More than 5,000 people took advantage of an offer aimed at boosting cycling in the capital earlier this summer, with Transport for London (TfL) hinting that there could be similar deals later this year.
A total of 13,166 bike hires were made by 5,586 people through TfL’s ‘Cycle Sundays’ promotion, according to data released by mayor Sadiq Khan’s office.
The offer allowed riders to enjoy an unlimited number of free 30-minute journeys using the Santander Cycles network on the five Sundays in June, with the goal of encouraging more people to try cycling. E-bikes were also available through the offer for just £1 per ride.
TfL did not directly respond when asked whether the offer’s uptake was more or less than had been anticipated, but David Eddington, TfL’s head of cycle hire, said he was “delighted” that of those who did take advantage of the offer, 64 per cent had not used Santander Cycles before.
In a possible hint at future deals, the organisation has said it will be “using the success of this promotion to look at further ways of attracting more customers to the scheme later this year”.
The data about the offer’s uptake was issued in response to a written question from Gareth Roberts, the Liberal Democrat assembly member for South West London.
Mr Roberts also asked whether Santander Cycles will be expanded into outer London, as the network of docking stations is currently limited to the inner city.
The mayor’s office said there are “no imminent plans” to expand into the outer boroughs, and that any such move would require a strong business case.
They added: “TfL’s current focus for the scheme is expanding the e-bike offering within the current scheme footprint, tripling the number available to hire by the end of summer.
“There are 900 additional e-bikes now available to hire, bringing the current total number of e-bikes to 1,500. This will rise to 2,000 e-bikes by the end of the summer.”
It was revealed last year that between January and July of 2023, the number of Santander Cycles being hired was at the lowest it had been for a decade, and was down by roughly a third on the same period in 2022.
Competition from the vast number of dockless e-bikes on London’s streets was thought to be a factor, as well as changes to the Santander Cycles’ pricing structure, though the weather was also blamed.
According to the latest statistics, Santander Cycle hiring levels appear to have now stabilised, with 4,151,794 hires between January and June this year - down only 0.4 per cent on the 4,168,125 hires in the same period of 2023.
