Over the last 15 years, cities and towns across the UK have all started to follow in London’s footsteps and introduced rentable bicycles, e-bikes, and/or e-scooters. These rentable sustainable modes of transportation offer the public a new way to explore and travel within major conurbations, whilst generating revenue for the council to spend on further transport improvements. Most cities and towns within the UK are limited in their sustainable travel infrastructure however, since the growing popularity of rentable bikes and scooters there has been an influx of such infrastructure projects.
‘Boris Bikes’ and their impact on the capital and wider
Launched on 30 June 2010, London’s ‘Boris Bikes’ were hired 93 million times in the first 10 years of the scheme, with the only notable reductions in hire rate occurring during Covid-19. Serving as a sustainable alternative to vehicles, and cheaper and more active alternative to the Tube, ‘Boris Bikes’ have encouraged the capital’s population to cycle more often and helped to reduce the rate of heart disease in men and depression in women (according to a Medical Research Council study in 2011/2012). Whilst making a substantial impact on the quality of life for Londoners, the rented bicycle scheme helped pave the way for cycling improvements across the city, with new bike lanes, dedicated cycle paths and routes popping up in and around central London. The popularity of the ‘Boris Bike’ scheme started to create an impact on the rest of the country, with Birmingham following suit in 2014 and Manchester in 2017. Since then, the popularity of such schemes has extended to most cities and towns within the UK, ranging from rentable pedal bicycles, to e-bikes, to e-scooters.
Placemaking implications
The majority of rentable bike/scooter schemes require docking stations, which in turn require a large amount of space within the public realm. Docking stations across the country are situated in large public areas and by key transport hubs, in most cases using existing spaces that were previously free from development. However, in some situations, councils have had to spend money on infrastructure improvements to allow the schemes to go ahead.
The growing popularity of cycling within the UK has led to new design standards and requirements set out by the National Design Guide and more local design guides and design codes. Councils across the UK have begun to create dedicated cycle lanes and routes, helping increase the safety for users and further increase the popularity of the schemes. Furthermore, all new developments are encouraged to include safe and secure bicycle storage.
Exemplar infrastructure
Due to the growing popularity of cycling from these schemes, many cities have started to make changes to infrastructure. In London, a Cycle Superhighway was created, running from the city centre to north east London, providing a safer route for commuters. Many on-street car parking spaces have been transformed into areas for bike racks or docking stations, with some streets in central London even restricting vehicular access to prioritise cycling, pedestrians and public transport. Cities such as Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford have been at the forefront of designing car-free streets, where bikes and e-scooters are actively encourages and given safe routes.
Designing for a sustainable future
Whilst the UK has seen a steady increase in cycle lanes over the last 15 years, there are significant differences between the infrastructure implemented in countries such as the Netherlands. In the city of Utrecht for example, 100% of residents live within a 15-minute cycle of all necessary amenities, reducing the need for non-sustainable travel and further encouraging the use of sustainable modes of transport such as cycling and e-scooters. The UK must follow suit, designing for a sustainable future rather than waiting for change to happen on its own.
Summary
Schemes such as the ‘Boris Bikes’ and other rentable e-bikes/e-scooters may have brought about many design changes within the UK, helping to transform urban infrastructure with protected bike lanes, dedicated parking zones and repurposing of outdated infrastructure. However, in comparison to the likes of the Netherlands, the change implemented in the UK has been miniscule and lacks far behind in terms of sustainable infrastructure. There are considerable opportunities for future improvements.