Jaunted

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London Wants to Share Bikes With You (Some Day)

Every smart city's jumping on the bike sharing bandwagon these days, usually comparing their plan to Paris's Velib scheme (although they're rarely as big or as good).

This time it's London's turn to announce a bike sharing system, which might make it practically compulsory for other Olympic cities in the future. London's version doesn't have a cool name yet (or even an uncool one)--they're just at the stage of finding companies who want to run it. But keen cyclist and mayor Boris Johnson is promising to start off with 6,000 bikes with 400 different "docking stations."

They're proposing a sensible deposit for using a bike (presumably a credit card swipe will do) but also an annual fee, which isn't very tourist-friendly. It also won't be too friendly if the bikes aren't ready for the 2012 Olympics; mayor Boris wants bikes circling London by 2010 but they've got a long way to go.

Related Stories:
· London Cycling Campaign [Official Site]
· 6,000 Bikes in 400 Locations [Guardian]
· Bike Sharing coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Vagamundos]