There are so many fleets of bicycles, e-bikes and e-scooters in London, and the amount of users is growing with them. Whilst there have been some companies leave the London market such as Dott,  other such as Voi have joined in order to fill this gap.

Perhaps because I love the fleet market, or because I love FleetHopper, I have compared all of the options that you can currently (this article is updated monthly) use in London, the costs, and viable alternatives.

The prices of London’s app based bicycles and scooters can become a little murky, as providers offer packages, monthly subscriptions where you no longer pay for unlocks, Cycle2Work integration, and more. I have used the company’s apps to get this data, but there are some mentions of different pricing in different boroughs, so please check this information on your own phone.

Please note that the numbers of bikes in each fleet are not public information, and so I cannot be exact, but am using publicly available data.

Under each provider there is a suggestion of who the service is best for. This of course depends on you, so please do read all of the information, and go to the providers website if there is anything you need clarification on.

London’s App Based Bicycles and Scooters

Lime: 50,000 e-bikes – Unable to find data on how many e-scooters.

Standard cost

• E-Bike cost: £1 to unlock then 29 pence per minute
• E-Scooter cost: £1 to unlock then 17 pence per minute

LimePass (For e-scooters and e-bikes)

• Use within 1 day: 30 minutes for £3.99 (13.30 pence per minute)
• Use within 3 days: 60 minutes for £6.99 (11.65 pence per minute)
• Use within 7 days: 200 minutes for £18.99 (9.45 pence per minute)
• Use within 30 days 400 minutes for £36.99 (9.25 pence per minute)

LimePrime

• Unlimited free unlocks (usually £1) and 30 minute reservations (usually 10 minutes) for £8.99 per month

Cycle2Work

• There are various options for Lime (bikes only) on the Cycle2Work scheme (your workplace typically chooses the options offered to employees). Based on the variety of options, and the salary sacrifice tax implications, I have opted to link this.

Best for: The individual who requires a bike to be somewhere when they need it, as I have a plan with Forest that is amazing value I usually choose them, but I often have to walk past hundreds of Lime Bikes, and a few Lime Scooters in order to find my Forest bike!

Forest: 14,000+ e-bikes.

Standard cost

• E-Bike cost: £1 to unlock then 31 pence per minute
• Recently changed from 10 free minutes a day to a free 1 – 30 minutes a day, depending on where they do and don’t want their bikes to be sitting – this can be seen in the app

Bundles

• 24 hours to use: 20 minutes for £2.99 (15 pence per minute)
• 3 days to use: 40 minutes for £4.49 (11 pence per minute)
• 5 days to use: 80 minutes for £7.49 (9 pence per minute)
• 7 days to use: 250 minutes for £18.99 (8 pence per minute)
• 30 days to use: 500 minutes for £36.99 (7 pence per minute)

Adverts and referrals

• You can generally watch 3 adverts per day, each advert gives you 3 minutes ride time. If you refer a friend, you can each get 20 minutes free.

Cycle2Work

• There are two options for Forest on the Cycle2Work scheme (your workplace typically chooses the options offered to employees). Based on the variety of options, and the salary sacrifice tax implications, I have opted to link this.
• I pay roughly £31 per month to get 1,800 minutes of use on Forest e-bikes each month. I was paying about £80 a month on public transport, so this has been a great money saver for me.

Best for: The individual who wants great value through the Cycle2Work Scheme and does not have a Santander Cycle docking station close, and who rides for 1 hour or more at a time.

TFL (Known as Santander Cycles): 2,000 e-bikes – 10,000 standard bikes (All docked).

Standard cost

• Non E-Bike: £1.65 per 30 minutes
• E-Bike: £3 per 30 minutes

Day pass and subscriptions

• Day passes: Non E-Bikes – £3.50 for unlimited 60 minute rides (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £1.65 per hour extra)
• E-Bikes – £3.50 for unlimited 60 minute rides, with a £1 fee per ride (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £3 per hour extra)

 

• Monthly subscription: Non E-Bikes – £20 a month for unlimited 60 minute rides (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £1.65 per hour extra)
• E-Bikes – £20 a month for unlimited 60 minute rides with a £1 fee per ride (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £3 per hour extra)

 

• Annual subscription: Non E-Bikes – £120 a year for unlimited 60 minute rides (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £1.65 per hour extra)
• E-Bikes – £20 a month for unlimited 60 minute rides with a £1 fee per ride (if you go over 60 minutes on a ride, you pay £3 per hour extra)

Cycle2Work

There are various options for Santander Cycles on the Cycle2Work scheme (your workplace typically chooses the options offered to employees). Based on the variety of options, and the salary sacrifice tax implications, I have opted to link this.

Extra considerations

As Santander Cycles are TFL operated, they have schemes for NHS workers, students and more.

Best for: The individual who can easily get to a docking station and cycles for less than 60 minutes at a time.

Voi: 500 – 2,000 e-bikes – Voi are the only other company to also offer e-scooters, but I could not find an estimate on how many there may be.

Standard cost

• E-Bike and E-Scooter cost: Free to unlock then 20 pence per minute

Subscriptions (For E-Scooters and E-Bikes)

• Monthly 300: £24.99 for 300 minutes (8.33 pence per minute)
• Monthly 750: £24.99 for 750 minutes (8 pence per minute)

Minute Bundles

• 24 hours to use: 30 minutes for £2.99 (10 pence per minute)
• 3 days to use: 60 minutes for £5.99 (9.99 pence per minute)
• 7 days to use: 120 minutes for £10.99 (9.16 pence per minute)

Referrals

• You can refer your friend who will get £2.50 credit, once they go on their first paid trip you will get £5 credit.

Cycle2Work

• There are oh so many options for Voi depending on the city you are in on the Cycle2Work scheme (your workplace typically chooses the options offered to employees). Based on the variety of options, and the salary sacrifice tax implications, I have opted to link this.

Best for: The individual who wants to ride E-Scooters and E-Bikes at a cheaper rate than Lime/Forest which can be achieved on pay as you go options.

Honourable mentions: An alternative to London’s app based bicycles and scooters, you cannot find these options laying around on the street, but they make up a part of London’s micromobility economy.

Brompton have over 80 lockers, usually of 8 hire bikes, that’s 640 bikes across London! They are not electric, however, they are one of the cheapest options, costing just £5 a day. If you like the idea of a Brompton and want to test ride one, or you do not have to travel too far and want to missed the busy public transport these are a brilliant option, just do not let it out of your site as you must not leave it unattended.

Swapfiets is a bicycle rental scheme where you keep the bike in your possession, and pay a monthly fee. Most defects are covered, and you will either get a swap (clever, ey?), or they will fix the bike and you will be on your way. Their standard models are as cheap as £15.90 each month, or it is as much as £89.90 for an e-bike. The only hang-up here, is that their stores where their engineers are based in Shoreditch and Waterloo, if you’re not close and have a burst tyre, it’s going to be difficult to get it there…