Great fun – but worth the cost? We try city’s e-bikes
REPORTER HANNAH RICHARDSON FEELS THE THRILL, BUT WON’T BE CHANGING HER ROUTINE
IT’LL be fun, I told myself as I left the house, cycling helmet in hand, it’ll be fun.
This mantra soon became the less convincing “it’ll be fine…” as I approached the Santander bike dock.
It had been years since I had last ridden a bike – never one with its own power source – and the comments of “please just let me know you got to work safely” I received from both my partner and my mother when I told them what I would be doing had not boosted my confidence all that much.
However, there was a more pressing worry since I had been given the task of reviewing Leicester City Council’s e-bike scheme: would I be able to reach the floor?
As someone who is yet to hit five foot, will I be able to reach? It is a concern with which I’m more than familiar, but it usually relates to high shelves and not my ability to do my job.
The answer, it transpired, was just. With the saddle dropped as low as it could go, and the bike tilted at an angle, the toes of my trainers just brushed the floor.
Janet Hudson, the city council’s behaviour change project manager and member of the Active Travel Team, had kindly offered to show me the ropes and, to my immense relief, to chaperone me on my commute to work.
“When you start peddling, there will be a small jolt as the electricity kicks in,” she warned me. “Once you get used to it, it becomes part of the thrill.”
With that in mind, we pushed our bikes to a small cul-de-sac where there was less chance of me injuring an innocent passer-by, should my first attempt go as badly as I feared.
Staring at the short strip of road ahead of me, I tried to work up the courage to push off.
Ten, 20, 30 seconds passed. But I’ve never been one to accept something is beyond me – I’m far too stubborn for that – so, heart hammering, I kicked off.
I didn’t have to get used to it for that kick of electricity to be a thrill. It was fun, easy, utterly terrifying. I loved it.
My memories of riding a bike were predominantly of wobbling along, not entirely convinced of my ability to remain upright.
There was none of that here. Despite the speed, I felt steady and stable and completely in control – at least until I realised the road was running out and I needed to corner.
Once I’d mastered the ability to turn without having to stop and awkwardly shuffle the rear of the bike around, it was time to tackle the task I’d set out to do.
Arguably the reason most people used these bikes, the challenge I had set myself, was to cycle my normal commute to the new Leicester Mercury offices at the University of Leicester.
Our route – admittedly not the most direct – took us through Bede Park, across the De Montfort University Campus, Belvoir Street, Granby Street and London Road, through Victoria Park and into the campus.
To walk it, according to Google Maps, would have taken us about 50 minutes. We did it in 25.
Though a source of irritation for many, I suddenly found myself extremely grateful for the network of bike lanes snaking across the city.
The journey felt safe, and I only had to curse at one car that got a little too close for comfort.
While it is certainly a great way to get some exercise into your daily routine, the trip didn’t feel like hard work.
The bikes come with three levels of assistance, allowing you to adjust depending on whether you’re on the flat or tackling a hill.
I coasted along at a steady two for the majority of the ride, doing just enough work I felt I might have earned a bag of crisps with lunch.
Then, when we hit the incline at London Road and my legs started to complain, I switched to level three and breezed on up.
If it was just a matter of how fun and easy to ride the bikes are, I would be using the Santander scheme day in and day out without hesitation.
In fact, I’ll be sticking another fiver on my account this weekend.
But what about practicality? The app for the scheme – Ride on UK – has its glitches. While signing up is a reasonably straightforward and standard process, when I first tried to use it to take out a bike it wouldn’t recognise any were available.
It took three attempts for the App to tell me it was because my Bluetooth wasn’t on. Had I been on my own, I may
well have cut my losses and walked.
At the other end, the dock wouldn’t recognise I was trying to return the bike and, while Janet tried slot after slot, I was paying by the minute on my journey.
Eventually, she had to give up and call someone on her team to end the trip manually.
Fortunately, I had someone with me who knew what they were doing. Had I been on my own, I would have struggled.
The app was telling me to call the helpline, but the number was nowhere to be seen. It transpired there was a very small sticker behind the saddle with the number on, not somewhere I would have thought to look.
Normally, my commute takes me about 30 minutes on foot, with the nearest dock to me 10 minutes into that walk. As the bikes cut our journey time more or less in half, it would logically save me about 10 minutes in the morning, without factoring in booking and docking my ride.
So would it be worth the money? The cheapest package is the annual subscription at £60 a year, but you still have to pay to ride – 60p for the first 20 minutes and then 5p a minute after that.
If I were using the bikes for the three days a week commute to the office I currently do, it would cost me about £250 a year. If I were commuting five days a week, it would cost me around £370.
Granted, that is considerably cheaper than an annual bus pass. But, can I justify the expense, to save 10 minutes at best, when I can walk to work for free?
The docks are also mainly concentrated in the city centre. I often see people complaining on social media that the outlying wards have been overlooked.
However, Leicester City Council has said it is planning a further roll-out of the scheme, so hopefully those areas which are not currently served will have their own bikes before long.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t love the e-bikes – it’s honestly the most fun I’ve had in a very long time. And I can’t imagine this will be the only time I ever ride one.
But will I be changing my routine to incorporate them into my commute to and from work? Sadly, I don’t think I can afford to.