Mobikes ride into West Ealing
05 January 2018
Download the app. Set up your account. Get riding!
Mobike is a cashless, station-free bike sharing option to help ease your commute. The distinctive silver and orange bikes have appeared after being trialled elsewhere in the borough and across cities in the UK. Crucially for the scheme, there are no docking stations as you can leave the bike anywhere as long as it is in public and doesn’t obstruct the pavement – outside the shops, the pub, the library – wherever you are going!
To use the service, users simply need to download the Mobike app, register, and scan the QR code on the bike. With Mobike’s proprietary smart-lock technology, scanning the QR code instantly unlocks the bike and allows the user to ride it away. To complete their ride, users need only to park the bike at any authorized bike parking areas near to their destination and manually close the lock on the bike.
An initial (fully-refundable) deposit of £29 is required and users are then charged 50p per 30 minutes, so the bike is best suited to shorter journeys. The bike is lighter and easier to ride than a ‘Boris’ bike (which we don’t have in West Ealing yet).
It will be interesting to see how these bikes are used in West Ealing and if it makes a difference to Uxbridge Road or footfall along the Broadway as people can hop on and off their bikes more readily than the bus.
On your bike West Ealing!