TfL says more bike racks have helped increase cycling

Transport for London (TfL) says more people have got on their bikes because of better facilities and the introduction of the congestion charge.

By 2010, TfL want to see an 80% rise on cycling levels since the year 2000.

Tom Bogdanowicz, of the London Cycling Campaign, told BBC London the figures confirmed "what we have been seeing out on the streets".

He said better cycle routes, more parking spaces and free cycle maps had probably fuelled the increase.

Cycling has been monitored at 30 points on roads managed by TfL since March 2000.

TfL says over an average four-mile journey, bikes are the fastest way to get around central London.

Rose Ades, the head of the Cycling Centre of Excellence, said the figures showed cycling measures introduced by councils and others were paying off.

"I am delighted that more and more Londoners are discovering the joys, and advantages, of city cycling," she said.