Wandsworth Beats Putney In Use Of Boris Bikes

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But Battersea residents are making the most of the facility

The Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme is proving a big hit with Wandsworth residents with nearly 23,000 journeys in the borough last month.

A total of 22,979 individual bike rides took place in Wandsworth throughout February – showing that the newly arrived hire scheme is quickly proving popular with local people.

The distinctive blue bicycles first came to the borough in December when 60 docking stations opened in Putney, Wandsworth Town, Clapham Junction and Battersea. A spokesman for the Concil said:
"The council fought hard to persuade Transport for London to extend the scheme into the north of the borough and will now be pressing TfL to expand it further southwards to Earlsfield, Southfields, Wandsworth Common, Balham and Tooting as quickly as possible."

Last month the area around Battersea Park proved to be the most popular destination with 1,305 journeys to and from the docking station in Albert Bridge Road, 1,206 uses of the docking station at Queen’s Circus, which is directly adjacent to the park’s south easterly entrance, 940 uses on the nearby Ethelburga estate and 558 a stone’s throw away in Alfreda Street. Battersea as a whole saw the highest level of use with a total of 9,855 bike rides.

There were also more than 3,500 uses in Wandsworth town centre, more than 3,000 in Clapham Junction town centre, just under 2,300 from Putney High Street and more than 1,000 in Nine Elms.

Transport spokesman Cllr Russell King said:
“These are very encouraging figures, especially when you consider the really wet weather we had at the beginning of February. The numbers show that the scheme is proving a big hit with residents and we expect the figures to carry on rising as the weather improves and more and more people get into the habit of using this important new form of local transport."

He continued:
“Using these hire bicycles to get around can help reduce traffic jams, reduce pollution and ease overcrowding on our tubes, trains and buses. In many cases it is cheaper and more convenient than traditional public transport or driving and it helps people keep fit as well. Of course it won’t be the right choice for everyone but it does give our residents a genuinely useful new transport option.

To encourage more people to take to two wheels, Wandsworth council runs free cycle safety training courses. To find out more visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/cycling

March 25, 2014