LONDON MAYOR PLEDGES 6,000 HIRE BIKES FOR CAPITAL

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has outlined more details of his ambitious plan for a city-wide bike hire scheme in 2010.

A total of 6,000 hire bikes will be available in 400 locations across London, including nine London boroughs - Camden, Hackney, Lambeth, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Westminster - and several Royal Parks.

Transport for London (TfL) predict that the scheme will generate around 40,000 extra daily trips by bike in the centre of the capital. TfL published the results of a feasibility study on Tuesday that confirmed the scheme would work.

?When Londoners elected me they knew they were getting a champion of cycling and someone that would be a peddler of pedal power," Johnson said. "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.?

According to TfL statistics, the number of people cycling in the city has increased 91 per cent since 2000. It estimates that half a million cycle journeys are completed every day in London alone.

Tenders are now being accepted by TfL from companies interested in running the hire scheme.

Earlier this week Sainsbury's Home Insurance published research stating that 12 per cent of Britons now cycle to work.

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