Banking on Bike-sharing: Barclays pays £25 million to name London's System

Giving keen interest in bike-sharing, the world financial giant Barclays Bank buys the naming rights to London's pending "Cycle Hire." According to the London Evening Standard, for £25 million ($36.4 million USD) every one of the 6,000 bikes will carry six Barclay Bank logos. The Bank is so keen on bike-sharing that it wants to add more stations to the planned 400 as to service its banking headquarters in East London. The selling of the naming rights gives a big return on London's investment in bike-sharing even before the system begins operating. Barclays Cycle Hire starts on July 30, 2010. This is a very good development for funding large systems throughout the world.

Other Bike-sharing news form the UK:

Along the banks of the Avon River, the small Hourbike bike-sharing system, see The Bike-sharing Blog September 2009, did not gain much interest in Bristol. The 18-month old system ceased operation this month.

images: London Evening Standard

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

It's bIXI Bike-sharing for Boston

It was announced in the Montréal Gazette and the Boston Globe this morning that Boston is to follow London in choosing the bIXI bike-sharing system for the Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council bike-sharing program. The program’s plan is to begin with approximately 2,500 bikes in 290 stations then increasing to 5,000 bikes with around 475 stations through Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville, MA. As with London, the bIXI system in Boston is to begin around May 2010. An update on today's bi-city bIXI bonanza is online from bIXI.

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org

London Calling: Montréal's bIXI for Bike-sharing

Today Transport for London (TfL) chose Serco to manage, service and bring to life London's Cycle Hire scheme and Serco has partnered with Montréal’s bIXI system to set up the 6,000 bicycle fleet with 400 docking stations. TfL expects to have the system quickly operational with the goal of May 2010. With the bIXI's drop in place docking stations, that should be easily obtainable. The bike hire scheme is part of London Mayor Boris Johnson’s £111 million bicycle improvements for the UK’s capital. The press release from TfL Cycle Hire quotes Mayor Johnson, "They (Serco and bIXI) can't wait to get cracking on helping us get thousands more Londoners on two wheels and I'm sure that the cycling revolution taking place in the Capital will rapidly become the envy of the world."

Even with the easily installed bIXI stations and bikes, bike-sharing might not come as easily as it should, central London is composed of different “councils.” According to Global New Clickpress, the councils of Camden and Westminster have been slow to approve the placement of docking stations on the streets in their jurisdictions. The councils fear the lost automobile parking revenue from metered spaces. Undoubtedly these councils do not realize the idea is to reduce the amount of automobiles and the congestion in the streets!

The Bike-sharing Blog commends London on its choice and looks forward to riding a London bIXI along the Thames.

Source: TfL

Russell Meddin bikesharephiladelphia.org