Oxford’s own Boris bikes are set to return to the streets now a new operator has been found for the scheme.

The original operators, Grand Scheme, went into liquidation in November. Now, Oxfordshire County Council has signed up HourBike to relaunch Oxonbike in April. They already run similar bike-hire systems in Blackpool, Reading and Dumfries.

David Nimmo Smith, OCC’s Cabinet member for transport, said: “More than 500 people signed up to OXONBIKE last year and we are certain that they will get back in the saddle from April.”

For now, the scheme continues to operate in the Headington area only. The first 30 minutes’ hire are free. One change is that keypads will be used to unlock a bike, as in London.

Oxonbike is funded by central Government until March 2015.