Indications are that Bixibike has merged heir bid (a producvt but no UK track record, with Serco – big on resources and track record with TfL but no product, as one of the 2 remaining bids for London version of Ve'Lib. thsi faces an equally challenging politically set timetable to be installed by May 2010 in time for the local elections. A major amount of preparation is already rolling with electricity supplies going in in advance of final detail, accepting that some sites may not get used, but the electricity company could not otherwise be certain to meet the required schedule.

Bixi was I think about a week late in launching as Paul had wanted to go there but was booked to be in Europe immediately after the original date.

Any data on susbscriber numbers, users per bike users per bike per day etc.

Barcelona looks to be the benchmark in this respect – around 210,000 susbscribers (and not offered to non-residents yet) and climbing from 6000 to 10,000 bikes, to get back to a better level of service at 20 subscribers per bike – any higher and you get bike famine conditions more frequently, and a settled 15 uses per bike per day