Transport for London
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Barclays Cycle Hire system upgrades pave the way for expansion in December

Upgrades will prepare for the expansion to south and west London.

  • New 0343 local rate contact number introduced and multi-key access available by mid September
  • Twelve month account history access available for registered members by end of the month
  • 'One swipe' for casual users will make it easier to hire bikes

New upgrades to the operating system of Barclays Cycle Hire will be implemented over the weekend of 14/15 September, paving the way for the expansion of the system to south and west London from December 2013.

The latest upgrades will make it easier to hire a bike as a casual user, provide better account history information to members, improved terminal information and clearer directions to the nearest available docking station.

Later this month members will also be able to view their full journey history for the previous 12 months, as well as allow cards associated with registered member keys to be used to hire bikes as a casual user.

This will be particularly useful if a member wishes to ask a friend to join them for a bike ride or a member has left their member key at home. Members will also be able to set up separate bike access periods for any additional keys registered to their account (if, for example, they would like to register 24-hour bike access to one key and annual to another).

To facilitate these changes, Barclays Cycle Hire will be unavailable to unregistered members from around 20:00 on Saturday 14 September until late on Sunday 15 September. Registered members with a valid access period will still be able to hire bikes during this period. Anyone who has hired a bike prior to this will still be able to dock a bike. This outage period is the shortest time possible for such an upgrade. Transport for London (TfL) will work to ensure that these works are carried out as scheduled to minimise any further disruption to users.

Customers wishing to speak to a Barclays Cycle Hire adviser can also now use a new local rate 0343 222 6666 number, which has replaced the current 0845 number. Work is now under way to update all docking stations and leaflets to display the new low cost number, helping people with any queries that they might have about the scheme to get a quick response.

Once live in December 2013, the scheme will cover more than 100km2 of London, making it one of the largest cycle hire networks in the world. More than 2,000 additional bikes and hundreds of new docking stations with around 5,000 docking points are being installed across London as part of the expansion of the scheme, half of which will be installed south of the river. In addition, more than 1,000 new docking points will be installed across central London, including around 55 new docking points within quarter of a mile of London Bridge station.

Nick Aldworth, General Manager at Barclays Cycle Hire, said: 'We are constantly working to improve Barclays Cycle Hire for all our customers and we are taking the opportunity to introduce our latest improvements as we upgrade the system in readiness for the expansion. We apologise for any inconvenience the upgrade may cause to people wishing to hire bike on September 15 and we will work with our contractors to ensure the work is completed as quickly as possible. I would urge members who wish to use the scheme on the Sunday to ensure that they have a valid access period before 8pm on Saturday 14 September.'

Barclays Cycle Hire, which recently celebrated its third anniversary, has seen almost 25 million hires since the launch of the scheme, with around 68 per cent of them being regular users.  More than five million journeys have been made so far in 2013, with close to one million carried out in both July and August 2013 alone. At the top five popular docking stations, cycles were hired at one of these five docking stations on average every 30 seconds between 07:00 and 19:00, demonstrating the huge popularity of the scheme.
 
Once the full extension is live TfL will begin work to investigate how to integrate Barclays Cycle Hire with the roll-out of contactless payments using credit, debit and charge cards, to make it a fully joined-up part of the transport network.

For more information, please visit tfl.gov.uk/barclayscyclehire

Additional information:

  • The creation of an easy-to-use cycle hire scheme was a key pledge of the Mayor's manifesto. Barclays Cycle Hire is now transforming the way that people make short trips around central London
  • The scheme, which costs just £2 for daily access and is free for the first 30 minutes, currently covers 65km2 of the Capital with more than 8,000 bikes available from 14,600 docking points
  • Earlier this year, the Mayor of London published his Cycling Vision for London, which aims to ensure two wheels are at the heart of our transport network. This vision included plans for expanding popular docking stations and encouraging companies, universities, colleges and hotels to install docking stations on their own premises
  • Around 93 per cent of all journeys made by Barclays Cycle Hire members have been under 30 minutes, which means that the vast majority of people using the scheme aren't paying any more than their access fees
  • Recent customer research showed that 49 per cent of Barclays Cycle Hire members say that the scheme has prompted them to start cycling in London and 29 per cent of members state that they have increased the amount they cycle on their own bikes as a result of the scheme
  • A membership key costs £3 with membership costs at £2 for a 24-hour membership, £10 for seven days and £90 for annual membership. The first 30 minutes of every journey is free
  • Members of the scheme must be at least 18 years old and you need to be at least 14 years old to use the scheme
  • TfL-funded adult commuter cycle training available from boroughs by visiting tfl.gov.uk/cycling

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