Dalston has identified a potential hire-point for the Mayor of London’s rental bicycles: the space by the Mural in Dalston Lane. It seems logical: opposite is the overground station, gateway to the East London Line, the much-admired Ell.
The Barclay bike-hire scheme’s operator, Transport for London, has not yet installed any docking stations in north Hackney. The mural space is an obvious possibility, apart from the station itself, where Loving Dalston successfully campaigned for the inclusion of under-cover, security-guarded cycle racks for travellers using their own bicycles.
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s transport adviser, told Loving Dalston today 12 Oct 2010: “The Mayor’s flagship cycle-hire scheme has got off to an excellent start, hitting the million-journey mark within ten weeks of launch.
“But the Mayor has always made it clear that he considers this the first phase of an expanding programme and we are studying ways of doing so, which could include adding to the number of docking stations in the existing cycle-hire zone or increasing the geographical area that the scheme covers.”
The second phase: that’s where the hope lies. Loving Dalston will continue to discuss with Ranger its suggestion of a Mural docking station.
The Barclays/Boris bikes are a great innovation and it is really unfortunate that they haven’t ventured very far into the Olympic boroughs yet. I had to travel to the Geffrye Museum to pick one up – http://hackneyholiday.blogspot.com/2010/10/easy-rider.html – the nearest docking station to us. There should be a string of docking stations inviting people to explore East London and visit the Olympics sites ahead of 2012.