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Barclays in funding talks over Boris Bikes extension
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Transport for London, the Mayor of London’s office and Barclays are understood to be in discussions that could see the bank provide additional sponsorship funds for the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which is being expanded eastwards in time for the Olympic Games.
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s transport adviser, is quoted by the Bloomberg news agency as saying that any extension to the scheme by Spring 2012 would need “additional funding in the low millions of pounds” and that the Mayor’s office was having funding discussions with Barclays now about them providing additional sponsorship to the cycle hire scheme to pay for the extension of the project the east of the city.
Mr Ranger stressed that any transport infrastructure investment such as the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme would always likely to require some form of subsidy.
Barclays
A spokesman for Barclays confirmed to Bloomberg that it was in talks with the Mayor of London’s office about extra funding. Barclays is currently contributing £25m to the cycle hire scheme as part of a five year contract with Transport for London but London’s Mayor Boris Johnson has been pushing for more money from Barclays.
Extension eastwards
Transport for London announced last year it would extend the cycle hire scheme to cover Bethnal Green, Bow, Canary Wharf, Mile End and Poplar. These districts are all very close to the Olympic Park. Altogether 2,000 more cycles and 4,200 extra docking points would be added to the existing scheme in central London.
Transport for London envisages that the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme will break even in three to four years time.
See also
Bike hire scheme launches in Newcastle
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What surprised me most about the bike hire scheme was when I went for a long ride around London at the weekend – the number of tourist using the system was amazing. I think there are a number of hidden bonuses to the scheme not really taken into account
1) The tourist benefit to London
2) The making of London seem like a friendlier and less frentic place to visitors
3) An introduction to those unsure of whether they want to cycle in London – it enables them to try it (and catch the bug) without the initial large capital expenditure.
I hope it continues to grow – it may not be for me personally but I see many benefits (addiional to those above) from this scheme.