First dock in place for London bike hire scheme

The first docking station for Boris Johnson's bike hire scheme has been installed.

Located in Southwark Street, it will be able to hold 33 of the Canadian-built bikes when the scheme goes live on July 30. About 400 of the stations are being installed across central London.

They will hold the 6,000 bikes securely and clock up the time each one is used — charging each cyclist's credit card accordingly. Charges start from £1 a day.

Four other docking stations are being installed in Southwark shortly: two in Stamford Street, another in Southwark Street and one in Union Street. The £140 million scheme is being sponsored by Barclays at a cost of £25 million.

Transport for London expects the majority of the stations to be in place by launch day. It hopes the scheme will result in 40,000 extra cycle trips a day.