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Barclays Cycle Hire was the winner of this years’ London Cycling Award for Best Cycle Facility.
Three of the other five main awards in 2010 were given to projects based in Tower Hamlets. Tower Hamlets Cycling Club won the highly contested award for Best Community Cycling Initiative. The Streets of Growth bike recycling project bike based in Tower Hamlets won the Best Cycling Initiative for Children or Young People category and The Tower Hamlets Cycle User Group, set up by Tower Hamlets Council won the Best Workplace Cycling Initiative award.
The London Cycling Awards, presented by LCC and sponsored by Butterworth Spengler Insurance, recognise projects that promote cycling in the Capital. Transport for London’s Head of Projects Mick Hickford was on hand to accept the award which was presented to him during LCC’s annual general meeting.
He said: “It was an honour to accept this award on behalf of everyone that has made Barclays Cycle Hire possible. We are delighted that LCC are able to recognise the freedom the scheme provides to the many thousands of people that are already Barclays Cycle Hire members.”
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London’s transport advisor, said:
“The Mayor and I are delighted to hear that Barclays Cycle Hire has been handed this prestigious award. The scheme has outstripped all of our expectations, is hugely popular and already very successful.”
Asok Sinha, CEO of LCC said: “The well deserved award for the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme reflects the wide popularity of the hire scheme and the fact that it makes the benefits of cycling accessible to thousands of people. We look forward to the expansion of Barclays Cycle Hire so that even more people can enjoy cycling in our Capital.”
More than 100,000 people have become members of ‘Boris Bike’ scheme since it started four months ago. Over 1.6 million journeys have now been made on the blue bikes, with around 20,000 trips being made every week-day.
The Chair of judges, Clare Neely said “The record number of nominations this year shows how many good initiatives there are out there. The cycle hire scheme is well known to most Londoners but the other winners and shortlisted projects are great examples of what can be easily replicated across London in schools, communities and workplaces.”
There were two joint winners in the new Best Non-Competitive Cycling Event category – Teddington Bike to Work week organised by the Teddington Travel to Work Network and the Friday Night Ride to the Coast organised by Simon Legg. London Cyclist magazine presented a special award to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham for their cyclist awareness programme for lorry drivers.
