Boris Bikes

I have been doing a little bit of bike riding while in London. They have a program here called Barclays Bikes which is meant to encourage cycling short journeys rather than using public transport. You might have noticed that I called it Boris Bikes in the title of the post. That’s what the cool London kids call it. Named after the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

It is reasonably cheap and designed for short distances. it costs £1 a day or £5 for seven days to access the cycle. If you return the cycle within half an hour then you don’t pay any usage charge. If you keep it for an hour it costs £1 and increases from there. So if you make short half an hour journeys you can get around the city for a £1 a day. Considering a single Oyster card journey is minimum £2 it is a decent saving. Once you have paid your access fee you can hire a cycle as many times as you like during the day. There are docking points easily every 500m and more in busy areas.

Cycling in London isn’t as scary or dangerous as you might think. Cars are very respectful of cyclists and quite patient. In most areas you share the cycling lane with taxis and London buses. It’s quite a thrill to look behind you and see a giant red bus! Interestingly wearing a helmet is not mandatory in the Uk and most people don’t. The serious lycra wearing cyclists do wear them and I do too but it is uncommon. I actually spoke to a guy at the lights the other day who wasn’t wearing a helmet but had a pollution mask on. He said he wore the mask to protect his lungs but he wasn’t concerned about his head! Weird!

I think we all know I’m not the cyclist in the family but it is definitely a convenient, cheap and fun way of getting around.