Trip to London

s weekend I took a trip to London that had been planned for some time. When it was booked the idea was for it to be purely recreational. However it just so happens that the timing of the trip was perfect and a new scheme had been introduced just days before. It was Boris Johnson's, the Mayor of London, introduction of bike racks all around the city. Sponsored by Barclays Bank, the scheme aims to get people more mobile around the city, and increase the number of bikes on the streets rather than cars and buses. I managed to get a few pictures of these so called 'docking stations'.

Obviously the scheme is in its very early stages so it is hard to gage the success right now. I would say it seems to be making somewhat of an impact. For example I would say I saw quite a few people riding around the streets on them throughout the duration of the weekend. However I also walked past a lot of stations where only 4 or 5 were removed from a total of about 20. This could be because it was the weekend and people who may use them to commute or run errands would rather do that on week days. A few observations I made about people who where riding them was that they seemed to be struggling slightly. The bikes appeared quite heavy and with no gears present it would make riding upward more difficult. However I guess we will just have to wait and see how successful the scheme will be.

Besides from this initiative I also noticed the presence of bikes in general. I captured images of all sorts of different characters riding around on a wide selection of bikes. Below are a few pictures of these.

On top of all the activity I noticed on the roads I also stumbled across a bicycle rental place. It was located on a wharf somewhere along the south bank and it was absolutely thriving. There were hundreds of bikes available to rent, all different styles and all different colours. It seemed as though the most popular customers where tourists who wanted a nice leisurely ride, and most people seemed to be in groups of three or more. The prices seemed reasonable and the idea itself was obviously working. Below are a few images of the bikes available and the customers themselves.