyclists. Hammersmith Bridge is currently closed for cycling, so I had to push across on the footway.

South of the River
What a pity no docking stations have been installed in Barnes, though it would need the agreement of Richmond Borough. I cycled along Castelnau, took a shortcut down Rocks Lane, and headed towards the docking stations of Putney via Lower Richmond Road.

Putney
Putney has a horrible high street clogged with motor traffic. West of the high street there are no docks. But to the east, they are very high density indeed, which is good, but would have been better on both sides. A number of the streets are one-way - Wandsworth needs to adopt the practice of making streets two-way for cycling, and make better use of 20mph zones. Docking stations are however to be welcomed close to both the rail and Underground stations.

There is still much more for me to see of the new extension zones; any thoughts you might have, please leave a comment.

And I am encouraged that Southwark has confirmed that its financial contribution is available for the extension of the scheme through its streets. We await an announcement from TfL, hopefully soon, on the next phase of extension.

Today is the last day of the initial consultation on the Mayor's inner London cycling grid. While encouraging in some respects, there have been a number of criticisms, most specifically of the routes in Kensington and Chelsea. If done properly, the grid could provide safe, continuous and direct routes for Boris biking within central London.

Boris biking into 2014

As 2013 draws to a close we have news that more Boris bikes are on the way. Perhaps in 2014 we will find out where!

And in Ireland, Dublinbikes is growing.

The highlights and lowlights of 2013 in brief ...

• January - hire fees double
• Spring - plans advance for southwestern extension
• May - Citibike launches in New York
• July- flashride at Aldgate to protest at death of Boris biker Philippine de Gerin-Ricard
• 30 July - Boris bikes celebrate third birthday
• Summer - almost 1,000,000 trips each month, though down on Olympic year
• Autumn - installation of new docking stations
• December - Barclays announce end of sponsorship deal from 2015
• 13 December - southwestern extension launched, 722 docking stations now live across London

Happy New Year to you all.

Southwest and Beyond

So the big day came and went, without much fanfare. It's interesting to speculate as to why TfL decided to launch this extension at the darkest and bleakest time of the year - almost every day since the launch has seen rain, hardly conducive to cycling, especially the sorts who use Boris bikes. Maybe they want a gentle beginning to the extension.

Comment on the end of the Barclays sponsorship rumbles on. My own view is at the end of this post.

And dock availability is still an issue.

There is interesting news from further afield - Boris bikes have made it to Mont Ventoux and to Gambia. Impressive. Will they make it to Southwark borough anytime soon I wonder?

I posted this about Boris biking in K&C, with a few additions by my TwoWheelsGood friend.

My letter to the Standard about Barclays wasn't published, but here it is if you're interested:

Few will lament the end of the association of Barclays with the Mayor's cycle hire scheme. Despite the promise of £50m sponsorship, barely half of that has emerged. Barclays logos have been lavishly splashed across London's streets, while the bill for installing the 'Boris bikes' has in fact been left to councils, and users who have seen fares double in the past year.

If we are to learn from the mistakes of the past we must ditch the idea that essential public transport options, which cycle hire is, should be paid for by private sponsorship. We don't have the 'Lloyds Underground' or 'Virgin DLR' for good reasons. If cycle hire is worth investing in (which I believe it is) it should be funded centrally from TfL's budget, and, crucially, integrated with other transport options. In the short term this may mean Londoners pay more for the bikes, but with the result that London gains a city-wide affordable cycle scheme giving all of us the chance to travel sustainably and healthily, and, dare I say, with a bit more fun that a crowded train carriage.

Southwestern Extension - what will be new tomorrow?

I thought it would be worth posting some information about the new docking stations which will be going live - many tomorrow, the rest by Spring 2014 (so TfL promise).

Hammersmith and Fulham have published this list.

Wandsworth have this information available.

Lambeth don't unfortunately seem to have any updated information online.

TfL have published this map showing the expanded scheme in its entirety.

And a few more ...

This evening 604 docking stations are live. New ones today include:

• Hawley Crescent (Camden)
• Hertford Road (Hackney)
• Carnegie Street (King's Cross)

So most docking stations other than the major expansion zone (Wandsworth, H&F, part of Lambeth) are now open, though look out for a handful of further new ones in K&C.

The main news story is the end of Barclays sponsorship. Here is the Standard's article.

More new docks as Southwestern Extension draws near

Hammersmith and Fulham, and Wandsworth, are ready for the launch of around 150 new docking stations on Friday.

In the meantime we welcome St Bride Street (City of London), All Saints Church (K&C), and Duke Street Hill (Southwark) to the family. This evening there are 598 live docking stations across London.

In other news, Barclays will not be sponsoring the bikes beyond 2015. Considering the controversy of the sponsorship deal, this is probably for the best, though it will be interesting to see whether a new sponsor takes over, and what the bikes will look like in the post-Barclays era.

Boris bikes rolling out in Hackney

The first new docking stations have gone online in Hackney. I had a lovely cycle around them this afternoon - they should be popular as they are in busy areas, are convenient for commuting into central London, and build on Hackney's reputation as a leading cycling borough.

The new ones so far are:

• Dunston Road
• Belford House
• Shoreditch Court
• Ada Street
• Victoria Park Road

And only 5 days to go until the 13 December official launch of the southwestern extension.

New docking stations - Update

Ahead of the 13 December expansion into southwest London, several more stations have gone live:

Tower Hamlets

• Cadogan Close, Victoria Park
• Wendon Street, Old Ford

Islington

• Islington Green, Angel
• Charlotte Terrace, Angel

Southwark

• Snowsfields, London Bridge

Kensington and Chelsea

• World's End Place, West Chelsea

Lambeth

• Archbishop's Park
• Belvedere Road (extended)

150 new stations are set to go live on 13 December, mainly in Wandsworth and Hammersmith and Fulham. We are also waiting for a number in Hackney to extend the scheme north of the canal, and a few extras in Lambeth.

The expansion comes as hires continue to fall in the existing zone. Bike availability and safety fears seem to be the main factors.

Friday the Thirteenth

Artwork on display at Central St Martins

On Friday 13 December about 150 new docking stations will go live across Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, and Lambeth. Plus a few others in the existing area. Many new stations have already gone live in Kensington and Chelsea (among the latest are Phene Street, Clarendon Road, Lansdowne Road and St Mark's Road).

This is the most exciting expansion of the Boris bike scheme since the eastern extension in April 2012. It will make the London scheme one of the biggest in the world.

Serious questions are currently being asked about cycle safety in London. For the potential of these new bikes to be realised, much more needs to be done in providing space for cycling in London. But on Friday 13th, thousands more Londoners will have access to a cheap, healthy and convenient transport option. I hope many more will switch to cycling as a result.

More new docks go live in Kensington and Chelsea

K&C is the place to live if you're a Boris biker it seems. Addison Road and Princedale Road went online in September.

From this weekend you can dock in:

Danvers Street (on the riverside a little east of Battersea Bridge)
Thorndike Close (just off Finborough Road)
Evesham Street (n the very north-west of the borough)
All Saints Road (Portobello, just south of Westway)

We look forward to more soon.

Around the boroughs - Wandsworth

Story so far: Wandsworth is a blank canvass, having not been a location in the initial phase or the 2012 extension

Coming soon: 60 docking stations will cover the northern parts of the borough, extending the scheme out from Vauxhall in the east as far as Putney in the west. Highlights will include Battersea Power Station and Battersea Park. The largest dock will be at Clapham Junction. The Council has details of all the new docking stations on its website. Due to the expansion north of the river it will be possible to cross Chelsea, Prince Albert, Wandsworth and Putney bridges and find docks on the other shore. Wandsworth does not have fantastic streets for cycling (the south circular for example is pretty scary for anyone on a bike) but hopefully the arrival of Boris bikes will spur the development of new, safer routes.

The future? Cycle hire could be extended into the south of the borough in due course, and the major redevelopment of the Nine Elms area is an opportunity to develop high quality cycling facilities which link in with the extension of the Northern Line.

Boris rating: 5

Around the boroughs - Kensington and Chelsea

Story so far: K&C was included in the first phase of cycle hire and marked the western boundary of the scheme. New docks were added when Exhibition Road was repaved, and the 'eastern' extension of the scheme also included docks into the Westfield shopping centre, plus a scattering of stations to connect this to the existing zone. This left the borough essentially split, with no docks in the North Kensington area, or south towards the river.

Royal Borough: new riverside docks at Danvers Street

Coming soon: This year's expansion will make Boris bikes available across the borough, with bikes being added in the north and south, and additional docking stations being installed in the Holland Park area to intensify provision there. A provisional map is available here, though not all these stations have achieved planning permission. By my count, K&C will gain 31 docking stations in total.

The future? K&C is not known for being a bike-friendly borough (as a local councillor admitted to me recently). It has poor cycle routes, no plans for reductions in speed limits, and is generally dominated by motor traffic. Soon the borough will have an abundance of hire bikes, can it develop the infrastructure to enable their safe use by a wide diversity of users?

Boris rating: 6

Around the boroughs - Southwark

In the next two weeks I'm going to review all the boroughs which are currently, or soon to be, involved with the cycle hire scheme. I'll be asking what's there, what's coming, and what's still needed.

There's no particular order, so today I'm starting with Southwark.

Story so far: of all the central London boroughs this has the least docking stations, and most are in the Borough/ Elephant/Bermondsey area. All are popular docks, Hop Exchange probably being the busiest owing to its location close to London Bridge station. Curlew Street in Shad Thames is the easternmost station south of the river.

Southwark site: new docks will soon be here on Snowfields

Coming soon: intensification in the current expansion is limited to 3 docking stations close to London Bridge. These are much needed. Wansey Street has been closed for several months due to the fire at the Cuming Museum, hopefully this too will reopen.

The future? Southwark is the ideal borough for future expansion. It is central, relatively flat, and has potentially good cycling routes. Peckham, Rotherhithe and Camberwell would all be popular for Boris bike locations in my opinion. Docking stations could be added along superhighways 5 and 7.

Boris rating (out of 10): 4

St Martin's Close leads the way

Brand spanking new - St Martin's Close

The new phase of expansion is underway at last. Without fanfare, a new docking station opened at St Martin's Close on Camden Street, an excellent location entering Camden Town from the south. A few hours later Addison Road (see previous post) in Holland Park opened. Others are sure to follow - I saw Serco engineers testing bikes at Princedale Road this afternoon.

Up in Camden, another dock is in preparation in Hawley Crescent. I think this one is less well situated as it's a bit hidden away, but all extra capacity is welcome.

Coming soon - Hawley Crescent

My email to the cycle hire people about the launch date for the extended scheme was met with the rather curt reply 'December'. I expect the main zones of Hammersmith and Fulham, and Wandsworth, will go live then. In the lead up to that, keep watching for new docking stations within the existing zone opening up. Newton Street for example, in Westminster, is also under construction.

It's an exciting time. Please add a comment if you have further news on new stations - I am especially ignorant of what's going on in the north and east of the area currently covered by the scheme.

New docking stations taking shape

26 docking points recently installed on Addison Rd

I took this remarkable picture yesterday morning on Addison Road outside Cardinal Vaughan School (just off Holland Park Avenue), showing one of the new docking stations fully installed and ready for operation. Nearby the groundwork is complete on Holland Park Avenue near Princedale Road and workers are also busy installing docks right outside Holland Park tube station. For this part of London, currently right on the edge of the scheme, this marks significant intensification, and further docks are also being installed across an extended zone reaching west into Hammersmith and Fulham and northwards across more of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

And there is news of yet more docking stations being approved, after a dispute over planning.

City of London - Update

Docks coming soon - St Bride Street

Just occasionally one has too much time to spare and you unearth an interesting document on the internet. This happened to me today when I discovered the City of London's most recent council document on cycle hire.

The document recommends that as part of the current expansion of the scheme, four previously agreed docking stations should be installed. It also mentions a possible dock on Upper Thames Street, which is part of TfL's route network.

It's getting better - Bouverie Street

I had a cycle round these streets today. St Bride Street is under construction, and an area of Bouverie Street has been fenced off for an extension. John Carpenter Street has major building works, so nothing here at the moment, and Houndsditch also has work going on - though this would be an excellent new dock so I hope it does appear. Nothing yet on Upper Thames Street either.

The report acknowledges that demand outstrips supply in the Square Mile. I look forward to the new docks, and also hope that this won't be the end of expansion in the City.

I love Citi Bikes

Citi Bikes are the New York version of Boris bikes. They are built on the same technology. And they have just celebrated their first 100 days in action.

6,000 bikes are available at about 330 docking stations, at this stage a little smaller than our scheme here in London. But expansion is planned.

Hire bikes in New York - look familiar?

The scheme has already been hailed a success. The pricing structure makes annual membership far more cost-effective than in London, so there is more incentive to become a member and use the bikes often. And if you want proof of their appeal, just look at the stats. With many days way beyond 30,000 journeys and some over 40k, the daily hire per bike is higher than in London.

Why this runaway success? Better bike lanes in New York? Less people with their own bike so needing to hire one? Probably both true. But also I think the Citi Bike people are more engaged and proactive in marketing than TfL have been. The scheme has its own dedicated website - Boris bikes just get a small corner of the TfL one. The scheme even has its own official blog. Impressive. Then there are member meetings and bike classes. The scheme is already harnessing the user community to spread its success, and actively encouraging new riders to join.

TfL should take note. As phase 3, the southwestern extension, gets ever nearer, could more be done to build a committed community of Boris bikers to rival our Citi biking friends over the pond, and spread the love of Boris bikes to even more Londoners?

UPDATE - another good article analysing the Citi Bike scheme and its early success

Superdock for Clapham Junction?

Facing its Waterloo? Docks going in on Grant Road

As part of the southwestern extension of the bikes this autumn/winter, a new docking station is under construction on Grant Road, one of the two exits from Clapham Junction rail station. And it's huge. About 80 docking plates are already in the road surface, and contractors are continuing along the road installing more. Assuming all are put into use there will be space for almost 150 bikes, a bigger station than Waterloo. Good move? On the whole yes, it will catch commuters coming through Clapham who might work with a 30-minute cycle of the station, just as the Waterloo station has been immensely popular in providing onward journeys from that station. Grant Road is also fairly quiet, so it's a good location to site the station.

Nearly 150 docking points coming to Clapham

Two caveats come to my mind however. Firstly, the dock is nowhere near as close to Clapham Junction as the Waterloo equivalent. On exiting onto Grant Road you can see buses and taxis, but the docks will be a couple of minutes walk to the left. In addition, the main exit from the station is actually at the other end, onto St John's Hill. It's not at all evident to me whether any docks will be put in on that side.

Nonetheless it is a bold decision to create this superdock, and when it opens we'll get a sense of how well it works. A major problem with many of the existing docks is that they are too small and difficult to manage well. It's great to see some lessons being learned in the new generation of docking stations.

Also in the news ...

Are Boris bikes coming to East Grinstead? Well, this article says they might be, though no timetable has been set. What isn't clear is that 'Boris bikes' is now a shorthand for any bike hire scheme. Like these articles about Birmingham and Southend. So let's find out a bit more before I head off on my bike to East Grinstead looking for the docking station!

Will Boris bikes endanger the residents of the Ashmole Estate in Oval? Shades of Lavender Gardens here - I shan't say more.