Shared operator Forest has launched a Cycle to Work scheme in the UK where employees can ride for 60 minutes per day for just £1.
This is the cheapest dockless Cycle to Work scheme in the UK, according to the operator.
Dexters, a Forest partner, will kick things off by offering it to its 2,000 London employees. As with other Cycle to Work offerings, the employee pays for the subscription via their salary with a tax saving of up to 47%.
“The government supported Cycle to Work scheme has been put in place to make cycling more affordable and therefore more accessible,” Forest’s Head of Commercial Jamie Richards told Zag Daily.
“However, owning a bike in London isn’t always that practical when you consider the costs of maintenance and the requirement for space to then store it. We’re removing all these frictions and saying, why pay for one e-bike when you can have access to thousands for a fraction of the cost?”
Forest – which announced it is profitable last year – developed the scheme off the back of an increase in the number of loyal customers.
Dubbed ‘super-users’, those that use Forest’s e-bikes more than 21 times a month have increased by ten times year-on-year. Those that use Forest’s e-bikes 6 to 21 times per month – coined ‘heavy’ users – have increased fivefold over the same period.
Recent data published by Transport for London (TfL) show cycling rates have increased by 6.3% in the capital between 2022 and 2023, and they are up 20% since 2019.
With a 5.9% increase in TfL fares across the city between March 2022 and March 2023, Forest has developed the Cycle to Work scheme to be a more affordable means of getting to work. Based on the £29 per month subscription, the Cycle to Work scheme is £155 cheaper per month than using London Underground zones 1 to 4, and £66 cheaper than using London buses.
Forest is currently working with UK benefit operators, including Dash, Cycle Solutions, Cycle Saver and GoGeta, to enable employees to easily access the scheme through their company’s existing benefits platform.
