Two (presumably) separate sources tell me that the Mayor Johnson bike hire scheme will be run in partnership by Serco - as previously rumoured - and a Canadian company called BIXI. One of those sources is Roryer1, commenting here. The other says an announcement is scheduled for next Monday. TfL is sticking stoutly to its "in due course" line. Would any cyclists who bump into Boris, please ask him on my behalf and get in touch?
Serco, we know plenty about but BIXI less so. Based in Montreal, its name is a conflation of "bicycle" and "taxi". The company has been running a public hire scheme in its home city since May.
The good news is that this is expanding its service more quickly than predicted due to its popularity, the bad is that there have been problems with theft and vandalism as, sadly, there seem to be with all such schemes. BIXI's "public bike system concept" has won a design award.
One of my sources has heard that BIXI will supply the bikes, parking stations and "tracking software" and that Serco will run the scheme day to day. I stress that no one involved has yet confirmed or denied any of this, but I hope you'll agree that even if it turns out to be completely wrong this is tittle-tattle of compelling quality.
