CorpComms Magazine

Those blue bikes have been weaving their way around the London traffic for quite a while now. How long has it been?

The Barclays Cycle Hire scheme was launched on 30 July last year thanks to the mayor of London, Boris Johnson. That's why most people refer to the bikes as 'Boris Bikes'.

He's the one with the funny hair isn't he! Do many people actually use the bikes?

There have been more than four million journeys to date.

There must be thousands of bikes for that to be possible!

There are currently six thousand bicycles split between 400 docking stations across the City of London.

How big an area of London are we talking?

I can't be exact, but more or less 17 square miles over the City, and eight surrounding London boroughs. The docking stations cover the equivalent area of 'Zone 1' on the London Underground map.

And what needs to be done to hire a bike?

Originally it was a bit of a faf . To get hold of an electronic access key you were required to pay an initial registration and membership fee. But last December the system was improved, and all that was needed was a credit or debit card at a docking station.

Lets talk money. How much is one of these Boris bikes going to set me back?

Lets say you need a bike for a week, it costs £5 to access it. And if each journey you take is just up to 30 minutes, then the usage charge is free. So for a whole week, it could cost you as little as £5.

And if I were to cycle for longer than 30 minutes?

I'm not going to lie; the fees increase pretty rapidly. For one hour it would cost £1, but for one and a half hours the price goes up to £4. Three hours would cost you £15, and six would cost £35. And 24 hours costs £50.

And how about a year's access?

Access is a mere £45.

What justifies the prices then?

The fact that short journeys cost far less or are free, it helps to keep a constant flow of available bikes.

What happens if you return your bike a bit late?

You will be hit with a £150 charge. Double that to £300 if you fail to return it at all, and the damage charge is the same.

Ouch! So how much has the Boris bike scheme cost?

It is expected to cost £140 million. And Barclays, the official sponsor, has contributed £25 million to the estimated cost. The scheme is set to be the only Transport for London system in place to fund its own annual running cost.

That's pretty good! So the public must have spent a lot on bike hire from the word go?

Not quite, it may come as a surprise that from July to December last year, the records show that approximately 95 per cent of journeys made were less than half an hour long. So less five per cent, the only revenue came from the access fees.

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