London e-scooter hire - Tier, Lime etc.

Buster_Danog

I downloaded the Tier app a while back and found it to be unclear about the service. It looked like if you hired an e-scooter in London Zone 2 you were then expected to ride it towards destinations in Central London before you were eligible to park it at one of the scooter hire bays. Is this just the way I read it or is their electronic map in need of an overhaul?

Has anyone used these in London for short journeys and is there any extra charge for only going a mile or two?

MilesT6060842

Not all the London boroughs offer the scooter hire.  (I think the GPS in the scooter will cut off if you go out of bounds).  Check your likely journeys and online for which boroughs have contacted with which companies.

Apart from that, I think you can go from any marked scooter bay to any other one, and pay for the minutes you use, few or many, with whatever minimum charge the operator uses. 

The dockless ebikes are similar, although they don't need to be left in a bay they should be left in a non-obstructing location or the local council may remove the bike (not your problem unless you hope to grab it again after sometime later, first come first served though).

The Santander bikes have to go into the docks, but can be any dock to any dock that has a free space (and with the recent price change rides can be up to 60 mins with a time credit if the destination dock is full to allow you to ride to next free one showing on the control post of the full dock).  They don't go to far outside of Zone 1, though;  partway into 2 in some directions.

Buster_Danog

MilesT6060842 said:

Apart from that, I think you can go from any marked scooter bay to any other one, and pay for the minutes you use, few or many, with whatever minimum charge the operator uses. 

Thanks. I just downloaded the Lime app and it doesn't contain any restricted zones or shaded areas so looks a lot more clear. I might give the ebikes a go as well. I found there were quite a few on the app local to me which I didn't expect. Santander I have never tried but since my main journey might be uphill I will probably avoid their bikes which I heard were on the heavier side even if they are good quality.

MilesT6060842

Buster_Danog said:

Santander I have never tried but since my main journey might be uphill I will probably avoid their bikes which I heard were on the heavier side even if they are good quality.

Yes the Santander bikes are heavy but their lowest gear helps work round that.  There are only a few areas within the Santander zone which have reallty steep hills (the zone doesn't cover the steep areas of Hampstead, and I wouldn't want to ride up that, but more normal gradients are fine).  Santander is starting to roll out ebikes (pedal assist) but at the moment you can only rent those if you have the key or the app, and they are £3 per ride instead of £1.65 (season pass holders get the ebike for £1 supplement)

London blogger "ianvisits" has a review of the Santander ebike