jefmcg

https://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/Brompton.aspx
https://pilot.bromptondock.co.uk/pilot.php

elzy0000

Do like

Azreal911

To me it is the "english" version to the Velib in Paris France. But i'm not sure how long can you take them out, seems like all day.

snafu21

I hope it succeeds. But 80 Bromptons each worth £500+ in a tow away box will be a target for thieves. They are already ripping out bus-shelters in London, and selling them for scrap.

A scrap-yard manager on the radio this morning moaned that thieves had ripped down the railings at the rear of his scrapyard, driven them around to the front and sold them to him as scrap.

How very enterprising.

jefmcg

Actually, it's quite different. There is an English version of Velib. it's clumsily called Barclay Cycle hire scheme so we call them Boris Bikes, but it uses the Montreal Bixi.

Anyway, the point of the velib is to use it quickly and return it within half an hour and get another one when you need it You pick it up at one point, cycle to your destination and leave it there. The longer you take it, the more expensive it gets. If you take a boris bike for 24 hours, it's yours (the fine is equal to the charge for lost or stolen bikes). The bromptons are more like traditional hire: the longer you take it, the cheaper it is, and no one would take it for 1/2 hour, they would be generally getting on a train to London after hiring. And you have to return it to where you originally got it from.

Only differences to traditional hire and the pods are that it's automatic, and you don't have to agree to hire length when you take the bike.

SWT trains are already lending out Bromptons cheaply: this is just taking the man power out of the equation.

keke

Now at Bristol Temple Meads:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-19925674


More info on their website including reasonable tarrifs methinks especially the Trial tariff: https://www.bromptondock.co.uk/how-do...k/our-tariffs/

A convenient way to see if the Brompton fits your life - an extended demo!

fietsbob

How does the insurance work if it gets nicked while in your possession?

like a you broke it you bought it, did you just buy it with your credit card?

or does it interlink with Coin Op insurance?

jefmcg

If you read the FAQ, you'll see you are responsible for it. You could probably add it to your household insurance, but as the conditions of hire you're not supposed to leave it chained anywhere, it should be pretty safe.

Coin Op insurance: is that a USAsian thing?

jefmcg

PS Looks like SWT is wrapping up their much cheaper scheme - fully serviced Brompton from £100/year!

MadCityCyclist

Don't expect it in the USA anytime soon, because folding bikes are at the cutting edge of the cycling lifestyle here and it will take a while for the general populous, the brain-dead oxygen-sucking egotistical TV-worshiping psychopaths they are, to understand the value in the idea. In fact, all other possible options, no matter how nonsensical they are, will have to be exhausted before these idiots will even consider an alternative they weren't first alerted to by Fox News.

smallwheeler

U mad?

FoldingLawrence

Very cool. Though one of the benefits of a brompton over other folders is it's so much easier to bring with you rather than have to lock it up and leave it somewhere.