The London Cycle Hire scheme

Launched today London gains a whole set of cycle racks complete with cycles that can be hired A full Q&A can be found on the BBC site here; well I say full. It's time to play Spot the Flaws.

They've managed to eliminate a biggie right off the bat, the cycles don't come with locks so you can only drop them back off at the proper points. Ah but what if the point is full? Well you can find the next nearest one and you get 15 minutes extra free to get there.

So Question No.1 - If the rack is full how does it know that it's you trying to drop your bike off? I'm guessing from the video that the bikes have RFID chips or similar probably passive chips that draw power from inducement via the docking points; so that's close range. Okay fair enough you'll be prodding the screen while holding the bike.

However all that requires you to use a screen so Question 2 - What steps have been taken to prevent the screens being vandalised?

So about that docking station, currently you use a key to get the cycle out and just slot the bike back in to return it. Multiple questions - How do you know the bike is registered as being returned? If the RFID tag doesn't read is this indicated to the user? Is the software used to record, and in some cases charge, the usage written so as to prevent a bike ID being taken out if it's not registered as being returned?

The question of how to deal with a faulty bike is dealt with by pressing a "spanner" button on the docking point which locks the bike in and prevents its use. Question - What's stopping someone from walking down the row and pressing all the spanner buttons. Can it only be used shortly after docking?

To that end what's stopping some piece of scum walking along the entire row with a pocket knife slitting all the rear tyres? Are they puncture-proof tyres?

Although currently subscription based the ideal is that at some point anyone can use the bikes by paying online, using a phone, or at a terminal when they'll be given a keycode to unlock the bike. How does that work? I mean I assume that a keycode is generated at the point of sale, if I do this online or via phone will I have to designate a pick-up point or will my code work at any of the stations. How long is this code? If it's too long how do I remember it; if it's too short what protection is in place to stop someone just randomly tapping buttons in the hopes of getting a bike for free that I'd end up paying £300 for?

Just hoping someone's thought all this through. I do hope it works as a scheme.