TfL adds 900 e-bikes to the cycle hire network
The TfL cycle hire scheme has increased the number of e-bikes available, adding 900 new bikes to the network. This is the first batch of an expansion plan that will take TfL’s e-bike fleet to 2,000 bikes by the end of summer 2024.
Since their introduction in 2022, the existing e-bike fleet has been hired out for over a million times, and the bikes are currently being hired at around twice the rate of a classic bike.
The e-bikes are available to registered users, for a fare of £3.30 per 30-minute ride or £1 per 60 minutes for monthly and annual members. With the £3 Day Pass, e-bikes are available to hire for an additional fare of £1 per 30 minutes.
For regular users, the annual pass costs just £120, which gets you unlimited use of standard bikes for an hour at a time, and for £1 per hire, up to an hour’s use of an e-bike.
There are also concession rates available for people who qualify.
David Eddington, TfL’s Head of Cycle Hire, said: “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.
“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.”
Do they charge via the standard docks? or do they have specific bays? Forward thinking if it was thought of when the docks were originally installed. Though i guess they already had an electronic component.
They swap the batteries.
Swappable batteries is standard for all hireable ebikes, just keep stocks of charged batteries on the trucks which relocate and service the bikes. Therefore there will be more batteries than bikes.
In additional to the concessions, one of the cycle to work scheme operators (not Halfords who is the operator many employers pick) also enables a substantial discount on Santander cycle season passes.
If you had £1bn to spend on transport in London, it’s hard to see why you’d choose to spend it on this.
For context, the Northern Line extension to Battersea cost about £1bn, and the proposed Bakerloo extension is priced at £5-8bn…
As it will be the local council funding most of it, it’s not unreasonable for them to decide how they want to spend their money.
2000 bikes for a billion?
That means these bikes cost £500,000 each to obtain and maintain.
I think you’ve got your numbers confused.