If you’ve relocated to London, or plan to do so, you may be interested in a new scheme just launched by the Mayor of London, which aims to encourage more people to get around the capital by bicycle.

5,000 cycles will be available from special docking stations throughout London, located in Camden, the City, Hackney, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Westminster, and several of the Royal Parks. More than 12,450 keys for unlocking the bikes have already been handed out to Londoners. The keys must be activated before the bikes can be removed from the docking stations.

Keys cost £3, and the cost of using the cycles varies from £1 for an hour to £50 for 24 hours.

Transport for London hopes to reach its target of 6,000 cycles and 400 docking stations later this year.

Liverpool is launching a cycle-hire scheme in 2011.