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Oybikes have 24 rental stations Public transport is part of
the daily routine of millions of people, but few are
actually delivered right to their final destination. All too
often journeys involve a frustrating combination of buses,
trains or tubes - all punctuated by lengthy waits for a
service to arrive. Then there's the issue of what can be a
long walk from your stop to the place you actually want to
go. One solution might be Oybike, a new mobile phone-
operated bicycle rental scheme designed to make getting
around easier and faster. It is being trialled in
Hammersmith and Fulham, west London, where a number of
rental stations have been set up, but its inventors hope it
will soon be extended. Rental fees Anyone wanting to use an
Oybike signs up and pays a £10 annual fee, then uses their
mobile phone to unlock a bike for as long as they need. The
phone receives a pin number to unlock the bike at the start
of a journey and a second one to lock it at the end and to
determine how much the rider is charged. OYBIKE CHARGES - 15
minutes = 30p 16 - 30 minutes = 80p 31 minutes - one hour =
£2 One to eight hours = £8 Hire prices start at 30p for 15
minutes and rise to £8 for up to eight hours of time on an
Oybike. The first 28 rental stations are at locations
including tube and train stations, theatres and cinemas.
There are plans to introduce more, so Oybike collection and
drop-off is easier. Suit wearers will be happy to know that
the Oybikes do not use chains, so there's little chance of
getting oil on your clothes. Bernie Hanning, inventor of the
Oybike technology and founder of the project, said: "We want
it to become another component in the public transport
system," he said. "It will be like having a bicycle in your
mobile phone." Mini-city Hammersmith and Fulham was chosen
because it has "a lot of tube stations where people do not
get straight to their destination," said Mr Hanning. Also
important was the enthusiastic support of the local council,
as Oybike needs permission to put its rental stations on the
borough's pavements. Mr Hanning said Hammersmith and Fulham
was like a mini-city as it had 24 tube stations, two
football grounds and an exhibition centre. The rental
stations and bicycles have been in place for almost three
weeks and have so-far withstood the area's vandals. "There
were a few tires let down and some bell caps taken but
that's about all," My Hanning said. The Oybikes are now
being tested by local companies and user groups to see
exactly how useful they find them.
The bikes have a distinctive livery Mr Hanning said many
commuters might want to use them because many train firms
running services into London ban bikes at the busiest times
of the day. The recent tube strike also got a lot of people
interested in finding out about other ways to get around, he
said. "The interest has been really more than we hoped for
because we have not pushed out any PR or properly launched
it," he told BBC News Online. Other bike rental schemes
exist, but Mr Hammond believes none are as hi-tech as
Oybike. Smart Bike in France uses smart cards, while others
are coin-operated. At the end of a six months trial, it is
planned that the system will be handed over to a social
enterprise scheme. "We expect to be expanding across London
quite quickly," said Mr Hanning.