The Mayor of London has launched a programme to help Londoners and visitors better navigate the capital by bicycle and on foot.

In a bid to enhance health and fitness and reduce carbon emissions, Ken Livingstone will establish a network of routes for cyclists and pedestrians to increase the proportion of all daily trips taken by bike to five per cent and on foot to 22 per cent by 2025.

The new routes will be accompanied by the introduction of a central London bike hire scheme to provide access to 6,000 bikes located at docking stations every 300 metres, supported by a series of easily navigable routes of London’s main sights.

Livingstone said: ”We will spend £500m over the next decade on cycling, which will mean that thousands more Londoners can cycle in confidence, on routes that take them quickly and safely to where they want to go.

“I have instructed Transport for London to work with the London boroughs to implement a bike hire scheme in central London.”

The programme will also see a dozen radial Cycling Corridors linking outer and inner London for commuters, as well as a series of Bike Zones for shoppers and the school run, with cycle priority streets, 20mph speed limits and routes linking local destinations with parks and waterways.

Pedestrians will benefit from an expansion of the Legible London signage system to encourage people to make short trips around the capital on foot and the establishment of 200 Streets of Gold, whereby key local destinations such as stations and shops will be linked with improved pavements, and crossings and seating facilities.

Livingstone added: “Over 50 per cent of tube journeys in central London are quicker on foot. The new Legible London signage system will help people use their feet to get around and see more of London at the same time.”