Santander Cycles – How to hire a ‘Boris Bike’ in London

Santander Cycles are a network of over 12,000 hire bikes spread all over London.

The idea is that you grab a cycle (or ‘Boris Bike’, after Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London who introduced them) from one of the cycle racks and ride it from A to B, and then drop it off at the next one. There are more than 780 racks spread across 38 sq miles (100 sq km) of London, from Shepherd’s Bush in the west to Canary Wharf in the east, and Camden Town in the north to Wandsworth Town south of the river.

You have to be over-18 to buy a ticket, over-14 to ride them, and you need to provide your own helmet.

The cost of a Santander Cycle depends on how long you ride it:

If you fail to return the bike within 24-hours then you will be charged £300 in lost fees.

There are two different ways to pay for a Santander Cycle: you can either register on TFL’s website beforehand or download their app (iOS and Android). You can also just pay on the day with a bank card at the docking station.

It’s not possible to pay by cash or Oyster card. And you can’t use bank cards loaded on to mobile phones or watches either.

• Members can get a record of their most recent journeys and charges
• The release codes can be sent straight to your phone, so you don’t have to use the terminals
• It has a live map showing cycle availability and where the nearest empty docking space is
• It has an interactive journey planner containing all the train stations, street names and landmarks

Monthly subscriptions are available for regular users, such as people using them to commute to work, for example.

Monthly subscription – You can buy a monthly subscription for £20 which allows you to make an unlimited number of 60-minute journeys for 30 days.

Yearly subscription – You can also buy a yearly subscription for £120, which allows you to make an unlimited number of 60-minute journeys for 365 days.

If your ride lasts longer than 60-minutes then you’ll have to pay an extra £1.65 for each additional period of 60 minutes (or part thereof).

Cycle to work discount – If you’re using the bike to cycle to work every day then the City Bike Hire Scheme will save you up to £37.80. You can apply to join at cyclescheme.co.uk/​city-bike-hire.

24-hour access for NHS workers – NHS workers get free access for any journey under 30 minutes. Contact your NHS comms team for more information.

25% off for students – If you’re studying in London and you’re aged 18-or-over then you can purchase a yearly membership for the discounted rate of £67.50. You can find more information by logging into Student Beans.

You can get a cycle out of the rack in three easy steps.

Step 1: Pay the access fee – The first thing you need to do is pay the access fee to get a 5-digit release code. The easiest way to do this is by paying online through the app, which will send the release code straight to your phone, but if you don’t have the app then walk up to the docking station terminal and touch the screen. Select ‘Hire a cycle’ and follow the on-screen instructions.

You can pay with contactless bank cards (debit or credit cards), but you can’t use cash, Oyster cards, or contactless devices like mobile phones or watches.

Step 2: Enter the release code – Before taking a bike out check that its tyres, brakes and bell are working okay… but don’t take too long because you need to enter the code within ten minutes of receiving it. You might want to adjust the saddle’s height as well. (Note: If you’re a regular user then it’s worth memorising the number setting on the side of the saddle stem, so you can quickly adjust it next time.)

Once you’re happy with a bike press any button on the keypad to wake it up. Then type in your release code. When the green light comes on, pull out the bike.

If the bike’s being a bit stubborn then lift up the saddle and gently drop the bike, or try bouncing the back wheel up and down a bit.

Step 3: Ride the bike – Off you go!

If you start riding the bike and discover that it’s faulty then return it to the rack and press the ‘fault’ button within ten seconds of docking it. TFL also recommend turning the saddle backwards to alert other users that there’s a problem with it.

You can then go up to the terminal and get a new release code for no extra charge, provided that your original access period is still valid (which would have been ten minutes from when you got it). You’ll also have to wait five minutes from the time you took out the first bike.

Once you’ve completed your journey it’s very important that you return the bike to a rack. Don’t just abandon it because you’ll be charged up to £300 in lost fees – they have your bank card remember! Just find an empty rack and push the bike in. The light will turn green once it has been successfully accepted.

If all of the spaces in the rack are full (quite a likely occurrence), then you can use the ‘No docking point free’ option on the terminal to find the nearest available space. Hopefully it will only be a couple of streets away. You will then be given an extra fifteen minutes to ride the bike to the that rack.

If you’ve definitely pushed the bike in but the green light refuses to appear then try ringing their Contact Centre on 0343 222 6666 for assistance (charges apply).

You can view a map of all the docking stations on the official app, or you can use TFL’s online map at tfl.gov.uk/​modes/​cycling.

Google Maps and Apple Maps also show the location of the docking stations if you zoom in close enough.