Peterborough is one of four so called environment cities in the UK. The city situated 122 kilometres north of London, with a population of 202,000, aims to become its environment capital. Therefore, the Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough Combined Authority had implemented an e-bike scheme, whereby from January to August 1,000 riders have travelled more than 30,000 kilometres, mostly to commute to work.
European cities increasingly promote bicycles and e-bikes as a great means of ecological urban mobility. Actually, ebikes adoption rate in Europe is growing faster than that of traditional bicycles, since the former can efficiently replace cars, whilst riding a bicycle for more than three or four km can be lengthy and tiring, especially uphill or in traffic jams. Even though it’s completely flat, Peterborough chose to promote e-bikes rather than bicycles.
Municipality works together with well-known sharing provider
In order to enable e-bike riding for its 1,000 citizens participating in the scheme, the English city entrusted Voi, a Swedish start-up that delivers fleets of e-scooters and ebikes to several cities in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and UK. Ebikes could be rented for a 1£ unlocking fee, plus £0.15 per minute, or £10 for 24 hours and £40 for 30 days. The average price of renting an ebike in Europe is at least three or four times more expensive. We doubt that such prices would be possible without the contribution of taxpayers money.
After usage, the ebikes had to be parked in specific areas.
Peterborough’s scheme presents the following advantages:
- People don’t have to invest roughly a month’s worth of salary to get an ebike.
- They can give it a short and inexpensive try, or quit whenever they want.
- They are not encumbered by e-bike maintenance.
- They can avoid fears of definitive battery exhaustion, although these are often exaggerated or even unjustified.
- They can count on reliable ebikes, avoiding wrong purchasing choices.
The ebike used in Peterborough by the sharing provider VOI comes from the Italian manufacturer Vaimoo.
The disadvantages of this scheme
Here’s why Peterborough’s scheme is rather “a” way then “the” way. Compared with other schemes fostering ebikes purchase, it’s got some weaknesses:
- People are less careful with rented ebikes than with their own, thus wearing them off too quickly or even damaging them.
- Users can choose neither the type of ebike nor its colour, features, etc.
- In the medium and long run, renting an ebike is more expensive than buying one.
- Buying this kind of rental service from a private company can be quite expensive for public finances. In this case, we assume that rental prices are considerably lower than market prices because of public subsidies, which inevitably result in further taxes.
- On the other hand, subsidizing the purchase of ebikes, like it’s done in the European Union, involves a limited public money expenditure. Indeed, once the adoption of ebikes has been jumpstarted through public contributions, further subsidies won’t be needed for future purchases.
- Users have to deplace themselves to get an ebike, and park it back in a pre-defined area, once a day or a month, depending on the duration of their rental.
Three other examples of public ebike schemes in Europe:
1. Bike lanes
Setting up sufficient bike lanes and bike parkings is paramount to increase the adoption of ebikes. There are many such examples in Europe. Bicycle lanes marked in yellow have set a lot in motion in Berlin. They were hastily created in the corona pandemic to offer cyclists more space and safety.
In 2021, France will have 18,848 kilometres of bike lanes and bike paths. In 2030 the goal is to reach 25,587 kilometres. The European Union is setting up a network of bike lanes and paths, called EuroVelo, which will total 90,000 kilometres when finalized.
2. Financing purchases
In Europe, many local, regional or national governments finance ebike purchases. We have already reported about public subsidies for the purchase of ebikes in France. Generally, there, as well as in Italy and in other European countries, local and national authorities’ subsidies for the purchase of an electric bike range anywhere from 100 Euro to 500 Euro approaching 1,000 Euro in a few cases. These amounts depend on one’s income, the price of the ebike, its usage, or even the purchaser’s age.
3. Cycle to work
Some European public authorities, like in France, contribute up to 50 Euro monthly to individuals commuting to work with an ebike. Others, like in the UK, subsidize the purchase of ebikes to go to work. Still, the more than 4.5 million German ebike owners have hardly benefited from any public contribution. Just in 2020, 1,950,000 ebikes were sold in Germany alone. One more evidence that ebikes are becoming trendier and trendier.
Pictures: Vaimoo
