Alternative bike hire scheme launched in London

3 comments
By Richard Peace | Tuesday, Aug 3, 2010 11.40am

London's Barclays Cycle Hire scheme was launched amid great fanfare on Friday and already has more than 20,000 members, with its 5,000 bikes being used over 14,000 times by the end of the weekend.

But it's not the only option if you need a bike for the day in the British capital. A new peer-to-peer project allows you to go online or pick up your phone to find someone who’s willing to rent their own machine out.

Byke is billed as “a pioneering bike sharing scheme believed to be the first of its kind in the world". Owners who want to rent out their bike register it with byke.mobi saying where and when it’s available.

Renters must pay Byke £3.50 a day plus a deposit of between £20 and £100 (depending on the bike). This works out more expensive than the Transport for London scheme for short journeys (£1 access fee, first 30 minutes free) but much more economical for longer trips (a full day's use of a Barclays bike costs £51).

Peter Abrahamson, developer of Byke, points out another advantage of the scheme: “Bike owners, with the Byke service, can provide for commuters who are coming from further afield in places the TfL scheme [which only covers the central Zone 1] won't be available." 

Customers must return the machine by the end of the day, at which point Byke returns their deposit and shares the hire fee with the bike's owner.

Research by Going Going Bike, a new bicycle auction site, suggests that 37 percent of households have at least one spare bike knocking around, which means there are some 1.5 million bikes going unused in London.

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User Comments

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  • Be careful a mate had his bigbluebike account suspended and fine of £150 all because of a faulty docking station.

    Teething problems.

  • My message, jst posted, had some silly typos. Here corrected.

    I doubt that Byke will work. The great thing about Barclays bikes, and indeed all bike share schemes , is that they offer sturdy step through sit up bikes, proven to fit all shapes and sizes.

    Now if this scheme was operating in Holland, you'd be pretty sure to be offered such a bike, but in London all those unused bikes available are likely to be far less universally comfortable machines.

    Apart from sit ups, most bikes are very individual and not easily loaned.

    One reason I'm so keen on Bike share is that I think it moves bike use towards this type of bike which clearly is intimately associated with the success of utility cycling as opposed to sport cycling, in countries like Holland and Denmark.

    One other thing, bike share here in Australia is failing because of our compulsory helmet law. (see http://situp-cycle.com)

    Does Byke propose to provide a helmet as well?

    Mike rubbo

  • Hi Mike,

    Thanks for your comments. This scheme is operating world-wide, so yes, although we are telling people about it in London it currently works in Holland too.

    No, we do not provide a helmet, so this is up to the individual rider and the laws of the country involved.

    It is a numbers game - there are enough bikes of varying styles in any one area to offer a compelling service. You get to see a photograph of the bike available before committing to one, and read a description, plus height requirements. But, yes, we are not expecting expensive road bikes to be the norm - more that second bike used to occasionally get around.

    Best regards,

    Peter

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