Forest (formerly HumanForest[1]) is a dockless bicycle hire service in London in the United Kingdom. The service charges riders £1 to unlock their ride, and rewards them with 1 minute for parking in borough designated parking areas. [2] [3] As of September 2021, Forest has over 800 bicycles[4] on city streets, making it one of the four main e-bike operators in London, competing with Santander Cycles (docked) and Lime, these services replacing Chinese companies Mobike and Ofo after their insolvencies and removal.[5]
| Forest | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Human Forest e-bikes in London, 2021 | |
| Overview | |
| Area served | London |
| Transit type | Bicycle-sharing system |
| Website | humanforest |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 2020 |
Forest launched in 2020, but was shut down within months after someone was injured due to a faulty e-bike. The company recalled all of the bikes and replaced them, restarting service in 2021.[6]
In August 2023, the service was renamed to Forest.[1]
The service aims to be different to its competition by promoting green ideals and providing users with 10 minutes of free service per day[7] (users still need to pay an "unlock fee" for every ride, which is currently £1).
Forest is ad-supported by partners such as Nutmeg and Whole Foods.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b Hubbard, Ben (2023-08-02). "HumanForest rebrands to 'Forest' to simplify experience". Zag Daily. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "Forest - Locations". humanforest.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
- ^ "Tfl to add 500 e-bikes to Santander cycle-hire scheme as costs rise". the Guardian. 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
- ^ "HumanForest launches 800 electric bikes in London, UK". Intelligent Transport. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
- ^ "Ofo cycle hire firm pulls out of London". the Guardian. 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
- ^ Lomas, Natasha (2020-09-25). "HumanForest suspends London e-bike sharing service, cuts jobs after customer accident". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
- ^ Briggs, Fiona. "Human Forest, e-bike startup, to launch in London this summer". Retail Times. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
- ^ "HumanForest partners with Nutmeg ahead of London launch". micromobilitybiz. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2022-10-09.