Serco involvement is a perennial tragedy of modern-life-is-rubbishness, unfortunately.
Meanwhile, your intrepid Middle Earth correspondent has crossed the Aston Gap, battled her way through the Mad Max dystopia of Erdington, and climbed the bastard hill on the A5127 to reach the Royal Town Of I Can't Believe It's Not Birmingham, in search of...
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_07_05.sized.jpg)
Instant review: It's like a Boris Bike, but green and with a working seatpost clamp.
Unlike the London bikes, the dock is completely passive, with the electronics in the bike. Which should make deployment of the docks a lot cheaper.
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_08_14.sized.jpg)
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_27_16.sized.jpg)
To unlock, you use the Beryl app, either by NFC or by entering a 6-digit bike number. As if by magic, something goes *CLUNK* on the bike and it can be released. No getting a code from the Boris Computer on a little slip of paper, no crappy memberane switches.
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_07_32.sized.jpg)
The bikes themselves are pretty similar to the London ones. Heavy. 3-speed Nexus hub with the same sort of bit-on-the-low-side gearing (however, this is more useful in A Cold Field than it is in central London). It gets a bit spinny by about 15mph. The drum brakes perform well, but the levers are stiff and lacking in travel. Probably need to bed in a bit, of course.
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_18_24.sized.jpg)
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_18_32.sized.jpg)
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_18_51.sized.jpg)
There's a stand, and a front basket thing, and mudguards. Underwhelming be-seen lighting. Nice grippy pedals. The seatpost clamp design seems improved on the Boris Bike design, and has a long lever for plenty of clamping force. 47-507 (yes, 24" wheels!) Marathon Plus tyres pass the cattle grid test, and I did a little bit of Comedy Off-Roading without incident. The saddle is what I'd describe as a "5km saddle".
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_18_46.sized.jpg)
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_18_58.sized.jpg)
(https://www.ductilebiscuit.net/gallery_albums/wm_hire_bikes/2021_03_09_15_19_05.sized.jpg)
About the only thing missing is the motor, really. Electric bikes are supposedly in the pipeline.
So yeah. Hopefully they'll make it as far as Birmingham.
Starting the deployment in Sutton Coldfield makes sense in as much as they seem to be getting good use by people going for a pootle in Sutton Park, without needing a vast number of docks. The woman in my first photo hadn't cycled since she was 6, so there's that.