Nine hundred more e-bikes added to TfL fleet

By the end of summer there will be 2,000 bikes in the fleet

Transport for London (TfL) has expanded its flagship e-bike hire scheme with a further 900 bikes.

The new additions are now available to hire at docking stations across the capital, the operator said.

TfL said its fleet of e-bikes, sponsored by Santander now stands at 1,500 and will further increase to 2,000 by the end of the summer.

The expansion will give more Londoners the chance to use an "affordable, convenient and sustainable way of travelling", TfL said.

The bikes cost £3.50 to fire for a 30-minute period, or £1 for a 60-minute period for monthly and annual members of the scheme.

The vehicles are being hired at about twice the rate of non-electric bikes and there have been more than one than one million hires since they were introduced in 2022, TfL said.

The e-bikes help people who believe they are too unfit or incapable to ride manual bikes, TfL believes.

TfL’s head of cycle hire, David Eddington, 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."

TfL said 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.

In recent years, the bikes have faced stiff competition from a number of dockless e-bike companies, including Lime, Dott, TIER and Forest, formerly known as HumanForest.

Last August, TfL said its Santander bike hires fell to their lowest level in a decade.

About 7.3m journeys were made from January to July 2022, while 4.9m hires were recorded in the equivalent period this year - a drop of 33%.

This was the lowest number since 2013, when there were fewer bikes and docking stations available.