Boris bikes could become a common sight in west London, after Hammersmith & Fulham Council agreed it would help bring them to the borough.
The council decided last week that a £2 million contribution towards the popular Barclays Hire Scheme will be paid but that developers will foot the bill – not the council taxpayer.
Also, the first potential docking station sites have been announced, with the council and Transport for London (TfL) currently narrowing down an original list of 200 potential spots across the borough to around 70.
Greg Hands M.P. said, "My Chelsea constituents have had access to Boris Bikes for some months now, and it will be great to see the scheme extended to Fulham."
Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, H&F Council cabinet member for transport and technical services, said: "We are very keen to see the Boris Bike revolution expand westwards quickly. The council has suggested scores of possible docking station sites to TfL – many originally put forward by residents – and we have been reviewing them all.
“This is an excellent scheme that will encourage more people to get on their bikes and will not cost our residents a penny, as it is being paid through Section 106 money that is used for community improvements.”
TfL aims to install docking stations every 300-400 yards, with each stand hosting a minimum of 25 bikes. That means a total of around 1,500 hire bikes would come to the borough, if Phase 3 of the scheme to extend westwards is approved by TfL’s board later this year.
Sites that have been approved as viable by the council are Lillie Road, West Cromwell Road, North End Crescent, Blythe Road, and the Gorlesten Street entrance to Marcus Garvey Park.
Over 200 people contacted the council last year as part of the ‘Get H&F Moving’ campaign to offer their views on where the bike stations could be put, with officers from the council and TfL also making suggestions for spots. Each of the places has to be reviewed against a set of strict criteria to see if the site is suitable.
Each station will have to be agreed by TfL and would have to receive planning permission before anything is finalised. TfL will also hold a series of public consultation events about the scheme and locations of the stations in October.
The Barclays Cycle Hire scheme has 160,000 registered users – 3,900 of whom are H&F residents – with 8,333 bicycles at 587 docking stations across London. There is already one at Olympia train station, on the Kensington and Chelsea side of the border, and in spring this year four stations were installed at Westfield shopping mall in Shepherds Bush as part of Phase 2 of the scheme.
TfL is currently working on Phase 3 proposals to expand westwards to H&F, Wandsworth, Lambeth and Kensington & Chelsea.
Click here to see a map of the potential bike docking stations.
The consultation days will be held on:
- Thursday 4 October, 12pm-2pm: Hammersmith Lyric Theatre, King Street, W6 0QL
- Thursday 4 October, 5.30pm-7.30pm: Fulham Library, 598 Fulham Road, SW6 5NX
- Saturday 6 October, 10am-2pm: Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd’s Bush, W12 8LJ