"In a warehouse in Southwark, everywhere you look are racks of e-bikes. Loud electric tools whirr away as bikes are repaired and then loaded onto vans for redistribution. Some 400 bikes a day can be repaired here during the summer peak. We are inside a warehouse of one of the main e-bike hire operators in the capital - Forest - who sell themselves as being London's homegrown e-bike operators with 20,000 e-bikes and ambitions to grow more."
"Forest is not the only operator - Californian company Lime has about 50,000 e-bikes in London although it will not reveal the exact number. Other operators are Bolt and Voi. Although they are widely seen as a green choice - zeroemission when used, even if their production is not - ebikes come with their own issues, from questionable rider behaviour to the far bigger frustration of bikes abandoned on pavements."
London has seen a surge in hire e-bike usage, with operators like Forest and Lime deploying tens of thousands of vehicles and repairing hundreds daily during peaks. E-bikes are promoted as low-emission transport but generate problems including inconsiderate rider behaviour, pavement abandonment and parking bays that encourage late-night drop-offs and anti-social behaviour. Operators report usage spikes around transport strikes and use measures such as AI-enabled app tools, rewards for good parking and large-scale maintenance to manage issues. Residents and campaigners are calling for tougher regulation, while operators argue for better infrastructure and collaborative solutions to balance benefits and harms.
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]