Santander to sponsor London’s Boris bikes

Santander is to paint London Boris bikes red after winning the sponsorship contract for the capital’s cycle hire scheme.

The current deal with Barclays – worth £5 million – will end later this year after the bank announced in 2013 that it would not renew the contract.

Santander beat Coca Cola to win the deal, which was unofficially announced by the Green Party on Friday. London mayor Boris Johnson, who launched the scheme in 2010, is expected to make an official announcement later today.

There are around 10,000 bikes in the scheme and 700 docking stations over the captial. In 2014, more than 10 million journeys were made.

The new deal is believed to be worth about £7 million a year.