Green Bike Scheme Launches in London

Visitors to London have a new, green way to get around the city. Barclays Cycle Hire launched in the Capital last week, offering city dwellers and tourists a new, green way to get around.

To date, over 5,000 bikes have been made available for use as part of the new scheme, with journeys of under 30 minutes being free of charge. Organisers Transport for London are hoping more people will be encouraged to get on their bike instead of taking a taxi, bus or tube.

The new bikes provided for the TFL cycle scheme

Anyone wanting to use one of the bikes must first register with the scheme by telephone or online and pay a membership fee using a debit or credit card. A membership key costs £3 with access costs at £1 for a 24 hour membership, £5 for one week or £45 for a year’s access. Once registered, members can pick up a bike from one of over 300 docking stations dotted around Central London.

Initial signs are encouraging with over 21,000 members already registered with the scheme. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘Just three days into our cycle hire scheme we’re seeing Londoners embracing the freedom of pedal power and are signing up in their droves.

‘Our 21,000 pioneering members have already made more than 14,000 journeys since we launched on Friday. With every new day, these gleaming machines are transforming our streets and are putting us well on our way to becoming the best big cycling city in the world.’

Organisers are said to have been inspired by similar systems in cities such as Paris and Oslo which have had successful city bike hire schemes for several years.

Using one of the bikes costs nothing for the first thirty minutes, £1 for the next thirty minutes and then increases significantly for longer durations. This had led to concerns that tourists could be caught out, not realising that the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme is not suitable for days spent exploring the city on wheels.

Among future plans for the scheme are including increasing the number of cycles available to 6,000 and increasing the number of locations where members can pick up a bike. Boris Johnson has high hopes for the scheme, hoping that once established it will add to the appeal of a city that attracts millions of international visitors each year.