In The Centre, there is now a stand for bicycles. At first glance, some more secure bike parking, but on a closer look, its less secure bike parking, but a way to rent a bike by the hour
There are instructions, apparently there are places in UWE and Bristol Parkway that join up too. That could make the short but not very exciting walk from Parkway to UWE easier.
In the town centre, there's not much you can do with it, not unless Templemeads and the bus station come into the story. Here in the centre, 3/4 of the roads have you endangered by car, bus, van and taxi, one bit is bus-only, but in that stretch the buses really don't think bikes should be there, and will pull out without looking.
The bikes are practical, some gearing, some luggage handling. QR saddles to adapt for customer height, though without the anti-theft cable to ensure the saddle will stay there overnight. Perhaps the width and styling of the saddle will discourage such thefts, for which the nearby watershed bike park area is infamous for.
Mr H is being somewhat critical of the process, but where it could be useful is if once you are registered, you are also entrusted with access to rental bikes in other places -London, Cardiff, Oxford, etc. That would mean when you visit one of these places, you can use a bike for the day.
Mr H is being somewhat critical of the process, but where it could be useful is if once you are registered, you are also entrusted with access to rental bikes in other places -London, Cardiff, Oxford, etc. That would mean when you visit one of these places, you can use a bike for the day.
No helmets, no high viz clothing, no discount aldi or lidl waterproof trousers. Users will be expected to bring those themselves. Or worse -go without!
I really dont want to criticise, seems all I do is criticise. But this scheme looks utterly rubbish!
ReplyDeleteI dont know how our continental cousins deal with this but those bikes look far to vulnerable for Bristol.
How many weekends do we think those bikes will last in the centre of town like that? They might just last the daytimes but when night takes over and the drunks come out to play, thats a different story.
Is there a book running on how long they last before all the saddles are gone and the wheels are turned into pringles?
... I can see them now, sitting on the bikes and bouncing up and down like apes with the bikes, still tethered to the racks, rattling, craking, bending and breaking as the drunken gorillas use them as a playground.
They do look like nice sturdy bikes for their purpose though!
I noticed a rack of these at @Bristol a couple of weekends back. They look very nice and on the upside I think you get the first 30 minutes' hire for free. On the downside if you don't bring the bike back to the same rack you picked it up from, you get charged extra.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWe would like to use your photo in our magazine on ccling culture which will be published in connection with our conference, Velo-city Global 2010.
Would that be ok?
Best regards,
Mai-Britt
yes, but you know the Bristol program is effectively dead?
ReplyDelete