London commuters will receive the free daily paper the Metro for the next 7 years

The free morning newspaper the Metro has signed a deal which will see it provide London’s bus and tube stations with papers up until 2017.

The 11 year contract signed back in 1999 is due to come to an end this April. However the new deal will see the newspaper, which has become part of the furniture for London commuters, continue for the next 7 years.

It’s understood that the Metro was largely unchallenged in its bid to continue providing morning newspapers for Transport For London (TFL). The publishers behind The London Paper, which folded last year, were reported to have not been interested in securing the deal. All in all it’s believed there were 3 other interested parties, however it’s not known how many of these submitted tenders.

TFL say they have positive feedback from their commuters in regard to the free daily paper with many bus and tube passengers saying it improves their daily journey to work.

There are plans in place to provide more recycling bins at key tube and bus stations in an attempt to reduce the amount of waste produced from the daily newspaper.

The Metro currently has a daily circulation of 1.3 million across the UK, 726,000 of which is in London alone.