City’s e-bike scheme sees major expansion

A major expansion of Leicester’s e-bike share scheme is underway, with 30 new bike docks and 330 additional cycles being added to the fleet.

Santander Cycles Leicester offers anyone visiting, living or working in the city the opportunity to get around by e-bike.

New docking stations will be added at key neighbourhood locations in the coming weeks, including locations in Braunstone, Saffron Lane, Spinney Hills and Belgrave.

There will also be new docks at all three of Leicester’s hospitals, at the University of Leicester and at Space Park Leicester, close to the National Space Centre.

Since the lifting of lockdown restrictions in April last year, the e-bike share scheme has already been used by more than 19,000 people, with almost 47,500 trips made on the electric bikes.

Deputy City Mayor for Environment and Transport, Cllr Adam Clarke said: ‘It’s fantastic that more than 19,000 people have tried out our e-bikes. It reinforces for us that Leicester is a cycling city, with easy bike journeys possible from the outskirts to the city centre in little more than half an hour. 

‘People have told us they are keen to see the scheme expand out into our neighbourhoods, with more options available for picking up and dropping off the bikes, so that’s exactly what we are doing. This expansion will mean we’ll have more than 50 docking stations available, with 500 e-bikes in use.  It will make Santander Cycles Leicester the largest docked e-bike hire scheme in the UK.’

He added: ‘We’re facing a climate emergency and we have ambitious targets to meet to make our city carbon neutral. That means we all need to think differently about how we travel. Investing in cycling schemes like this one – as well as the infrastructure that makes people feel safe to cycle – means we can reduce the city carbon’s emissions. It’s part of a travel solution for Leicester that prioritises ease and affordability for people, while cutting congestion and pollution, improving air quality and improving our own health and well-being.’

Santander Cycles Leicester is a £600,000 project funded by Leicester City Council through the Transforming Cities Fund, following the council’s successful bid to the Department for Transport.  It is sponsored by Santander UK, with investment from operator Ride On and their delivery partner Enzen Global. 

Dan Sherwood, Director of Marketing at Santander UK, commented: ‘It’s great to see the growing support for the Santander Cycles Leicester e-bike scheme, not just by residents but also by so many businesses and organisations within the city.  The expansion of the scheme will provide many more opportunities for people to use the cycles, at a time when our travel choices have become a critical part of our efforts to reduce emissions and improve our environment.’

Photo by Wolfram Bölte