Photo: Tiia Monto / wikipedia.org
“Boris Bikes” have been around London since 2010, but people are still mistreating them and it’s getting worse with each year. Transport for London head David Eddington is urging riders to be more considerate and treat each bike as if it was their own.
Eddington tells Standard that, just last year, 10,782 broken pedals had to be replaced. Around 200 bikes were decommissioned and 6,684 wheels had to be replaced. While some might say that this is the cost of running a shareable fleet, Eddington believes maintenance would be cheaper if people were more considerate towards the bikes.
“I see quite regularly people bumping down curbs and when docking, do you really need to do it with such force?” Eddington says for the publication. “That will cause issues with the motor. You also get people who just throw it to the floor. We just want people to treat them as if it was their own bike.”
The introduction of dockless bikes only made the problem worse, he explains.
“The introduction of dockless bikes has confused customers over how to treat our bikes, as you can leave them anywhere. I wonder whether that’s rubbed off on some of our customers,” Eddington elaborates. “We’ve never seen anyone release a bike either physically or mechanically from a dock.”
The so-called “Boris Bikes” are part of the fleet from Santander Cycles (formerly Barclays Cycle Hire). They were introduced in 2010 and, despite the fact that the then-mayor of London Boris Johnson took credit for the bike hire scheme, some dispute that he was really the one to pilot it.
Either way, “Boris Bikes” have had a positive impact on London traffic. Studies have shown that riders of a Santander Cycles bike are 3 times less likely to be injured in traffic, as compared to regular cyclists, as drivers tend to give them more space. At the same time, it is believed that people who started biking in London thanks to the scheme would not have considered this means of transportation otherwise.
“I see quite regularly people bumping down curbs and when docking, do you really need to do it with such force?” Eddington says for the publication. “That will cause issues with the motor. You also get people who just throw it to the floor. We just want people to treat them as if it was their own bike.”
The introduction of dockless bikes only made the problem worse, he explains.
“The introduction of dockless bikes has confused customers over how to treat our bikes, as you can leave them anywhere. I wonder whether that’s rubbed off on some of our customers,” Eddington elaborates. “We’ve never seen anyone release a bike either physically or mechanically from a dock.”
The so-called “Boris Bikes” are part of the fleet from Santander Cycles (formerly Barclays Cycle Hire). They were introduced in 2010 and, despite the fact that the then-mayor of London Boris Johnson took credit for the bike hire scheme, some dispute that he was really the one to pilot it.
Either way, “Boris Bikes” have had a positive impact on London traffic. Studies have shown that riders of a Santander Cycles bike are 3 times less likely to be injured in traffic, as compared to regular cyclists, as drivers tend to give them more space. At the same time, it is believed that people who started biking in London thanks to the scheme would not have considered this means of transportation otherwise.
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