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Cambridge’s e-bike and e-scooter share scheme has been extended and expanded

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Alex Bowden's picture

Alex Bowden

Alex has been editor of ebiketips since 2021. He previously contributed news, reviews and more to road.cc and has also had a parallel (largely lapsed) career writing about cricket for various publications.

3 comments

2 years 5 months ago

I actually live in Cambridge. Voi ebikes were originally only available for frontline workers, which may explain part of the results. However I have only seen one person cycling with one, but much more people with Voi's electris scooters. I don't know if there is a price difference between Voi ebikes and scooters and how many scooters they have though.

Nowadays I usually see at least a few person cycling with their own ebike when I go out and regular bikes are hugely popular here despite the patchy cycle lanes.

My suspicion is that a lot of people who rent an electric scooter would have otherwise walked or used public transport.

2 years 5 months ago

Good but...

66000 km for 300 bikes means 220 km average. If trips were average 5 km long, it means 44 trips per bike in a year. Not a huge success yet.

I know Cambridge is one of the UK hotspots for cycling but outside the town I suspect it's not the lack of bikes - even eBikes - that is limiting cycling:

a) Car-centred development - so people live a distance from work in places only connect to work / towns by car. Cambridgeshire / Lincolnshire tend to have long straight roads - great for building up speed in a motor vehicle.

b) The lack of routes which are convenient and feel safe by bike and lack of facilities to safely store said bike at the destination. If it's an eBike can you get the bike from near where you start and leave it at the destination?

c) Few people want to be that person who swims against the majority.

I don't know Cambridge but I've done a little cycling in Peterborough. Getting anywhere meaningful had the usual "cyclocross / orienteering" feel to it. "For unhurried adventurers who enjoy navigation on and off the bike".

For reference Peterborough is far from the worst I've experienced in UK cities. My experience was mostly trips to and from the hospital - so 6 miles from north of town.  None of that was on major roads and much was fully "off road". But it was still not something I'd expect most people to do. That's even after removing one of the common excuses as to "why we can't cycle" e.g. it's flat. (The many bridges aren't though...)

2 years 5 months ago

66000 km for 300 bikes means 220 km average. If trips were average 5 km long, it means 44 trips per bike in a year. Not a huge success yet.