PRICE DOUBLING: Barclays Bikes - the beginning of the end ?

2sides2everystory

I am surprised not to find any thread about this.

I went to use a Barclays Bike at 4.30am on 2nd January only to discover two things:

1. The computer wasn't working properly and I was standing there like a lemon waiting for it to approve my card.

2. The price has doubled.

In the end I was frustrated with both observations so cancelled and got the Night bus.

I doubt I will use Barclays Bikes again because of the cost.

There are some 50 bikes for hire near me and during a working day, almost all were out last year.

This year (last week/this week) only half are out during the day.

Anyone seen any news about this? Have I missed another thread on MSE? Or does no-one much take notice of these things in London?

thelawnet

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4275359

2sides2everystory

thelawnet wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4275359

Thanks tln. Clearly I missed the buried news at the time !

Won't catch me on one again. I did 50 journeys on a Barclays Bike last year. I shan't do any this year. Brilliant thinking from another bunch of cosseted public sector wallahs who couldn't negotiate their way out of a paper bag when it comes to dealing with bankers :mad:

callum9999

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Thanks tln. Clearly I missed the buried news at the time !

Won't catch me on one again. I did 50 journeys on a Barclays Bike last year. I shan't do any this year. Brilliant thinking from another bunch of cosseted public sector wallahs who couldn't negotiate their way out of a paper bag when it comes to dealing with bankers :mad:

I'd love to see you do a better job...

2sides2everystory

callum9999 wrote: »

I'd love to see you do a better job...

And what pray, dear Callum did you mean by that? Don't tell me you are one of them? That could explain a great deal with your usual take on what's fair in business

I have negotiated with awfully senior bankers thanks very much and they remember me fondly I am sure, not just for riding their bikes.

I cut my career teeth in private sector business. I wasn't mollycoddled under dreadfully inadequate public sector managements who for years thought budgets were what you spent last year plus RPI plus as much more as you could get away with and then made it their "business" to be sure it was all spent before "budgeting" came round again for next year.

But then I am sure you would do it better than that so do tell us what you know of Barclays Bikes. I have a feeling they have just become a very expensive ornament on London street corners, occupying space that was grabbed without following proper planning authority protocols, but I might be wrong?

I was actually an eventual fan of TFL's hire bikes last year - how things can be spoiled when eyes get taken off balls

I can't imagine I am alone in my thinking. £1 was less than an Oyster DLR fare and less than an Oyster bus fare. £2 isn't.

thelawnet

um, you do realise that Barclays don't set the bike hire rates and nor do they run the service.

The cheapest private bike hire is about £8/hour I believe.

Anyway, there are obviously good reasons to encourage people to use the bikes by keeping it at poundland prices, but I don't see that bankers are terribly relevant to the decision to double it.

CKhalvashi

thelawnet wrote: »

um, you do realise that Barclays don't set the bike hire rates and nor do they run the service.

The cheapest private bike hire is about £8/hour I believe.

Anyway, there are obviously good reasons to encourage people to use the bikes by keeping it at poundland prices, but I don't see that bankers are terribly relevant to the decision to double it.

I'm another who'll drive into London now, as I have access to free parking, and don't have to negotiate paperwork on a rucksack (even if it does cost £9 a day).

At the cheaper cost, I was happy to stomach it, but the sheer convenience of the car is too much to bear now! I work out something like 50p a day better off, minus a bit of fuel from our office.

CK

2sides2everystory

thelawnet wrote: »

um, you do realise that Barclays don't set the bike hire rates and nor do they run the service.

The cheapest private bike hire is about £8/hour I believe.

Anyway, there are obviously good reasons to encourage people to use the bikes by keeping it at poundland prices, but I don't see that bankers are terribly relevant to the decision to double it.

Um you do realise that Barclays Brand is all over the bikes, the bike stations and the vans that move the bikes around at night?

Why do the bikes not have my brand on them - '2sides2everystory' with a bright puce coloured logo? Um might it be because I haven't paid for the privilege, had my photo taken with me and my mate Boris astride a couple of his steeds, and then threatened the old boy with legal action when he tried to get me to pay extra to keep his flagship scheme afloat in 2013?

Bankers and financial services wallahs and meaty public-private 'contracts' with parasites like Serco and Veolia and Capita and of course corporate lawyers to keep it all going round once it's out there - what would we do without them, eh?

A whole lot better, one can't help wondering?

There are indeed extremely good reasons for encouraging Londoners to use those bikes at poundland prices - the main one now is that they will not use them unless they are at poundland prices.

callum9999

2sides2everystory wrote: »

And what pray, dear Callum did you mean by that? Don't tell me you are one of them? That could explain a great deal with your usual take on what's fair in business

I have negotiated with awfully senior bankers thanks very much and they remember me fondly I am sure, not just for riding their bikes.

I cut my career teeth in private sector business. I wasn't mollycoddled under dreadfully inadequate public sector managements who for years thought budgets were what you spent last year plus RPI plus as much more as you could get away with and then made it their "business" to be sure it was all spent before "budgeting" came round again for next year.

But then I am sure you would do it better than that so do tell us what you know of Barclays Bikes. I have a feeling they have just become a very expensive ornament on London street corners, occupying space that was grabbed without following proper planning authority protocols, but I might be wrong?

I was actually an eventual fan of TFL's hire bikes last year - how things can be spoiled when eyes get taken off balls

I can't imagine I am alone in my thinking. £1 was less than an Oyster DLR fare and less than an Oyster bus fare. £2 isn't.

By that I obviously mean I doubt you'd do much better yourself.

Of course you're not alone in that thinking. The default view of the ignorant masses is that business and government are always wrong and always scheming unless it can be irrefutably proven otherwise.

2sides2everystory

callum9999 wrote: »

The default view of the ignorant masses is that business and government are always wrong and always scheming unless it can be irrefutably proven otherwise.

So what's your view then, Callum ? Can you tell us anything about Barclays Bikes? Have you even learned to ride a bike? I very much recommend it for your regular exercise needs. Sadly a whole swarth of those Londoners who were no doubt included in the "Inspired to take up sport by the Olympics" figures spun out yesterday will now have been inspired to save their money and go back to the bad old ways. Worse still, their journeys will be slower as buses have to wait for room to pass the full banks of Barclays Bikes sticking out into the road which are no longer out on hire.

thelawnet

2sides2everystory wrote: »

Um you do realise that Barclays Brand is all over the bikes, the bike stations and the vans that move the bikes around at night?

Why do the bikes not have my brand on them - '2sides2everystory' with a bright puce coloured logo? Um might it be because I haven't paid for the privilege, had my photo taken with me and my mate Boris astride a couple of his steeds, and then threatened the old boy with legal action when he tried to get me to pay extra to keep his flagship scheme afloat in 2013?

Bankers and financial services wallahs and meaty public-private 'contracts' with parasites like Serco and Veolia and Capita and of course corporate lawyers to keep it all going round once it's out there - what would we do without them, eh?

A whole lot better, one can't help wondering?

There are indeed extremely good reasons for encouraging Londoners to use those bikes at poundland prices - the main one now is that they will not use them unless they are at poundland prices.

Look I have no doubt that they should keep them at £1, I haven't used them often cos of the kids, but when I went to London with the Mrs., we took a bike £1 each, £2 total, fantastic, I think at £2 you might as well just get on the tube (which is also £2 for a zone 1 single).

That said Barclays are sponsors they pay over £xxx for that and they are doing that in return for publicity, advertising, whatever, and the price paid by them will be determined on that basis.

If the scheme is costing a lot to administer, which I guess it will be, all of these bikes have to be redistributed throughout the day as I understand it, not to mention maintenance, then the sponsorship + £1/day probably doesn't cover the costs.

So either TFL subsidise it (more), or the costs go up. That really hasn't got anything to do with Barclays, just as there's no point in complaining to Samsung because your season ticket has gone up.

Complain to Boris, complain to TFL, maybe complain to Serco (who operate it) if they are running it poorly, or if they are charging too much, but ultimately the buck stops with the politicians who set the thing up....