Barclays Cycle Hire

The long awaited London cycle hire scheme is making progress every day. Whether that be new bollards springing up in the ground where the cycle hire bikes will be placed or announcements such as the name of the scheme. In fact this is one of the announcement’s I was most eagerly awaiting.

After all there are some pretty creative names out there:

• “VeloV” in Lyon
• “Velib” in Paris
• “Bixi” in Montreal.

So surely in London, will all our creative minds, we will be able to come up with something cool and edgy. What will the London Cycle Hire Scheme be called?

“Barclays Cycle Hire”

Now, I realise London is strapped for cash, much like the rest of the UK, but I’m not going to feel very hip riding around on a Barclays Cycle Hire Bike along a Barclays Superhighway. So why is there not some kind of 4-6 letter word we could use for our cycle hire scheme?

Something along the lines of VELOndon, VeloDN, Bacycl or CycLon. Except less rubbish!

The £25 million Barclays paid will give them branding on the bicycles, maintenance support vehicles and on the uniforms of maintenance staff. As well as on all marketing and communications.

Future expansion of the Barclays Cycle Hire and roadshows

The good news from the sponsorship is that the scheme may potentially be able to expand more rapidly to areas such as Canary Wharf and outer London. This is according to LCC’s announcement.

Along with the announcement TfL also revealed that there will be 45 roadshows for people to checkout the new Barclays Cycle Hire bikes and docking stations. The roadshows will give Londoners all the information they need to use the cycle hire scheme when it launches. You can see a list of the roadshows.

Another press image blooper

We were also treated to a new “artists impression”. These have gained a bit of a reputation for hilarity. The cyclist who is “undocking” from the stand is wearing a helmet. He must be one of the few people in the world who own a bicycle helmet but not a bike. I certainly won’t be expecting many people wearing helmets when the scheme launches on the 30th of July.

See also:

• Will you be registering for the cycle hire scheme?
• Riding around on the new London Cycle Hire Bike
• Using the Barclays Cycle Hire Docking stations
• 3 great routes to try on the cycle hire bikes
• Sneak peek inside the London Cycle Hire app
• Where is your nearest London Cycle Hire stand?