Sweating in the gym on a stationary machine, looking alternately at the wall and the calorie counter does not really count as riding a bike. So yes, I was a little nervous at the prospect of cycling along busy roads full of people, traffic and cobbles.

"Have you ever been around a city on a bike before?" I was asked as I met with the project and business managers of Bike & Go, a new national bike hire scheme which launched last week in Liverpool's Central Station. Suffice to say, I hadn't. But within five minutes I was saddled up and experiencing the city from a completely different perspective. It was brilliant.

The Bike & Go scheme, backed by MerseyRail, Greater Anglia and Northern Rail, aims to give rail travellers an additional means of getting from the train station to work, to visit family or friends or to simply explore somewhere new.

"We believe in the whole journey concept. The customer's final destination is not usually at the station itself, so we have provided a means of getting them those last few miles," said project manager Margriet Cuypers.

The UK's first major national bike hire scheme is modelled on a similar concept in the Netherlands called OV-Fiets, with at least one important tweak. The Dutch bikes are single speed, but I was very grateful to have seven gears to get me up and down hilly Liverpool.

The scheme was made possible with a £1.65m grant from the department for transport, which was match funded by MerseyRail, Northern Rail and Greater Anglia. At the moment the scheme is available at several stations in Merseyside, Anglia and the South East. But in the coming months over 50 stations across the nation will join in, offering about 1000 bikes for rent in Merseyside, the North West, North East, Anglia and South East.

Bike & Go is a cheap and viable alternative to other modes of transport, though it is not open to casual users. You must first register and pay a £10 annual membership fee, giving access to bikes across much of the country. After that you can rent one of the bikes for £3.80 for 24 hours and return it to the station you picked it up from. The straightforward process ensures that there is no fuss, no waiting around and no hassle. You can even check online whether there are bikes available at your station, though there is no way to reserve one in advance.

So far the Liverpool bikes have received a warm reception. "I think it's a great alternative to waiting in queues for buses or taxis, and it promotes a healthy lifestyle," said regular cyclist Hannah Barnes, 25, in the city this week. As we chatted, many people stopped to read the Bike & Go poster as they walked past the bikes in Liverpool Central.

"Anyone can ride a bike", said Bike & Go's business manager Andrew Bristow, insisting the scheme is open to everyone. Just over a week since the launch, around 100 people have signed up so far, and there are promotional teams in many stations providing more information to people who are interested.

But as ever where bikes are concerned, not everyone is won over. Dominic Holmes, a local taxi driver, warned that drivers will need to be aware of an increasing number of cyclists on the road, especially if the people riding the bikes do not have much experience cycling on busy streets. "We just need to be aware of each other in order to avoid any accidents," he said.

Don Thompson, Merseyside's representative for the national cycling campaign group CTC said he believes the scheme will be successful as Liverpool is a popular tourist destination, and the bikes give people the opportunity to cycle down to the waterfront.

It is hoped that as more and more people see the bikes the buzz will grow. It is definitely hard to miss them – they are bright red. Cuypers and Bristow are confident that the scheme, given time, has the potential to be as successful as the well-known Boris Bikes in London.

For more details visit the Bike & Go website: http://www.bikeandgo.co.uk/