Hello,
I need to attend a meeting in London on Wednesday. I’ll be taking the train down to King’s Cross but then I need to get across town. Ordinarily I’d take the tube, but there’s industrial action planned.

So, as an alternative (and because it might be fun) I thought I might explore the possibility of getting one of those Barclays hire bikes.

Anyone tried one? Good/bad/things to watch out for? If I turn up at kings cross at ~ 10am can I expect to be able to just get on one? Or will there be queues / delays and so on?

Thanks for sharing any experiences!

I’m not sure about how much they are but the hire bike racks look pretty well stocked all the time at the moment. Think the weather isn’t gonna be great this week so I reckon you won’t have any trouble getting one.

I dont think you can just turn up and hire one yet. I think it’s still membership only at the moment. You sign up online and get sent a key through the post. I might be wrong so check out http://www.tfl.gov.uk

Yes, you have to sign on and GIVE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS to TfL. I personally wouldn’t trust TfL as an organisation to sit the the right wazy round on a toilet given my daily commute, so I won’t do that. Heaven knows who’ll they’ll give them to. I’m waiting for them to make it open to anyone turning up, but the expected date keeps getting further away, it seems.

However, your choice, and if you’re OK with it you will need to set it all up first via the website (as above).

It’s probably too late to sign up now, though no harm in doing so for next time. I’ve used the bikes a few times, they’re not exactly lightweight but they’re fun to cruise around London on. If there’s industrial action everyone will be clamouring for the bikes and TFL may not have time to redistribute them.

el_boufador – Member
Good/bad/things to watch out for?

Er yeah, you have to advertise an evil empire for the duration. 😆

The casual user scheme (just rock up and ride) is not yet active so you need to register in advance and receive a keyfob through the post. No way that will happen before Wednesday. Plus all the bikes disappear quickly from mainline stations on weekday mornings (even more so on tube strike days) so even if you were on the scheme you may struggle to get a bike.

Anyway, I use a Boris bike daily and it’s great 🙂

Shame, sounds like it isn’t a goer for Wednesday then 🙁

In that case does anyone know what the likely effect of the industrial action on the Tube is?

If its looking bad I might have to bring me trainers and run it!

Where do you need to get to?

In that case does anyone know what the likely effect of the industrial action on the Tube is?

You are joking?! It will be even worse (if that’s possible) than normal days (2 ****’ hours to get in this morning!!!!!!). God I loathe TfL with a passion. Give me back my life.

And breathe. It will be sh*te on everything with sporadic trains on some lines every now and then.

Not that you actually get that much back but its worth getting a
Tfl Refund each time your journey is delayed by 15mins or more.