Borough has fourth highest subscription rate of all local authorities

More than 6,000 Camden residents have subscribed to the ‘Boris Bike’ cycle hire scheme, it was revealed this week.

Some 110,000 people have taken out subscriptions to use the bikes and Camden is the borough with the fourth highest number of users – with 6,095 of its residents signing up.

It sits behind Islington, which has 6,467, Kensington and Chelsea (8,537) and highest-placed Westminster, with 13,632, according to a Transport for London report.

Stefano Casalotti, Camden Cycling Campaign joint coordinator, said: “We have always supported the bike hire idea as it introduces people to cycling. It gives people the chance to try out cycling in town.

“What we would like is to see it extended into Camden because it only goes up as far as Regent’s Park at the moment.

“We have argued that we are missing out on a lot of people who would use it further north.

“But hopefully it is having all the positive effects we were hoping for.”

The scheme, which was launched to registered users in July last year, has 5,000 bikes spread across 350 docking stations.

The report shows that subscribers to the scheme tend to be white, young professional men with males making up three quarters of those using it.

Around 68 per cent of the users are aged between 25 and 44 while 60 per cent have a household income of more than �50,000 per year compared to a quarter of Londoners overall.