Appetite for e-Bikes warming as London becomes Jump Bikes’ leading European city

London is a surprise leader in use of Jump Bikes in European cities, the Uber-owned bike share firm has told CI.N.

Only present on the streets since May of 2019, Jump Bikes are for many in the capital their first taste of pedal-assisted cycling and the pool of 800 bikes has been a hit, hired more than 60,000 times from May to October 2019.

While that is some way behind London’s official bike hire scheme, which boasts a fleet of 11,500 bikes and 750 docking stations, Uber are pleased with progress in the UK capital, which surpasses usage in places like Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, Madrid, Munich and Paris.

It is, per bike, seven trips every day; an encouraging figure should the scheme make good on its pledge to expand further across London.

At present the majority of bikes are hired from King’s Cross, Old Street, Finsbury Square, Highbury and Islington and Regent’s Park. Bikes are not available in many boroughs as yet and none south of the river Thames.

Available via the Uber app, the bikes have in recent times been a replacement service for the main car-based transportation, with Uber itself having lost its licence to operate for the time being. An appeal is underway.

The average Jump Bikes journey is three miles and bikes are most popular during morning and evening commuting hours. Each bike is hired for an initial £1 and 12p per minute of use thereafter.

“Dinika Mahtani, General Manager for Jump in London, told CI.N: “We’ve only been in London for a couple of months, but 60,000 people had taken their first trip on a Jump bike between May and October of 2019. Even more encouraging is that we’re seeing an average of seven journeys on every Jump bike every day, showing a real demand for electric bikes in the capital. We’re excited to expand to more neighbourhoods in the coming months and will continue to work with local councils to promote active and environmentally friendly travel.”

Uber also recently integrated public transport data on buses, tubes and trains for journey planning in-app.