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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

London is a City of Bikes

The blue bikes are rentals. That is the FSU Campus in the background in gold.

Check out the prices. Multipy pounds by 1.5 to get dollars.

400 pounds would be $600

These electrics cost $2200

This rental system just started up Friday

Simply put - you buy a key fob - pull a bike out - use it - and park it at another station.

There are several factors that make London ann excellent city to use bikes as your major transportation. First - being along a river on a plain - London is level. Second - the summers and winters are mild. Third - gasoline costs over $8 a gallon. Fourth - there is limited parking for cars and it is expensive. Finally - to drive your car into downtown London - it costs you $16 just in "congestion fee."

Every car has a sticker on its windshield. The sticker is read by TV cameras - and you are charged every time you are seen on a camera. If you own a car in this town and use it - you are either very rich - or very broke.

Just last Friday they started a bike rental plan that is very interesting. All over downtown - there are bike stations with racks of bikes and kiosks. There is a bike station about every 300 yards. To use the bikes - you first go on online and buy a key fob. It is like a credit card for the bikes. The key fob costs $1.50 a day - $7.50 a week - 0r $67 a year. When you want to use a bike - you swipe your key fob at the kiosk. You pull the bike out of the rack and go. When you are done you take the bike to another rack - swipe your key fob - and you walk away.

If you use the bike less than 30 minutes - they is no charge. If you use it up to an hour - it costs $1.50. The price gets steeper and steeper as you go up. 2 hours = $9. 6 hours = $52. 24 hours= $75. If you keep your rides under 30 minutes - it costs you nothing. The whole idea is to take bike from one station to another - anywhere in downtown. You can "daisy chain" bike after bike after bike - for free - but you must wait 5 minutes between bike changes.

You cannot go up to a kiosk and pay cash - everything is on an account. If you "lose" a bike - that will cost your $450! These bikes are very strongly build - to buy one would cost about $1200. We saw similar setups in Paris - Rome - Munich - Milan. They have had some problems with theft there and also bikes breaking down.

This is a very good idea. It encourages people to exercise - also not to use precious fuel. It cuts down on the amount of auto congestion. It cuts down on pollution.

Next year - I plan to open an account and bike all over London - next year.