Concerns have been raised that the London cycle hire scheme is not inclusive to the capital’s diverse communities, after mayor Boris Johnson broke his pledge for it to cost taxpayers nothing.
The mayor initially promised to deliver his flagship scheme - which has seen more than 8,000 bikes made available at 500 docking stations across the city - ‘at no cost to the taxpayer’.
But it recently emerged three London boroughs – Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Hammersmith & Fulham – are each contributing £2m to the project, which has just celebrated its second anniversary.
One transport insider said: ‘The massive set up costs and daily running expenses are not covered by the scheme’s sponsor, Barclays, nor its users. So local authorities are having to cough up some of the cash.’
Mr Johnson boasts the scheme is one of the most cost effective ways of travelling around central London. Figures suggest an average cost of 12p per ride for members who use it on a regular basis. But assembly members question who the scheme is actually serving.
A Transport for London (TfL) customer satisfaction survey from September – obtained by Surveyor – reveals more than three-quarters of the scheme’s users are men and half earn upwards of £50,000 per year, while 88% are white.
London’s Liberal Democrat leader, Caroline Pidgeon, who is chair of the capital’s transport committee, told Surveyor: ‘It is time that the bike hire scheme stepped up a gear and dramatically improved its performance and delivered a service to a far wider range of people. If the London bike hire scheme is to continue to be publicly subsidised it must start delivering for everyone.’
The Lib Dems want the scheme to be made more inclusive so a ‘far wider group of users’ can enjoy the benefits of cheap and healthy travel. They are calling on the mayor to promote it to women and younger adults, expand it to south London and include it as part of the Oyster pay as you go scheme as originally planned by TfL.
‘The London bike hire scheme has played a big role in changing attitudes towards cycling,’ Ms Pidgeon added. ‘Incredibly London boroughs are even getting their cheque books out to help fund the expansion of a TfL project, despite the mayor pledging to the electorate that it would never cost a penny in public funding.
‘These changes are even more startling when one remembers that only three years ago there was so much opposition to many of the initial bike docking stations.’
