Bike Sharing

Jenny, I have heard that you need a chip and pin card to use the kiosk, so that could be your first hurdle. I haven't tried the Boris bikes, but mainly because the thought of riding a bike in London scares the heck out of me. I lived in London for a year and my bike sat in the hall of my flat the entire time.

I'm a regular user. I'm sure being knowledgeable of the area helps lots. I don't have the PIN problem because I use a member key but sometimes that doesn't work and have to use my card to do an "occasional" user code. That works well, too. Some busy areas can run out of bikes before they get replenished and once I had to take my bike back to an adjacent docking area because "mine" was full. If you dock within 30 minutes you can ride all day for just the £1 access fee. Ther are many segregated cycle routes within London, and as soon as you get off the amin routes the side streets are nearly empty much of the time. You do have to be careful though. Bike safety is one of the topics fro next week's mayoral race. Although there were 10,000 + or - incidents incolving cyclists last year the number per cyclist on the road was down. The number is up becasue of the vast numbers of cyclists now. (Confession - although I usually take my skid lid I often don't because of the imprompu nature of my use and I'm an hour away from London at home where my helmet is). I find that I can get around quicker and cheaper than bus or tube in central London on the bikes, and I get a bit of exercise. I recently read that magnetic strip cards can be used on the docking stations but have no first hand knowledge. I'd be surprised because the card only goes in part way. Also registration can be done online and then collect the code at the docking station....

Thank you both---particularly about the credit card info. We are working on getting what I think of as an ambidextrous card for this trip, i.e. chip and strip, primarily for self service machines. Nice to know we might fix the problem by email. We understand London streets can be busy. We've also walked some very quiet ones and noticed greenways along the Thames. It's the greenways we have in mind.