Barclays Boris Bike key in one hand, iphone on with the London Cycle App in the other, I wandered out of Euston Station at 10am this morning having got the 8.30am train from Stafford.
The iPhone App showed a map with 4 cycle stations within a couple of minutes walk of Euston. Clicking on the stations on the map showed availability of bikes and I chose the Doric Way station as all the others had no bikes left.
Helmet on (I brought one with me), I pushed the Barclays key into the slot next to the bike I wanted to take, waited a few seconds for the green light and off I went. Simples.
Boris bikes have 3 gears. I just left it in top gear the whole time, but they are heavy and slow and often need a fair bit of effort to get off the line at the lights. The riding position is very upright and high, great in the busy
London traffic where you need to be as visible as possible.
I’d already sussed out where I was going to drop off the bike. After 15 minutes riding I just bumped up the kerb and rode it straight into the bike station post at a bike station near our London office. Dropping the bike off, you wait for the green light and go. Even more simples! At that point, though, I turned around and grabbed my laptop bag which I nearly forgot was bungeed to the front of the bike on a perfectly sized bracket, and walk the 100 metres left to the office.
Unfortunately, for the bikes to be really efficient, you do need to know your way around London, which I don’t. I was using a general sense of direction and a quick look at a map every 5 minutes or so. Traffic lights and one way streets are also a frustration on the major routes so finding the back streets and lanes that are traffic free is the key to getting anywhere quickly.
Overall, the bikes are great, and as long as the weather is good I shall not be using the underground again when visiting London.