London Cycle Hire

and then compare it to using the tube within zone 1 in a year.

£45 is massively cheap, with the only downside is simply the availability of bicycles.

It's the availability that's the killer for me - I don't live in Zone 1, so like kidboy says it'd be £45 plus whatever I spend on the Tube / bus getting into Zone 1 in the first place.

I mean obviously I have my own bicycle so this isn't the fairest comparison, but you see what I mean. I'm looking forward to seeing the scheme expand, that'll make it so much more useful to London on the whole.