Over 6,000 bikes at 400 locations across the capital will be available to Londoners within just 18 months, London Mayor, Boris Johnson, announced this week.
According to a feasibility study released by Transport for London (TfL), the ambitious plans to provide a cycle hire scheme by May 2010 are achievable, and Johnson has now invited companies who are interested in running the scheme to get in touch.
Providing the Mayor gains agreement from all affected parties, Londoners will be able to pick up and drop off hire bikes across the nine boroughs and several Royal Parks that make up capital's zone one travel area.
A spokeswoman from TfL said: "Not all boroughs have given it an absolute green light because they first have to make sure their stakeholders and residents are content. But there is a huge amount of political good will for bike hire."
London has already seen a dramatic rise in the number of people cycling, with a 91 per cent increase on London's major roads since 2000. It is estimated that there are now approximately 500,000 cycle journeys made a day across London, and that the additional 6,000 hire bikes will generate a further 40,000.
The Mayor, said: "When Londoners elected me they knew they were getting a champion of cycling and someone that would be a peddler of pedal power. I have long held the view that a cyclised city is a civilised city; but if we are to get more Londoners onto two wheels rather than four we need to provide the facilities to help them do so.
"I hope a central London cycle hire scheme will inspire Londoners as a whole, and not just the adventurous few, to get on their bikes and give cycling a go. I believe that the work we are carrying out can make the capital a city of cyclists, where to use two wheels is common not curious."
The scheme, which takes its inspiration from the Velib programme in Paris, was originally put forward by the Mayor's predecesor, Ken Livingstone, but was quickly adopted by Johnson's as one of his manifesto promises.
JC Decaux, a French company that has set up cycle-hire schemes in 15 cities around the world, including Paris, said that it was "in principle" interested in bidding for the project.
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor's Director of Transport Policy, said: "The release of the feasibility study and the call for companies to tender to provide a cycle hire scheme are further steps towards providing the most sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly transport system ever seen in the Capital. We are working incredibly hard to ensure London will be in a position to hit the target of a 400 per cent increase in cycle journeys in London by 2025."
GLA Press Release, The Guardian
