City checks out Boris Bikes plan

“And I won't be using it if it means advertising a bank, either.”

“I wish people would stop calling this Boris Bikes, as Johnson himself knows, this was Ken Livingstone's idea.”

“Most people have not grasped the fact that the London scheme is a bike sharing scheme where a bike is shared through the day by several users. A shared bike scheme generally need 50% more parking spaces than the number of bikes, and successful schemes have 15-20 subscribers per bike, using the bikes 15-20 times per day. Using a London bike for more than 6 hours will cost you £35, whilst hiring a bike in London can cost as little as £2 per day on a long term contract - the Dutch OV-Fiets scheme delivers this for rail commuters, by having automated hire points for all day hire at rail stations.

In addition to the new London scheme, the earlier system launched in 2004 and closed when the TfL bikes were launched, continues to operate in Cardiff and Reading, the latter case showing how a system can be delivered by business parks, hotels, and other journey generators buying in with their own docking points and bikes.

A further option which has low running costs and a simple incremental growth option is the folding bike leasing scheme run by SWT, like EMT operated by Stagecoach. For a very reasonable rate you get a folding bike, fully serviced that you take around with you and into you office, on the bus, or in a car, reducing the need for places to park it, and the risk of theft. This sort of scheme may well need 'parking' for less than 50% of the bikes in the fleet, if the bikes are all with users.

The bus comment is very relevant - dozens of barely filled buses block up Haymarket and Humberstone Gate because they come right in to the town to pick up passengers and than take time to check tickets and board passengers. US cities have free bus travel in the central areas during the working day, as this means the buses do not get held up, and fewer buses are then required to deliver the service. Leicester could have a one or possibly 2 free bus routes acrosss the central area, fast loading, and aiming to be well filled to use the road space efficiently. These would connect with outer bus routes at nodes, like St Margarets, and could even have real time display of the onward services on-board. The savings - £100,000 per bus per year, on buses not needed for the outer routes that get delayed in the city centre melee sholuld pay for the inner zone free service, and deliver faster and better bus services into the City.

Finally to deliver the full portfolkio Leicester needs a car sharing (NOT a ride sharing) scheme where people can eliminate the costs of car ownership (typically 20% of a household budget) but retain the convenience of a car and pay only for what they use, by the hour.

The bus and rail operators should then buy-in to the whole deal of bikes and cars available to share or hire for longer periods, as a means to deliver the completed door to door journey, as a single product purchase for the passenger, with the benefit of the bus & rail operators potentially gaining the added revenue from bike and car operations”

“I'd love to feel confident about cycling in Leicester, but, despite my many years of experience in using a bike, the traffic in Leicester horrifies me. There is little consideration given to cyclists, and the cycle routes provided by the council would be laughable if they weren't so pathetic. Strangely I have no wish to die on a bike in Leicester, so shall not be using cycling as a way of commuting.”

“Perhaps the first two docking stations in Leicester could be at each end of New Walk?...”

“The city centre would be measurably clearer of traffic if the pedestrian areas in Horsefair Street and Charles Street were enforced. There are too many unauthorised cars using these roads as a short cut.”

“Buy a second hand bike. It's a lot cheaper in the long run. In fact a new one would probably cost less over a year.”

“this will be great for leicester as long as they sort out the chaos that is Public transport,keep buses outside of the Centre(yes you would need to walk a couple of hundred yards!!)
Make sure the Centre is sealed off from cars who will abuse the area,have barriers with control to let in all Emergency vehicles”

“If the City Council is seriously considering a traffice free city centre this would be an ideal opportunity to get around the centre without the current congestion and pollution.

If it works in London it should in Leicester.”