Mitigating action against climate change is needed now more than ever. To promote sustainable transport and healthy living, we've renewed our sponsorship agreement with Transport for London (TfL), extending our Santander Cycles programme.

In Europe, more than half of recorded CO₂ emissions come from private vehicles. This has a direct impact on the planet, which is already drastically greater than predicted. To help reverse this reality, Santander UK is extending its agreement with Transport for London (TfL), the government transport authority in the British capital, to 2025 to encourage cycling and reduce pollution in cities.

Santander Cycles, the public cycle hire system, is a perfect alternative for getting round the city. According to estimates, the 300 million kilometres travelled on its bikes have helped cut down CO₂ emissions by 20,000 tonnes. 

Santander Cycles is running in London, Milton Keynes and Swansea and at the Brunel University London campus. It has more than 14,000 cycles in the capital alone, having served over 100 million riders. It has also enabled Santander to support healthcare workers with 100,000 codes for free cycle hires in appreciation of their work during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, on 30 May 2020, Santander Cycles set an all-time record since it began operating in July 2015, with more than 70,000 users in one day. Between March 2020 and March 2021, new user registries rose 193%, and yearly subscriptions 22%.

Using Santander Cycles is effortless. On a mobile app, users can hire up to four bicycles at the same time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for as little as £2 a day for unlimited 30-minute journeys. At the end of the journey, they only need to return them to one of many stations in the districts where they are located.

To help further reduce CO₂ emissions, we will bring around 500 electric bicycles to the UK over the next three years and create new cycleways in London on top of the 100 km2 already in place. 

Pedals that travel the world

Our commitment to society embraces sport. It is a core component of our sponsorship strategy, which fits in local and international agreements.

Cycling is important not only at Santander UK but at our other banks as well, like Santander Brasil. There, under the slogan O banco do ciclismo brasileiro (“The bank of Brazilian cycling”), in March 2021 we announced our sponsorship of Brasil Ride, the largest mountain bike event in the world.