Picture this; I have just arrived into Parkway Train Station and I am looking to travel into the centre of town. It’s too far to walk, trains are too infrequent, the bus is unreliable and cramped, driving myself or in a taxi is too expensive and hardly eco-friendly, and it’s probably unrealistic to fly – what I need is a bicycle! Thank the lord then for Hour Bike, a new bicycle rent scheme to help you propel yourself across Bristol at your whim in a cheap, efficient and environmentally friendly way.

Parkway Station is just one of the eight locations where Hour Bike has installed bicycle ports, the others being on the Frenchay and St Matt’s UWE campuses and scattered across the centre of town (one outside the BRI, one by the fountains, one at the very top of Corn Street and one behind the Harbourside). The idea is you pick a bike up from one port location (after registering online) and then leave it at another, costing your £1 an hour for the privilege apart from the first hour, which is free.

The bikes aren’t the prettiest things in the world (they’re a Dawes sit up and beg style) but they have sturdy Sturmey Archer 5 speed gears that are intended to be used intensively. A lightweight city bike would not do at all and remember, they are designed to be used for short journeys, not for a jaunt to Bath and back. You can in fact use them for up to 24 hours, but if you exceed 48 hours, you’ll be thrown in Horfield Prison – only kidding! – it’s a £200 fine.

The scheme is still in its infancy, a pilot that is currently in discussions with Bristol City Council as to whether to continue or expand. Similar schemes have worked wonders in Paris where 16,000 bikes and 1,200 hubs have been installed. For Hour Bike to really work in Bristol it needs to be embraced and expanded with a few more ports. The top of Gloucester Road would be an ideal location; commuters could cycle downhill into town and leave the bike there. The bus could then take them back up the hill if they didn’t want to cycle.

The Hour Bike project is a good idea and if expanded properly, could be one part in really giving Bristol the cycling infrastructure it deserves. Since acquiring Cycling City status, the councils of Bristol and South Gloucestershire have deliberated on how to spend the £20-odd million pounds in their aim to double the amount of cyclists on our streets and this could be one step in doing so.

www.hourbike.com

Lizzie Woodall