Friday 30 July 2010

London Cycle Hire (Barclays) aka Boris Bikes in SE11

SE11 is fortunate enough to contain 9 Barclays Cycle Hire docking stations.  I haven't actually seen them all yet, so I'd appreciate it if readers could confirm whether or not they exist and have bikes at them and I'll add a  "confirmed" tag next to them.  For those of you who like trivia, the Kennington Road Post Office docking station is the southernmost cycle docking point in London (as things stand).  I'm sure there'll continue to be calls to expand the scheme further south to Stockwell, Clapham and Brixton, since coverage is rather sparse south of the river.

SE11 Docking Stations [all now Confirmed operational]:


Kennington Road Post Office (capacity: 18 bikes)
Kennington Lane Rail Bridge (capacity: 19 bikes)
Lollard Street (capacity: 25 bikes)
Kennington Lane Tesco (capacity: 14 bikes)
Kennington Cross, (top of) Sancroft Street (capacity: 16 bikes)
Sancroft Street (capacity: 24 bikes)
Black Prince Road (capacity: 19 bikes)
Cotton Gardens Estate (Kennington Lane) (capacity: 16 bikes)
Walnut Tree Walk (just off of Kennington Road) (capacity: 16 bikes)

Additionally, the SE11 area benefits (or perhaps I should say, /will/ benefit) from another 6 nearby docking stations:

Docking Stations Near SE11

Vauxhall Cross (Pret a Manager) (capacity: 17 bikes) (Trivia: it's SW8's sole docking station) [Confirmed Operational]
Albert Embankment, SE1 (capacity: 24 bikes) [Confirmed Operational]
Fire Brigade Pier, SE1 (capacity: 17 bikes).  [Confirmed as non-existent]
Lambeth Road, SE1 (Near Garden Museum) (capacity: 18 bikes).  [Confirmed Operational]
Kennington Road, SE1 (Imperial War Museum) (capacity: 36 bikes) [Confirmed Operational]
Hampton Street, SE1 (just off of Newington Butts) (capacity: 21 bikes) [Confirmed Operational]

Here's a photo of the Kennington Road Post Office docking station at about 8.45am this morning.  I was delighted to find that it still contained bikes, but not so thrilled that my key (despite activation) appeared not to work to remove them from the docking point.  I watched another chap try in vain to insert the key and get a green light, but neither of us were in luck this morning (which might explain why plenty of bikes were still available).  I was told that my key might be faulty, but I tried again nearer to my workplace, and attained a green light.  Unfortunately, I was unable to remove the bike from the stand, but I'm told I might not be tugging hard enough!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are bikes now on Kennington Lane, by the Hurley clinic. Probably between 10 and 20. Not all the docking stations were filled tho - room for a few more (unless people had rented them already?!)

Anonymous said...

I can confirm that the Kennington Tesco rank has bikes and is operational. They've got a Barclays-branded helper offering advice for the curious, too.

SE11 Lurker said...

Ahh, I think the Kennington Lane docking station to which you refer is the Cotton Garden Estate one. I've add it as "confirmed" on the map; thank you.

The Kennington Road Post Office station is also only half full (and was last night, before anybody could use it). I think they're leaving them like that so that there's always room to add bikes.

Mark L said...

@Anon - they deliberately leave the racks half-full so that people who have picked up a bike elsewhere can drop off there.

There's also 35 bikes on the far side of Vauxhall Bridge, if the ones nearer to the station are all taken.

Adrian said...

There were about 10 bikes on the Hampton Street racks this morning. Some were empty, so either purposefully empty, bikes already in use, or not ready yet.

Anonymous said...

Did you take the key out again? You have to insert it, wait for the green light and then remove it before getting your bike out. Just an idea!

SE11 Lurker said...

Oh yes, I definitely took the key out. I've tried it at 4 differet stations, 2 with attendants at them. I'm certain it's the key.

Anonymous said...

Black Prince Road, Sancroft Street and Kennington Cross (top of Sancroft Street) are all in operation.

I assume the Kennington Road docking station in SE1 is the one outside the Imperial War Museum (which is strangely almost opposite the Walnut Tree Walk bikes which are actually also on Kennington Road). If so, this is also operational.

Just to be pedantic, has anyone else questioned calling the two stations on Kennington Road (the one by the Imperial War Museum and the Walnut Tree Walk one)Vauxhall on the signs. Surely this isn't Vauxhall??

There is also another nearby station at the top of Baylis road near Lambeth North Station.

Anonymous said...

Black Prince Road, Sancroft Street and Kennington Cross (top of Sancroft Street) are all in operation.

I assume the Kennington Road docking station in SE1 is the one outside the Imperial War Museum (which is strangely almost opposite the Walnut Tree Walk bikes which are actually also on Kennington Road). If so, this is also operational.

Just to be pedantic, has anyone else questioned calling the two stations on Kennington Road (the one by the Imperial War Museum and the Walnut Tree Walk one)Vauxhall on the signs. Surely this isn't Vauxhall??

There is also another nearby station at the top of Baylis road near Lambeth North Station.

AultonPlace said...

Beware if you have registered with more than one key. If you use one key to rent a bike you will be charged a hire fee for every key you hold. This means that you'll be charged for a service you're not using.

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