“Boris Bikes” to turn red in £7 million sponsorship deal

London’s blue “Boris bikes” are to be painted red under a seven-year sponsorship deal with Santander worth around £7 million a year, it has been announced.

The Spanish bank will take over the sponsorship contract from Barclays, who decided to cut short its deal rather than carry on until 2018.

The money will be used for new bikes, extra docking stations and a new app to make the scheme even easier to use.

The scheme which allows users to take bike trips between docking stations around central London has been copied around the UK, with the green travel option also available in Liverpool and Reading, although not under the same sponsorship.

According to the Guardian, Boris Johnson is unhappy with the nickname, ‘Boris Bikes’, he said: “If anyone still persists in calling them ‘Boris bikes’ rather than Santander I will change my name to Santander Johnson.”