Delays to the cycle hire scheme!

Along with the recent Cycle Superhighway launch, Boris Johnson has pointed out to everyone that from the 23 of July you’ll be able to register for membership of the cycle hire scheme from: www.tfl.gov.uk/barclayscyclehire
The bad news is that unless you register you won’t be able to use the bikes for another month. The reason given is that “This will enable TfL and its contractor, Serco, to understand and learn from how pioneer members engage with the scheme, including patterns of bicycle usage.”

In order to use the scheme when it launches on the 30th of July, you’ll have to have a Cycle Hire Key and it will need to be activated.   TfL’s Managing Director of Surface Transport, David Brown said: “Barclays Cycle Hire will revolutionise how we get around central London. Building on the experience of other cities who have launched similar schemes, we and Serco will use the first month of operation to learn more about how Londoners engage with the scheme, including patterns of use, how we can best support customers and to enable the scheme to bed down."

A membership key costs £3 with membership costs at £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for seven days and £45 for an annual membership. The first 30 minutes of any journey will be free, but prices rise to a very steep £15 for three hours - making a 3 and a half hour bicycle tour for £18 seem like great value: http://www.biketouroflondon.com/

This means an unexpected (or expected, depending on your viewpoint) delay for the scheme and will mean a lot of people that have been eagerly waiting to try it out will have to wait another month.  It’s not very impressive to hear about this so late and it’s also a bit of a dubious reason that has been given.