OLYMPIC cyclist Chris Boardman has officially launched Liverpool's answer to the Boris Bike scheme.
“citybike”, no capitalisation, hopes to capitalise on our urge to be leaner and greener and aims to be the largest municipal bike hire scheme outside of, er, the capital.
The gold medallist got it all going at a Liverpool’s Pier Head photo opp.
Citybike, not to be confused with the city's other cycle hire scheme, Bike2Go, will be launched with 80 bikes available at ten locations across the city centre. The scheme, run by Liverpool City Council, aims to quickly expand to include areas such as Sefton Park and Lark Lane, and by 2015, there will be 1,000 bikes in over 100 locations across the city.
Chris Boardman said: “I’m a big fan of the citybike scheme. It offers a fantastic way to get around the city while also being cheap, green and good for your health.
“The bikes are really great to look at and very user-friendly with no chains to worry about. And for businesspeople using them to get to and from meetings, there’s a handy basket on the front too.”
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson said: “We hope to see a strong take-up for the scheme and have made it as easy as possible for people to register online and then hop on a bike at locations across Liverpool.
“This is a new and exciting era for transport in the city and one which I hope will be a huge success.”
Joining citybike costs from £3 a day.
The scheme is managed by Hourbike, which has similar projects in Southport and Nottingham, and is commissioned by Liverpool City Council using £1.5 million from Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF), allocated by the Department for Transport (DfT).
