The labelling of something as a tourist attraction seems to be the latest angle of spin that Blackpool Council are using to justify their projects. Yesterday they announced that there would be a cycling revolution starting in the town.
So what is it? Simply a means to rent a bike for £8 per day. Not exactly a revolution but something slightly different, I suppose. Bear in mind you can drive and park in town all day for less than and the project is devalued a lot for locals.
I’m a bit worried about the implementation as well. Apparently you phone a number, pay for the bike and obtain a keycode which will unlock the bike from a bike collection point. What’s stopping you stealing it? Where can you leave it securely if you want to visit any attractions?
Apparently this scheme has been welcomed by cycling enthusiasts: always good when talking about a cycling project.
Maxine Callow stated, “When this scheme is fully up and running there is no reason why people will not be able to jump on a bike from wherever they are.”
We shall see. It sounds like more thought is needed before she rolls out the 100 bike collection stations promised.
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Did you notice how all the people in the photo, bar Maxine, were on the bikes, whereas she was just stood next to hers? Hohoho…
Anyhoo… These were pretty much my thoughts, too. £8 for a bike sounds like a bargain – provided you keep it. £8 to hire a bike is a bit much, though…
And what I don’t get is, okay, you can hire them and then return them to whichever hire station you want, but what if all the units are full at the station you want to return it to?
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Oh yes I noticed that. It’s a shame they didn’t zoom the picture out to see her town hall limousine parked on double yellows nearby!
It would actually be quite funny to see if a large group hired all the bikes at Starr Gate and left them all at North Shore. Er, North Beach. Who’s going to move them back to Starr Gate?
Like you, I can’t fathom what is going to make people actually return the bikes unless some sort of deposit is taken from a credit card over the phone (which will put a lot of people off).
What if you leave your bike outside say, the Sea Life centre so you can go in there for an hour? What if someone takes it thinking, as Mrs Callow says, “there is no reason why people will not be able to jump on a bike from wherever they are”?
Nobody is going to ride up an down the promenade all day: there are no marked cycle tracks on it anyway. I saw a massive… 1 cyclist the other day on the Promenade and I was around there for about three hours.
Maybe it’s not intended for cycles to use it because the road alongside does have a cycle lane, but I thought as part of the Cycling Town scheme this was one of the reasons Blackpool was labelled as such.
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Well, one thing about Blackpool’s main promenade area at the moment is that, well, it’s not really suitable for cycling in its present condition.
Do you think the scheme is operational out of season?
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I don’t see why not given that it’s supposed to be “automatic”. Although whether there would be any bikes left after a week or so is another matter!
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I’m thinking more about the ‘coastal conditions’ in January…
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Maybe they’ll put inflatables on them and advertise them as pedalos
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