Recently updated on August 30th, 2022 at 05:37 pm
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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