Forum Topic

Mobike outbreak in Ealing

I see that orange  Mobikes have been breeding all over Ealing.Has anyone tried them out yet?

nick robinson ● 3174d12 Comments

I, too, have noticed the Mobike outbreak in Ealing (I had to Goggle 'orange wheeled bicycles' for an explanation).  Apparently each bike has a GPS positioning locator.  There's a bunch of the bikes parked outside Hanwell Station. My guess is that company Mobike will soon be familiarising themselves with the GPS co-ordinates for 'bottom of the River Brent'.

Tony Heath ● 3173d

There are also some outside South Ealing tube station.https://mobike.com/global/blog/post/mobike-london

Philippa Bond ● 3173d

There are some in Windmill Road just opposite The Plough. Very handy for getting home from the pub!

Pat Kingham ● 3173d

And outside the Kent PH in Scotch Common.

Martin C. Harris ● 3173d

Is there that much demand? Can't help but think that most potential and actual cyclists in outer London Boroughs probably have their own bikes that they store in the garden or in purpose made cycle shelters in the new apartment blocks.I recently read an article with photo of a huge pile of such bikes (I am guessing in the low hundreds) in a Chinese city that had to be collected by the authorities because they were abandoned or damaged on the street.Good idea but hope that does not happen here.

Philip Coe ● 3172d

The piles of bikes in Chinese cities are in their many thousands!! https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/25/chinas-bike-share-graveyard-a-monument-to-industrys-arrogance

Kris Smith ● 3172d

It can give people a taste of the freedom of being able to jump on a bike and ride off.  If we get a Cycle Superhighway like those in other parts of London and proposed in nearby Chiswick High Road mightn't that change people's opinions.  There are so many blocks of flats being built without any or enough car parking.  As travel gets more difficult by car bike riding is going to become more attractive.

Philippa Bond ● 3172d

But if Cycling is going to be more common then we need people to make themselves visible. It is quite scary at times driving at night trying to avoid cyclists dressed in black with no lights. when i worked in Rotterdam people wore brighter clothes and if we didn't have decent lighting then the Police would jump on you. Cycle safety lessons in schools and simple training sessions in roadcraft. As a driver i pay insurance, have had to learn the highway code and pass a test. When you look at a significant proportion of cyclists you can see that they don't care. With proper training and roadcraft would we have lost so many cyclists killed when lorries turn left? Yes we need more cycle tracks but they need to avoid the heavily polluted main roads. putting cycle lanes on the uxbridge road where it is not fit for people to breathe who are walking is a bad step for health. So cleaner emissions from buses, vans etc.. so important. When i worked in town i saw a couple of accidents with Boris Bikes and also several near misses. If we are going to encourage cycling then we need lessons in schools for starters

Peter Chadburn ● 3172d

I assume no docking stations makes the scheme simpler and cheaper to implement and offers more flexibility for the rider/hirer in terms of pick up and drop off points.But it does seem to have the potential to be more chaotic.  I have seen some bikes left in unlikely positions for a quick pick up (not yet at the bottom of the Brent as predicted earlier in this thread) but presumably these are rounded up from time to time and left in their preferred (busier) locations.

Philip Coe ● 3172d

AFAIK there are lessons in schools but it is a Catch 22 situation.  Many parents are not going to allow their children on the road unless they are safer for cycling and it would be safer on the roads if there were fewer cars...I agree that a lot more needs to be done.  It is a shame that all the emphasis has been on cleaner cars when there are a lot of dirty lorries and vans.  I know it is more difficult to have clean engines but it would be interesting to see what other countries have done regarding larger vehicles in cities.Completely agree about bikes and riders - and pedestrians - needing to be visible at night AND in the rain.  I couldn't believe recently the number of cars without lights driving on the motorway in the rain with a lot of spray.  Tfl has adverts re cutting speed when it rains but nothing about being seen!  Reckless driving has increased too.  During this holiday we experienced four worrying incidents caused by reckless driving in about 100 metres.  Not enough police.

Philippa Bond ● 3172d

Apparently in China this has become a major social problem with 60 operators in certain cities and mountains of bikes block pavements. Lots of investment capital has been poured into these companies and they are desperately trying to crowd any competition out of the market. It was predicted a lot of the operators will go bust. Things seem more regulated here in the UK but if Mobikes Chinese operation goes under then people may be at risk of losing their deposits.

Tricia Arbuthnot ● 3171d

Yes my thoughts are that the current lack of Police budget means that no enforcement will take place. Yes more needs to be done but there is an anti-car bias in planning that means that the only way people can manage traffic is to slow it down further in order to pump out more pollution. Cleaner cars has not been tackled as the VW scandal has shown. A lack of will by the government and the EU to rectify the situation.

Peter Chadburn ● 3171d