CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure

Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme

(1576 posts)
  • Started 6 years ago by Harts Cyclery
  • Latest reply from boghall

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  1. Murun Buchstansangur
    Member

    @davecykl it’s not a road though. I know this has debated on here and elsewhere many many times, but personally I think it works best when peds and bikes both keep left except when passing, and from observation I believe that’s what most people end up doing

    Posted 3 years ago #
  2. acsimpson
    Member

    Like others have already said there is no requirement for pedestrians to be on a given side on a shared path, not is there for cyclists. They are just as much traffic as cyclists are so telling them to get on one side or the other is like complaining about cyclists not using the bike lane.

    Having said that as traffic volumes increase the path flows batter if everyone going in the same direction sticks to the same side.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  3. acsimpson
    Member

    The highway code says walk on the right as it assume you will jump onto the verge when a car comes. But that isn't how sharing works.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  4. chdot
    Admin

  5. CycleAlex
    Member

    Two boys aged 15 and 16 years have been charged in relation to the theft of a 'Just Eat' bike.

    They were seen by police during the early hours of Tuesday 16 June 2020 riding the bike in the London Road area.

    Chief Inspector Neil Wilson from St Leonard's Police Station said "There has been a significant increase in the theft of 'Just Eat' bikes this year compared to the same period last year.

    "At a time when the residents of Edinburgh are being encouraged to use active travel options such as cycling, our communities are, more than ever, relying on the Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme which was launched in September 2018 as part of the city’s sustainable transport plan. The scheme is managed and operated by Serco on behalf of Transport for Edinburgh and the theft and vandalism of these bikes and the hire stations has a significant financial impact.

    "Officers identified this bike as being stolen due to the flashing red and blue lights on the front. During a legitimate hire the front light will flash white and the rear will flash red. We won’t tolerate this kind of behaviour will continue with focused patrols in key areas in Edinburgh in an effort to combat this trend."

    If you see an abandoned 'Just Eat Cycles' bike displaying flashing red and blue lights to the front, please call 101.

    If you see one of these bikes being ridden with flashing red and blue lights to the front, please call 999. https://www.facebook.com/EdinburghPoliceDivision/posts/2629881097268056:0

    Interesting that the advice is now to call 999 if you see someone riding a stolen bike rather than 101.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  6. neddie
    Member

    999 is for "crime in progress", so seems reasonable to me.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  7. gkgk
    Member

    "London Road area". The bike dock there has taken a hammering, literally. 3/4 of the docks had been snapped off, last I saw. I think they should investigate a more burley design, like a bar across the top to reduce flex attacks.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  8. bacam
    Member

    Scottish Government funding first 30mins of (non-electric) bike hire in Edinburgh and Glasgow. A discount pass is also going to be announced by the council later.

    https://como.org.uk/free-bike-share/

    Posted 3 years ago #
  9. bacam
    Member

    Note that it's time limited: two weeks for Edinburgh with the pass later on, and eight for Glasgow.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  10. Morningsider
    Member

    The collaboration is being led by the charity CoMoUK which promotes the use of shared transport, and is funded by Transport Scotland through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme managed by the charity Paths for All.

    What?! It's normally only money launderers that have such complex financial arrangements. Could Transport Scotland not just pay Serco and Nextbike directly? Doesn't seem like too onerous a task.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  11. davecykl
    Member

    Local diver finds '14 Just Eat bikes' dumped in Water of Leith beside the Sandport Place bridge in Leith

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/local-diver-finds-14-just-eat-bikes-dumped-water-leith-under-bridge-end-busy-cycle-path-2899804

    Posted 3 years ago #
  12. davecykl
    Member

    And if anyone would like to support this suggestion:

    @cyclehire_edi, do you have plans to add a bike dock at #ElmRow? Handy for local shops and interchange with @on_lothianbuses, perhaps especially if more convenient to cycle down #LeithWalk during @EdinburghTrams @TramstoNewhaven works rather than walk from bus stops on diversion?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/davecykl/status/1277977094937427974?p=v

    Posted 3 years ago #
  13. gembo
    Member

    Diver found 14 just eat bikes in the water down leith. Also his pal’s bike and one salmon swam by- bbc news website

    Posted 3 years ago #
  14. chdot
    Admin

    Brought to you by the team behind industry-leading cycle trade magazine BikeBiz – established in 1996 – MMB focuses on sustainable transport solutions, from e-bikes and e-scooters to bike-sharing and hire schemes.

    https://www.bikebiz.com/biz-media-announces-launch-of-mmb/amp

    Posted 3 years ago #
  15. gembo
    Member

    also now two safes (one with porn inside) from same Sandport water

    Posted 3 years ago #
  16. Stickman
    Member

  17. gembo
    Member

    Groovy graphic

    saw a similar one showing Atlantic Slave Trade 1560-1860 though you could pause that one and get name of each ship etc

    Portugeuse to Brazil as bad as Brits to Carribbean
    Spain stopped then after Abolition in GBNI started again

    Posted 3 years ago #
  18. chdot
    Admin

  19. Stickman
    Member

    They’ve admitted defeat on the repeated vandalism of the physical docking stations:

    Hi at some of our station locations, we have seen persistent damage to station hoops. We have decided the stations work best in a virtual capacity, leaving the base of the station so customers know they can dock bikes a these locations virtually. Thanks, Just Eat Cycles

    https://twitter.com/cyclehire_edi/status/1292856877483778050?s=21

    Posted 3 years ago #
  20. davecykl
    Member

    @Stickman, that's a depressing thread, with at least a couple of dock sites shown extensively damaged, and I'm aware of quite a few others in similar condition. Clearly quite a few bored feral creatures are making a grand tour around the city just now.

    The very simple rules for street furniture:

    1. Does it work functionally for its intended purpose? (See also: tram stop un-shelters and bus stop not-very shelters (featuring bonus too-high seats))

    2. Is it robust as a very robust thing, and will it survive fairly concerted efforts to attack or damage it?

    2.b. If the vendor turns pale when you ask if you can give it a good yank, thump, twist, etc, avoid.

    and probably also:

    3. Will it be good value to maintain or repair?

    Yet, for some reason, the gormless individuals who actually spend public money on so much of our street infrastructure seem to get fooled far too often by "Does it look Shiny?", "Is it Expensive, sorry, 'World-Class'?", "Does the sales weasel look cute to me in a way which, uhh, inspires me to make a purchase?"

    «sigh»

    Posted 3 years ago #
  21. Morningsider
    Member

    The docking stations are an object lesson in poor design (I know I've said this before - but it just amazes me). Narrowest where they are bolted to the ground. Steel bolts in the aluminium dock create an obvious point of weakness. The bike is attached to the top of the dock - meaning a docked bike can be used as a lever to fracture the relatively brittle aluminium. Plus the point where the bike connects to the dock is exposed - allowing direct attack.

    These flaws, and the potential for vandalism, were clear in the first few months of the scheme. Yet Serco/TfE still chose to roll-out this design when the virtual docks were abandoned.

    The vandalism is solely the responsibility of the vandals. However, Serco should have used far more robust docks. The London scheme uses steel docks, wider at the base than the top with individual concrete foundations. Yes these London docks are much more expensive, although much of the cost is due to the need for an electrical hook-up and terminal. However, the electrical connection means the locking mechanism is part of the dock and powered by the mains, rather then a puny dynamo powered battery. No reason why the "dumb" docks used in Edinburgh couldn't have been based on the London design - even using surface mounting they would be far more robust.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  22. Try Cycle
    Member

    Saw 3 bikes in figgate burn the other day :(

    The docks in Porty get well used, but seems to equally well used by non-paying users as much paying users.

    The guy who owned the boat house offered/asked to have the dock set up outside the boat house, which might be a solution for one of the porty docks, but might well be seen as him trying annex even more of kings place

    Posted 3 years ago #
  23. chdot
    Admin

  24. Stickman
    Member

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/booming-just-eat-cycles-expands-edinburgh-musselburgh-hires-double-2977755

    Just Eat Cycles has underlined its runaway success as the UK’s faster-growing bike hire scheme by expanding from Edinburgh to Musselburgh as it celebrated two years in business.

    The city council-owned Transport for Edinburgh (TfE) operation said it now expected to notch up nearly 250,000 hires this year, twice as many as the 124,000 in 2019.

    Two new bike docking stations were opened at the weekend at Brunton Hall and Harbour Road beside the marina in Musselburgh for up to 19 pedal end electric bikes each.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  25. chdot
    Admin

    Perhaps they should have docks in East Craigs?

    Of course -

    The Just Eat Bikes' "innovative business model" is driven by profit, not the wider needs of the city.

    https://twitter.com/cllrscottarthur/status/1306254733875859459

    No idea if that is entirely true.

    Surely CEC/TfL are involved in decisions?

    Posted 3 years ago #
  26. Rosie
    Member

    That is good news about the expansion to Musselburgh.

    Vandalism and theft are a great pain though. The docking station near me has had most of its stands vandalised, and I found 2 dumped bikes over the weekend.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  27. davecykl
    Member

    "Surely CEC/TfE are involved in decisions?"

    I don't know about that. ECH do seem remarkably impervious to adopting suggestions for new bike docks, even ones which you would think would be dazzlingly obvious (eg, Omni Centre, Cameron Toll, a couple more along Princes/Rose/George Sts, Kirkgate Shopping Centre (yes, I know, but I think they have a social obligation to at least try to make that one work), Corstorphine, Gyle), and they have still barely moved out beyond the line of the 60s proposed inner city ring road, which is pretty poor.

    There really should be no more than 400 m distance between bike docks in any of the relatively flattish parts of the city by now, if they were serious about it.

    Still, this reminds me, it's about time I contacted my councillors again...

    Posted 3 years ago #
  28. ARobComp
    Member

    Agree. Look at the success of Velib in PAris. A huge section of the city have a dock within 3 minutes walk. Where docks are popular they put in relief docks nearby. They also installed formidable pretty hardcore docks to combat exactly the issues of vandalism and theft.

    The cost per dock for the Santander Bikes System when they were first installed was huge (some cost into the £250k mark I believe), however this investment paid dividends although the locations could have been selected a little better sometimes IMO. What Velib did really well is to take away car parking spaces for the stations meaning they were right on the road and highly visible, whereas Santander Bikes took space that was previously for pedestrians which is to say often hidden away, crowded and inaccessible.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  29. wingpig
    Member

    ...and therefore slightly harder for the van to reach without the driver feeling the need to park somewhere weird and blockagey.

    Posted 3 years ago #
  30. Snowy
    Member

    I saw masses of dumped/vandalised hire bikes over the last couple of days. Gave up counting once it hit double figures. I strongly suspect they are burning through their initial cash pile and it will all hit the buffers. Wish it were otherwise but until they make the security better this will only have one end result.

    Posted 3 years ago #

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