Boris' bikes

This is now a common sight in the city of London. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has initiated the Barclays Cycle Hire, a self-service public bicycle scheme for short journeys in central London.

The aim is to make London a cycle-friendly city and my impression is that it's on a good way. Thousands of people have already signed up and you see quite a few bikes on the move.

There are 400 docking statins throughout the city with 6,000 bikes. You just have to sign up as a member and pay 3 Pounds. For 45 Pounds you can use the bikes every day of the year. Or you pay as you go. Journeys up to an hour cost 1 Pounds. The first 30minutes of every journey are free.

I haven't signed up yet as the press mentioned some teething problems of the scheme. So it might happen that you don't lock your returned bike properly and get charged for late return with 150 Pounds. Furthermore they had problems with their webpage. And, last but not least, I'm not sure if I'd survive the traffic in London.