They seem to be on every city street corner, have Reddit threads dedicated to the “carnage” and “chaos” they cause on the road, and their “problem parking” has provoked the ire of residents up and down the country. But with thousands of rides taken each day, and big operators expanding their fleets into new locations, ebikes appear to be here to stay.
The dockless electric bikes can be hired short term through a smartphone app, which tracks where you drop them off.
You can now hire one in most cities in the UK. From nextbike by TIER in Glasgow, to Voi bikes on the Isle of Wight. In London, Forest and Lime are the two best-known operators, but riders can also choose from Tier and Santander “Boris bikes”, some of which are now ebikes.
Beyond the occasional janky steering, and abandoned ebikes blocking the pavement, there is another criticism: the price. A journey is often more expensive than the equivalent trip on a bus or tube.
But there are other reasons to use an ebike – they may be the most convenient way to get to your destination, can get you door to door, and there are benefits to being outdoors.
Whether you’re a seasoned user, or have never touched the bikes, here’s what you need to know about the cost, convenience and experience of some of the most popular schemes across the country.
Lime
Lime was founded in San Francisco in 2017 and now operates in more than 230 cities around the world. The bikes were introduced to the UK and Ireland in 2018, first in Milton Keynes, and have rapidly spread to other cities and towns, including Nottingham, London and Castlebar in Ireland. They will be available in Oxford soon.
Lime wouldn’t give us an exact number for the size of its fleet, but is thought to be the biggest dockless ebike operator in the UK.
According to a report, 97% of London’s population are never more than two minutes from one. This usually means you can grab one without a fuss and drop it off just as easily. However, last week, Brent council said they will be removed from the borough in October if it didn’t comply with safety concerns, particularly to do with parking.
The bikes tend to be very smooth to ride but sometimes it feels like you face a little extra resistance (what my friends and I call a “stiff Lime”), or it is embarrassingly squeaky when you pedal or brake.
They are a little heavy, which is normal for an ebike, but makes them a bit difficult to get started. For the same reason, they can feel a little wobbly after a stop at a traffic light or junction, although this quickly eases off with the first couple of pedals.
You do occasionally come across a bike with a flat tyre or mangled pedal, but if you submit a photo to Lime once you’ve parked up, it usually refunds the cost of your ride. There are parking spots but there aren’t incentives to drop them there.
The options: There are two main payment and ride options on Lime – pay as you go and passes. With pay-as-you-go rides, you pay a £1 unlocking fee and a set price a minute thereafter. This can quickly add up, and the cost of a short journey can become quite steep.
With LimePass, previously called RidePass, you get a set number of minutes and unlimited free unlocks. A third option, LimePrime, costs £8.99 a month across the UK and gives unlimited free unlocks for pay-as-you-go rides – you pay for your minutes on top.
In London, a 30-minute pass costs £3.99 and lets you unlock and use a bike for those minutes within 24 hours. A 60-minute pass costs £6.99 and must be used within three days, while 200 minutes costs £18.99 and gives riders a week. A 400-minute pass costs £36.99 and expires 30 days after purchase.
Prices differ around the country. A 280-minute pass costs £25.99 in Nottingham, and lasts 30 days, which works out at 9.3 minutes a day. It comes in at about 87p a day, which isn’t bad, although only useful for short rides.
How it adds up: In Nottingham, a three-mile cycle taking 25 minutes, with speed and traffic taken into account, will cost £5.25 on pay as you go.
In London, travelling for 25 minutes on a Lime will come to £8.25. In comparison, travelling the same distance from King’s Cross to Dalston Kingsland costs £2.80, off peak, on the train. The bus would cost £1.75.
You would save money if you opted for a 30-minute pass for £2.99 in Nottingham or £3.99 in London, but you would have to use it within 24 hours and it wouldn’t be enough for the return trip.
Forest
Formerly known as HumanForest, it first launched in 2021. Bikes are available in 14 London boroughs. They are not yet available outside the capital. You’ll mainly come across Forest bikes in zones 1 and 2 and can recognise them by their dark green colouring.
Like Lime, Forest’s fleet is quickly expanding and there are 15,000 ebikes across the city.
There usually isn’t a bike too far away if you’re in one of the boroughs they service, but if you live in Hackney, for example, you would be at a loss because the bikes aren’t available there. “If you look at the map, it’s sort of a black hole [in Hackney] at the minute, but we’re working on bringing the bikes to the borough,” Alex Berwin, the head of policy at Human Forest, said.
You can drop the bikes off very easily, and there are dedicated “preferred parking” spots – if you use one you get a minute credit that must be used within five days. The bikes ride nicely, but we found steering to be a little trickier than with Lime. They also take a little bit more effort to get started, although the seats are much more comfortable; once you are on your way, they are comfy to ride.
The options: Each day, riders get 10 minutes free. However, this doesn’t include the £1 unlock fee or the 90p daily service fee, which applies to the first pay-as-you-go ride that day. Rides typically cost 29p a minute thereafter. In Camden, bikes are a little cheaper at 23p a minute. You can top up three more free-riding minutes a day by watching ads on the app, but these must be used within three days. The free 10 minutes can’t be stored.
Forest offers “bundles”, which allow riders to buy minutes in bulk and include unlimited free unlocks and no daily service fee. A 30-minute bundle costs £3 and you have 24 hours to use it, while 60 minutes costs £6 and lasts three days. A 200-minute bundle costs £15 and lasts seven days, while 400 minutes costs £28 and last for 30 days.
Forest Plus is probably the most economical way to use the bikes. For £40 a month you get 1,000 minutes and no unlock fees every 30 days, which works out to just over half an hour of riding a day. You get the free 10 minutes a day on top of this, and can top up with the extra free “ad minutes”, taking you to about 46 minutes.
How it adds up: Taking 25 minutes in London for a three-mile pay-as-you-go ride, you’d be spending £6.25. With the three extra minutes, you save £0.87, bringing it to £5.38
If you opt for a bundle, you know your ride is going to be less than 30 minutes and are not planning on using the bikes again that day, there is another option. For a ride of about half an hour, the 30-minute bundle seems the best bet: 30 minutes plus 10 minutes free each day plus three free minutes from watching additional video ads in the app, no unlock fee and no daily service fee as part of a bundle – 43 minutes to use within 24 hours = £3.
If you opt for the £40 a month Forest Plus subscription, it costs about £1.33 a day for a possible 43 minutes. By far the cheapest of all the options in London.
You can bank three ad minutes each day, and over three days these would build up to nine free minutes if you didn’t use a Forest bike during that time.
Watch three ads on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and use a bike on Thursday morning, and you would have 22 free minutes to use that day.
Voi
Voi was founded in Sweden in 2018 and in 2021 launched its first ebikes. They are available in Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Southampton and on the Isle of Wight.
Voi recently announced it is in talks with London boroughs about bringing the bikes to the capital, but has yet to confirm details.
The options: The pay-as-you-go, day and month passes vary according to location. Here are the rates for each city (prices correct as of September 2024):
Cambridge – £1 unlock fee and 22p a minute. A day pass costs £6.99 for 60 minutes.
Oxford – £1 unlock fee and 22p a minute. 120 minutes for £7.99 a day.
Liverpool – £1 unlock fee and 20p a minute. 120 minutes for £7.99 a day.
Southampton, Portsmouth and Isle of Wight –a 99p unlock fee and 18p a minute. £10 for 120 minutes.
Monthly passes in all locations are £39.99 for 300 minutes or £54.99 for 750 minutes, other than the Isle of Wight, which doesn’t have the 750-minute option.
How it adds up: A 25-minute, three-mile pay-as-you-go ride in Liverpool would cost £6.
A 30-day-rolling monthly pass for ebikes costs £39.99 for 300 minutes, approximately £1.30 a day, while £54.99 for 750 minutes costs about £1.80 a day. This works out at 10 minutes a day for the 300 minute pass, and 25 minutes a day for the 750 minutes option.