“Boris” bikes for Brighton & Hove

After a false start a couple of years back, Brighton and Hove is now going to get a bike hire scheme, according to these reports in the Argus and in the Brighton and Hove News. Great stuff.  Not just because it means those of us who live, work, play and visit Brighton and Hove will be able to get around in a way that’s more easy, less polluting, keeps us fit and avoids the security problems of using your own bike (Brighton is very popular with bike thieves). Worth noting is the comment from Brighton and Hove City Council, which said, “Around 46% of households in the scheme area do not own a car. Yet research has shown a main reason people do not cycle is that they do not own a bike – about half of households do not have one.”  And, looking at things as a behavioural economist, the sight of all those bike hire stations is a major visual prime – it sends a message along the lines of  “here’s another way to get around, another transport option when you need to get from A to B. Now you don’t have to own a bike in order to get on a bike.” Not only that, but bike hire is consistent with the sharing economy that is becoming a major sector in its own right – a self-guided, self-propelled two wheeled version of Uber. 

Which brings us to the major question: what are we going to call our bike hire bikes? Barclays, who sponsored the original bike hire scheme in London, were no doubt less than chuffed with the two wheelers becoming universally known as ‘Boris Bikes.’  Which might be why a major Spanish bank has now assumed the mantle of sponsorship. But I can’t see ‘Santander bikes’ catching on. Bizarrely, it wasn’t even Boris who came up with the idea – he just got lucky by being Mayor of London when the scheme of his predecessor Ken Livingstone went live. So maybe they will just be known in our fair city as  ‘Brighton Bikes.’ After all, we don’t have a mayor. And it seems unlikely that they will be named after the Leader of the Green administration. ‘Kitcat Bikes’? Sorry Jason, it isn’t going to happen.

BBC on LBC: Boris Baits Clegg on the London Broadcasting Corporation

Seems like Boris Johnson wasn’t too impressed by yesterday’s story about a minister jumping in the car for a 100 metre journey. He has weighed in with a phone call to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s radio phone-in, urging politicians to use public transport. Seems only fair that they do, given that they make some of the key decisions that affect the rest of us – same goes for the health service, education etc.

And despite the absence of a Boris transport policy for London (see the post on London Reconnections  for 10^th December 2012),  he does use his bike to get around. And black cabs (expensive public transport) – he once beat me to a taxi at Canary Wharf. (photos: 24heuresactu.com and mirror.co.uk)

Choosing London’s Mayor

In the news because it just sold for $120m at auction in New York - Edvard Munch’s picture of a voter faced with the choice between Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone at today’s election to select the Mayor of London - where both main candidates have failed to show that they really “get it” when it comes to challenging the problem traffic in London.

Other candidates are available, but Boris v Ken is the only game in town. So here’s a link to a post from the London Cycling Campaign aimed at today’s candidates, which rightly concludes, it’s “time to redesign our streets to put people first.” And here’s the Living Streets take on London’s Mayoral election.

Blackfriars: Wake Up Boris

Nothing to do with Brighton or Hove, except there’s a First Capital Connect train service which links Brighton Bedford, and goes right through the middle of London via Blackfriars. And at Blackfriars there’s a new station straddling the Thames, linking the north bank to the south bank by Tate Modern. This is a Good Thing, unlike the plans for revising the road traffic junctions at the new station. This has prompted the London Cycling Campaign to put forward an alternative scheme to make Blackfriars a better place not just for people on bikes but also for people on foot. Is Boris Johnson listening?

Bike Hire in Brighton (and Hove)?

Today’s big news, front page in the Argus, is that Brighton is in line for a bike hire scheme. Or is it? Now I’m totally in favour of a bike hire scheme, having seen it working well in places as far flung as London and Montreal. But reading the Argus, the cynic in me notes that this story provides some useful pro-bike spin whilst the council is being panned over the planned removal of the Grand Avenue cycle lanes. Taking the story in detail, the plans all look very provisional, as my italics on the following quotes indicate: “Boris bikes” could soon be rolled out in Brighton and Hove….If introduced….could be introduced in “months rather than years”…. “Pick up points” could be set up outside key locations….” And so on. The story in the print version of the Argus mentions that sponsors are needed, and concedes that none have been lined up. I hope I’m wrong about this – after all, I did scoop the Argus by revealing back in January that a bike hire scheme was being considered. (where I also let slip that Brighton and Hove Bus Company’s version of the Oyster travel card will be The Key, probably launching in the summer and that Brighton might be getting some hybrid buses) Of course, if Boris bikes are anything to go by, one of the biggest questions is going to be who gets to be the political face of Brighton (and Hove) rent-a-bike? Best not to hold your breath whilst our leaders start forming an orderly queue.

A Tale of Two Cities: Carfree in Paris and London

Last week saw two pieces of news which show some key differences between how things are done in two cities which, although only a couple of hundred miles apart, happen to be in different countries: London and Paris. London saw the “topping out” of the central core of the Shard of Glass. The Shard became the UK’s tallest building at 244 metres, compared with One Canada Square, the Canary Wharf tower, which is just 235 metres high. When finished, the Shard will be Europe’s tallest commercial building, at 310 sky scraping metres, or 72 storeys. The Shard sits practically on top of London Bridge station, and, with its hotel, viewing floors, apartments and offices, will generate thousands of new journeys – like the other megabuildings that are now popping up all over central London. The irony is that the Shard is scheduled to be finished in 2012, but the improvements to the Thameslink rail line that runs next to it through London Bridge Station, have just been postponed until 2018. (See previous post).  Compare and contrast with Paris. Here, RER rail lines cross the city as Thameslink does and Crossrail will. And then last week came even more down to earth news: a contract has now been let to provide the four seater electric Autolib, a four wheeled version of Paris’s popular Velib pedal-powered bike hire scheme. The scheme will be launched in Autumn 2011, and means that it will be even easier to be carfree in Paris, as locals will be able to rent an electric vehicle from a fleet of 3,000 whenever they want to.

According to the US National Public Radio, “Paris' pedestrians and cyclists have had a lot to celebrate in a decade of pro-green policies. Since 2001, traffic in the city has dropped nearly 25 percent because of better public transport and restrictions on automobiles.” Whilst electric cars are quieter and less polluting than their fossil fuel equivalents they do not have a zero carbon footprint (see previous post). But this scheme will be another piece in the jigsaw of integrated transport, while London continues to pursue policies where supply always lags demand.   So, London, which eventually caught up with Paris and many other cities which now run bike hire schemes, with the Barclays Bike Hire scheme, has again been overtaken by Paris. Note to Mayor of London Boris Johnson: Are You Listening, Boris?