Ride an e-bike for £1 day? Dockless cycle hire meets the Cycle to Work scheme

Dockless e-bike hiring company Forest has announced an entirely new way of doing the Cycle to Work scheme. Instead of using the scheme to get your own bike to keep at home, you can use it to sign up to their monthly e-bikeshare subscription, taking advantage of the Cycle to Work tax saving in the process.

Read more: Electrify your commute: How to cycle to work on an e-bike

The monthly subscription, which costs £45 at full price, allows for 60 minutes of cycling per day, without parking or unlocking fees. That same subscription will cost either £30.60 or £26.10 a month through the Cycle to Work scheme, depending on whether you are a basic rate or higher rate tax-payer — learn more about how this works here.

That means that the scheme costs around £1 a day, far cheaper than public transport. Forest says this new deal makes commuting £155 cheaper per month than the London Underground, and £66 cheaper than taking the bus.

It's also a lot cheaper than having your own bike to look after. With a dockless hire bike, there is no need to worry about maintaining, charging or locking up your own e-bike.

Read more: Gogeta flips the script with 'flexible' Cycle to Work scheme

Of course, relying on dockless e-bikes comes with its own drawbacks. You might have to add a few minutes to your commute each morning so you can find a bike near you, for example. Plus, every time you get on a bike, you'll have to adjust it to make it fit you. Additionally, if you exceed the 60 minutes included in the plan, you will pay 23p a minute. That might not sound like much, but anyone who has used dockless hire bikes like these will know how quickly the minutes rack up.

It won't suit everyone, but for inner-city commuters, this new deal will provide a convenient, cheap way of getting to work, and a nice option for getting around on the weekend too.

Read more: London rental e-bikes to triple amid soaring demand

Forest says the subscription is available through all the major Cycle to Work providers, although we assume that Halfords and Evans' in-house offerings won't stretch to include a Forest subscription.

On announcing the new deal, Forest's head of commercial Jamie Richards said: “There are three winners here; our users who appreciate costs being kept low, companies who make national insurance savings and cities who get more people using active and sustainable mobility.

“We’re very proud to be offering the most affordable dockless scheme in London, in the midst of a cost of living crisis. In fact, one month using Forest’s Cycle to Work Scheme costs the same as only three days of trips on the London underground. What’s not to love?”