Thanks to @londoncyclist for tweeting a link to this very nice dynamic visualisation of Barclay’s Cycle Hire station capacity by UCL’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA).
Here are a few screen shots I took of the vis from last night and this morning.
The Commuter Rush
In the image below you can see the number of bikes available in the past 24 hours. The two large dips indicate the commuter rush in the morning and the the commuter rush in the evening, whilst the smaller dip falls around lunch time.
Bicycles and Trains
The two images below show the number of bikes available at Belvedere Road and Baylis Road cycle stations. Both these stations are located in close proximity to Waterloo Station and quickly rose from empty to full capacity during the commuter rush back home. A similar pattern occurred around other rail stations in the city including Charing Cross, Euston, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross.
It appears as though commuters coming in from further a field or in the commuter belt around London are taking advantage of the Boris Bikes as an alternative to getting on the tube at these congested stations. Alternatively it could be that these stations are the entry point for a great deal more workers into London than any particular tube station.
The Morning Picture
Finally, the image below shows how the cycle stations looked at 9:25 this morning. Blue indicates empty and red indicates full, whilst those circles with an aqua blue border indicate completely full and those with a yellow border completely empty.
This images shows the inverse of the commuter rush from yesterday evening. Instead cycle stations near prominent commuter rail stations are empty and those in the West End and the City are full.
The Evening Standard (below) claims the Boris bike compares favourably with Paris’s Velib.
Yet there’s more Velib’s, more docking stations, covering a larger area, charging less for annual subscription, costing the taxpayer less, weighing less and closing roads along the city’s river every week rather than once a year.
Go figure.
I’ve googled this post’s title quite a lot since I snapped off my saddle last week on the way home from work. It turns out that Bontrager like to use very odd sizes of bolts that you local bike shop is unlikely to stock. In fact most people I spoke to were of the opinion I’d have to buy a whole new seatpost. Not so.
After some hunting I settled on a 50mm M7 socket capscrew bolt from Stig’s Stainless Fasteners. I hope this saves someone some time.
With free coffee, water, fruit and security stamping.
Wednesday 23 June
6:10 AM Eugh. Early.
9:28 AM Bumped into Hendry at the services. Probably the last i’ll see of her all weekend…
9:51 AM Queueing off the M5, its like glasto of old. 5 hours 10 mins till kick off.
11:56 AM Beer o clock.
12:20 PM Definitely considering sacking off the queue for the nearest pub with a tv.
12:38 PM I don’t mine spending time in the traffic queue. Its just when there’s people i know who left later and got further that i get annoyed.
1:25 PM M5 #fail #glasto
2:04 PM Fuck. 9 miles away.
2:19 PM Queueing: 5 and a half hours. Time till KO: 45 mins.
2:58 PM Retreated to the last pub before glasto
3:25 PM That, was liquid football.
It turns out I did see Hendry later that day.
Thursday 24 June
1:33 PM Glade bar now does herbal shisha!
7:16 PM This is beautiful. #glasto
10:30 PM – 11:30 PM | 3 Daft Monkeys | Avalon Cafe
11:09 PM Why hasn’t anyone done dubstep folk?
Friday 25 June
1:50 PM – 2:40 PM | The Stranglers | Other Stage
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Mumford & Sons | John Peel Tent
8:14 PM Binging on fruit pastilles after an over long evening nap.
8:45 PM – 9:45 PM | Hot Chip | Other Stage
9:02 PM How can such a bunch of geeky looking brits sound so good? #hotchip
10:07 PM Small world syndrome.Lasses from borrowash that know james gent.
11:15 PM – 12:15 AM | The XX | The Park
11:41 PM xx
11:56 PM I think you need a girlfriend to really appreciate the xx live.
xX PHONE DIES Xx
1:00 AM – 2:00 AM | Annie Mac | The Hub
3:00 AM – 4:00 AM | Skream | The Hub
Saturday 26 June
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM | The Dead Weather | Pyramid Stage
5:17 PM Glad to hear the pyramid stage is back to full strength
8:17 PM I’m looking forward to my double dose of dreadzone tonight!
8:30 PM – 9:20 PM | Editors | Other Stage
8:33 PM Favourite flag so far- ‘clunge’
8:56 PM Are you ready for dread pon sound!
9:00 PM – 10:10 PM | Dreadzone | The Glade
10:15 PM – 11:45 PM | Muse | Pyramid Stage
10:46 PM Muse
11:05 PM First headliners i’ve watched on the pyramid stage for a LONG time.
11:16 PM Is it not fucking crazy but brilliant that 100k people are brought to one place at one time for the sake of music?
11:46 PM Where the streets have no name . #muse #u2
1:00 AM – 2:00 AM | DJ Doorly | The Rabbit Hole
1:49 AM Waiting for second dose of dreadzone. Dad getting crash course in dubstep.
2:00 AM – 3:00 AM | Dreadzone | The Rabbit Hole
3:26 AM Just seen security nab some thieving little scally bastard.
4:00 AM Crowdsurfing in the telecorp lost luggage dept
Sunday 27 June
3:00 PM Watching england
3:33 PM Should have watched the temper trap.
3:50 PM “goal line technology” soon to be trending on twitter.
7:19 PM Has adopted centre stage for faithless this evening. Since when was there a barrier before the front?
7:29 PM People have camping chairs in the goods circle #hardcorefestivalfail
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Faithless | Pyramid Stage
10:00 PM – 11:30 PM | Orbital | Other Stage
10:22 PM Its been 6 years but orbital are back on the other stage with avengence. 25 mins in. No break.
10:35 PM Oh my. Dnb remix of satan dropped live by orbital.
10:41 PM Orbital bringing their 04 set up to date with some genre hopping. Respect.
11:18 PM If orbital drop a dubstep version of the box i will wet my pants.
11:21 PM Dr who cameo orbital glasto
11:30 PM – 12:00 AM | The Levellers | Glade Stage
12:49 AM Silent dubstep. #filth
1:00 AM – 2:30 AM | Silent Disco DJ’s | Silent Disco
Monday 29 June
1:25 PM Hmmm. No breakfast, queue moving quickly past fast food vans. Should have made a pack up.
1:54 PM I don’t think i’ve ever waited for a buffet cart announcement with such anticipation.
5:04 PM Yay! Rush hour!
6:18 PM It took all of 5 mins at rush hour on our wonderful underground public transport network to transform me back to an angry londoner. Sigh.
Now listening to
