LONDON - The British bank Barclays is ending its sponsorship in 2015 of a bike-rental program in London that inspired a similar bike-sharing program in New York.
Barclays is currently evaluating all of its sponsorship commitments. The bank continues to reel from revelations last year that its traders manipulated the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark interest rate known as Libor.
The current sponsorship deal for Barclays Cycle Hire, which was signed in 2010, is set to end in 2015.
The agreement could have been extended to 2018, but Transport for London, the London transit agency, is looking for a new sponsor to help underwrite its efforts to greatly expand the program in the next few years. The program is preparing to expand into southwest London this week.
In a joint statement with the London transit agency, Barclays said it was declining to extend the deal for commercial reasons. Despite having the bank’s name on the bikes, they are better known in London as “Boris bikes,†after its cycling-enthusiast mayor, Boris Johnson.
“In recognition of the growing demand for cycling expenditure, TFL is to seek new commercial partners to add significant sponsorship income to the £913 million already devoted to cycling,†said Graeme Craig, the TFL’s director of commercial development.
The Guardian reported the decision on Tuesday.
In New York, the bike-sharing program, Citi Bike, has had Citigroup as its partner.
Similar to New York, cyclists in London purchase a membership key that allows them to check out a bike for rides of up to 30 minutes at a time. Any time after that is charged to their credit cards. Cyclists can buy a key valid for a single 24-hour period, for seven days or for a year.
In November, bikes were checked out 514,146 times in London and more than 26 million rides have been made since the program officially kicked off in December 2010.
London transit authorities want to extend the bike program in the next few years as part of a broader effort to encourage cycling in the city, including creating new segregated bike routes through the heart of London and increasing training programs for cyclists.
