Photo: TfL
Transport for London expands e-bike scheme
26 July 2024
by Christopher Carey
Transport for London (TfL) has announced a major expansion of its Santander e-bike hire scheme, adding a further 900 bikes.
The new additions can be rented at docking stations across the capital with 1,500 e-bikes now available.
The operator says the fleet will be further expanded by the end of the summer to 2,000 – more than tripling the number of public e-bikes.
“Santander Cycles is a vital part of London’s transport system, and the scheme has gone from strength to strength, with cycle hire in the capital now an integral part of travel,” said TfL’s Head of Cycle Hire, David Eddington.
“These additional e-bikes will give more people in London an opportunity to try these brilliant bikes and use them more often. Santander Cycles has played an important role in encouraging more people to cycle and we’ll continue to improve the scheme to ensure a greener and healthier future for everyone in London. We look forward to completing our expansion by the end of summer.”
The operator has said that as well as increasing its e-bike fleet, it was also expanding the cycle route network in the capital, with new Cycleways routes being created between Lea Bridge and Dalston, Deptford and Deptford Creek, and Hammersmith and Kensington Olympia.
The expansion will give more Londoners the chance to use an “affordable, convenient and sustainable way of travelling”, according to TfL.
E-bikes are being hired at about twice the rate of non-electric bikes, and there have been more than one million hires since they were introduced in 2022.
Competition
In recent years, the docked public Santander scheme has faced competition from several dockless e-bike firms including Tier, Lime, Dott and Forest.
In August 2023, TfL announced that trips (electric and non-electric) on its Santander scheme had fallen to their lowest level in a decade.
Approximately 7.3 million journeys were made from January to July 2022, while 4.9 million trips were recorded in the same period for 2023 – a drop of 33 percent.
TfL attributed the decline to bad weather, though a change in the pricing structure has also been cited as a reason for the fall.
Parking
While private dockless schemes have soared in popularity, problems related to parking have persisted.
Last month, Wandsworth council announced the installation of 111 parking bays after “extensive local consultations”, with cyclists “expected to use these parking bays wherever possible”.
Once all the bays have been installed, parking will be prohibited on pavements in busy town centre locations, though “responsible ‘free-floating’ parking will still be permitted away from these hotspots and in quieter parts of the borough”.
“We support the use of e-bikes as they offer a convenient travel option for residents and visitors,” said David Tidley, Head of Transport Strategy at Wandsworth Council.
“They’re a clean and sustainable way of getting around and help to improve local air quality. We are really pleased that there have already been more than a million journeys made by e-bike in Wandsworth.
“But residents will know that there have been some challenges, with a small minority of riders abandoning bikes without any thought for pedestrians and local communities.”
Image: TfL
