Transport for London (TfL) was due to introduce 500 e-bikes to the Santander Cycle scheme in the capital today but the fleet expansion has been delayed.
“The introduction of e-bikes onto the Santander Cycles network has been paused to allow us to focus on the preparations for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral,” a TfL spokesperson told Zag Daily.
“A new date for the e-bikes will be communicated later this month, and the regular Santander Cycles network will be available as normal throughout to allow both Londoners and visitors to the capital to travel around the city.”
The new e-bikes will help break down barriers that stop people from cycling, including age, fitness and journey length.
They will be distributed across key central London locations and can be docked at any of the scheme’s 800 docking stations.
The bikes will initially be for registered users only, for a fare of £3.30 per 30-minute ride or an additional fare of £1 per 60 minutes for monthly and annual members.
To accommodate the increase in fleet size, TfL is set to open new docking stations in the London borough of Southwark later this year, the scheme’s first expansion since it was introduced to Bermondsey and Rotherhithe in 2019.
This expansion follows the Santander scheme recording 11 consecutive record-breaking months of usage, with more than 1.3 million hires in July.
