London Mayor Boris Johnson launches a bike hire plan on Friday, July 30th in an attempt to make transportation in the city greener. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

London has launched a bike hire plan in an attempt to make transportation in the city greener. The plan will continuously expand over the next two years until it hosts the 2012 Olympic Games. Our London correspondent Tu Yun reports.

Watch out! Here comes London Mayor Boris Johnson riding a bicycle from his new bike hire plan.

"What we've put in is a new form of public transport. Theses bikes are going to belong to everybody."

More than 12,000 people have signed up for the plan. They each receive a key at a cost of three pounds, with costs at one pound for a 24-hour membership, five pounds for seven days, and 45 pounds for an annual membership.

John Payne, a London teacher who cycles a lot, is among the first to use the system.

"It's very comfortable. For people who don't cycle much I think it'll be very useful. But for people who cycle regularly, they are possibly a bit slow. But they're perfect for London streets, very robust. I think they'll be very widely used."

And Johnson says it's of good value.

"I think it's extremely good value. The first half hour is free. If you cycle smart and you cycle around London -- most journeys in London take less than half an hour, you can cycle the whole day free."

This can be realized as a member can dock their bike, wait five minutes and take it out again for another free 30-minute ride.

Some five thousand bikes are currently available at over 300 docking stations in central London. Johnson says the city will gradually expand the system.

"We will of course to expand the system. The system will continue to expand over this month and then on into for the rest of the year. Cleary one of our ambitions is to make sure that in 2012 when the world comes to London, they will be able to use London hire bikes to go to the Olympic venues."

Casual users will be able to hire cycles around four weeks after the launch.

Tu Yun, CRI news, London.