Check this website started by a group called Sponsor My Ride: they are planning to pay London cyclists per mile they ride in return for putting advertising stickers on their bikes.
Once the organization has rounded up 5000 cyclists, they will start distributing advertising stickers and pay the following rates, according to London transport zones:
•18p per mile cycled in Zone 1
•14p per mile in Zone 2
•12p per mile in Zones 3-4
•10p per mile in Zones 5-6
For non-UK readers, zone 1 is central London, the West End and the City, and 18p is around 28 US cents. So it’s not going to make anybody rich – but if you’re commuting 12 miles a day anyway, surely it’s money for nothing? In addition, professional riders such as messengers will be eligible for special rates, the site says.
There are obvious benefits to advertisers to being associated with cycle riding – Barclay’s Bank is thought to have paid £25 million ($39 million) to sponsor the London’s new municipal cycle hire scheme . But as far as I’m aware, schemes such as this have been proposed before and never got off the ground: there are logistical problems to the whole thing, as well as the lack of billboard space on your average diamond-framed steed. And besides, aren’t we cyclists too individualistic to take corporate branding lightly?
What are your opinions?
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Thanks to the Muppet League forum for the spot.
