E-bikes need to be ‘centre stage’ of Government’s active travel policy

More than 100 million car and taxi trips made in UK cities each year could instead be made on e-bikes, providing the Government is able to meet its cycling targets.

That’s according to a new report, published by consultants Steer for the Urban Transport Group (UTG).

The report looks at how the use of e-bikes can be increased, the wide-ranging benefits they can bring and their potential to shift journeys which would otherwise be made by car and taxi.

It sets out ways local authorities can increase the uptake of e-bikes, including offering financial incentives, making improvements to infrastructure, setting up e-bike share schemes and providing secure cycle storage.

Statistics show e-bikes accounted for just 3% of bikes sold in 2019, compared with between around 10-30% of sales in other European countries.

Yet the report says e-bikes have enormous potential to expand access to cycling, overcome barriers set by the UK’s often hilly terrain, shift mode use from the car, deliver substantial carbon savings, reduce congestion and revolutionise first and last mile freight deliveries.

The report also ‘breaks new ground’ by presenting different scenarios on the potential for e-bikes.

If the Government meets its target for half of all journeys in towns and cities being cycled or walked by 2030, outlined in July 2020, the report estimates there is the potential for e-bikes to replace 103 million car and taxi trips annually across the seven core city regions (London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire).

In the report’s ‘Accelerated Growth Scenario’, in which cycle mode share increases more dramatically, it estimates that e-bikes could even replace 646 million car and taxi trips annually.

This would equate to 2.6 billion fewer car and taxi kilometres.

Ben Still, managing director of West Yorkshire Combined Authority and lead board member for active travel at the Urban Transport Group, said: “These scenarios paint a positive picture of what is possible for e-bikes. 

“They tell us the portion of cycle trips that could be made by e-bikes if the Government meets its target on shifting people to cycling, and the number of car and taxi trips which could be removed from our roads.

“E-bikes have unique appeal, enabling longer and more frequent cycle trips, and they can thrive in certain demographics, such as older people, or certain geographies, like hilly or congested towns and cities. 

“E-bikes therefore need to be centre stage of Government’s active travel policy if we are to get more people cycling in our city regions.”

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