The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today heralded a "new dawn" in London’s bid to become the greatest big cycling city in the world as he launched the jewel in the crown of his cycling revolution. Docking one of thousands of new bicycles at a Barclays Cycle Hire station in the shadow of the London Eye, the Mayor was joined by Marcus Agius, the Chairman of the scheme’s sponsor Barclays, and London’s Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy.
The creation of an easy to use cycle hire system was a key pledge of the Mayor’s manifesto. Just over two years since his election Barclays Cycle Hire is now set to transform the way that people make short trips around central London.
Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week the Capital’s newest form of public transport stretches from Notting Hill Gate to Wapping, and from Regents Park to Borough Market. Londoners using the scheme can from today take a cycle from one of 315 docking stations based every 300m or so throughout the centre of the Capital, with a total of 5000 bikes available. People should never be more than a couple of minutes away from a docking station in central London.
Speaking at the launch event this morning the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "Londoners have awoken to a new dawn for the bicycle in the Capital. Overnight racks have been filled with thousands of gleaming machines that will transform the look and feel of our streets and become as commonplace on our roads as black cabs and red buses. My crusade for the Capital to become the greatest big cycling city in the world has taken a gigantic pedal powered push forwards."