Bike Hire Scheme To Launch in Zone 1

Boris cycling to work, his unruly hair squashed under a precariously-balanced helmet, was one of the images of last year's mayoral election campaign. And now the self-confessed 'peddler of pedal power' is launching his much-trumpeted cycle-hire scheme across the zone one area.

The proposed scheme will operate across the whole of London and will involve 6,000 bikes being parked for hire at some 400 different locations. Travellers can pick up a bike, ride around at their leisure, before parking their steed at any other hire spot in the capital.

The scheme is due to roll out in 2010, and TFL hope to replicate the success of the similar "Velib' bike scheme that launched in Paris last year. Of course, the London scheme will need some pretty hefty D-locks in operation, as anyone who rides to work over here will testify. Let's just hope our city's cycle-lifting scallies give the scheme a break in the spirit of saving the planet... come on bike thieves, it's time you went green with the rest of us!

Photo courtesy of WVS's photstream under the Creative Commons license.