Hiring a Brompton.

Having trialed a Brompton Bike Hire last week we felt it was worth commenting upon a very different experience. Whilst the scheme is not in direct competition with the myriad of bike share schemes in many cities the comparison will often be made even though the expected utilisation of these bikes will be quite different. The bikes are available in many cities across the UK, generally at mainline rail stations (not just London) with 6 sites in Birmingham and 2 in central London and 16 in the Greater London area for example, availabilty displayed here - Brompton Locations.

Whilst this is a different experience to the bike sharing schemes we have used and reported on it is worth reviewing the similarities and differences overall:

* see our Blog for the nuances as it is not a binary subject A users guide to bike sharing (financial) - updated October  and the Beryl Bikes

 The bikes are "hired" from a storage unit that the bikes are locked in, they are booked via the app which provides a release code and importantly when you want to return the bike, a locking code. There is a pictorial on the bike as to the folding and unfolding process, which as an uninitiated Brompton user I did require a little knowledge for a quick and smooth process, but genuinely as a first time probably took me 2 mins max. Obviously the benefit of cycling the Brompton over a "Boris" bike is clear, it is so much easier to get around town.

Now the major twist:

You fold the bike and take it to your meeting - you are paying per day; no looking for a bike rack at the last minute to find it's a 10 minutes walk from the meeting that is already starting (as normally happens to me when I least need it).

The fee structure is very simple:

So far what we have described is a direct competitor to the the bike share scheme; but it isn't. There are only a relatively small number of bikes, in Central London there are no more than 20 storage units for bikes, so using on a daily basis would be a challenge (I used these bikes last week as London was getting very quiet). But consider a different model, if I'm travelling to Cambridge for a few meetings, I can hire the bike in London and take it on the train and use it for the day, returning in the evening - or a weekend away. Or travelling into London and hiring the bike and keeping it with you for the time you are there etc. It's a different mindset but very practical.

Very happy cycling between meetings for the day I had the Brompton and was tempted to keep it overnight and use the next day (before all the meetings where cancelled). So eventually parked it back at the Brompton Dock, the great combination of a folding helmet and a folding bike for the day (the Blue Rose design is going to be available soon).