Overnight the streets of London were filled with thousands of sparkling new bicycles, which are today available to hire in a bid by the London mayor to encourage more Londoners to cycle their way across the city.
The new initiative is called Barclays Cycle Hire and is intended to provide commuters and tourists of the capital with a tax-free way to travel by a more eco-friendly and healthy means. London mayor Boris Johnson says of the exciting new scheme: ‘My crusade for the capital to become the greatest big cycling city in the world has taken a gigantic pedal-powered push forwards.’ Gigantic it certainly is, as 12,000 Londoners have already signed up to use the 5000 bikes, which can be found at any of the 315 docking stations situated in several of the Royal Parks as well as Camden, City of London, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster.
As well as busy commuters, this is the ideal solution for tourists who wish to travel above ground on a low cost and fun transport, especially during the summer months. Keys for the bikes cost £3 and travelling costs vary from £1 for an hour up to £50 for 24 hours. Journeys under 30 minutes are free and you can choose 24 hours, seven days or annual membership, so rental is flexible and free for you.
During days of leisure on your London tour, be sure to take advantage of this fantastic initiative which will allow you to experience life as a Londoner as well as see the best parts of the city while keeping fit and being green.
Have you signed up for Barclays Cycle Hire yet? Do you like the idea? Would you hire a bicycle during a London tour? Let us know using the comment box below. We will tweet the best comments on twitter!
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Great post and a great suggestion, I did this last weekend and by far faster, healthier and more fun than getting a tube or walking.
You truly get to experience the soul of the city.
Are there other cities in the world that also have a cycle scheme similar to London? Would be very interested in taking a Trafalgar Tour to these places and tasted the freedom these bikes offer!
F.O.
Hey there Frederick!
Many European countries have already got involved with bike hire schemes and they are already proving very popular in cities like Amsterdam and Paris.
If you take a Trafalgar tour to Europe you’ll gain a guided insight to several cities and then on the ‘days of leisure’ you could hire a bicycle and see cities on your own terms.
Take a look at our Europe tours here.
Enjoy seeing the best of Europe’s cities by bicycle!
Travel Blog Editor
We arrive in London for the European Highlights tour on Chrsitmas morning… this might just be the perfect way for us to get around on a day when there will be very little traffic and no public transport in the city!
Hi Carol,
Wow that sounds idyllic! What a way to start such a brilliant tour too. The scheme is great value for money and you’ll get a more ‘local’ view of this fascniating city by bike. You’ll also get plenty of great photo opportunities owing to the lack of people, the beautifully festively decorated streets (be sure to check out Oxford Street!) and you never know, we may even have some snow!
Enjoy the start of your European Highlights tour by bicycle and the rest of it too!
Happy travelling,
Trafalgar Blog Editor