With the COVID-19 pandemic making people reluctant to use public transport, more and more Londoners are using bikes to commute. In step with this boom in cycling, Cyclescheme has launched City Bike Hire, which enables employees to obtain a membership with Transport for London’s Santander Cycles bike rental service via their employer’s payroll.
The benefits to the employee are that they can hire a bike whenever they need one, and they’ll save money on their membership under the government’s Cycle to Work Scheme. Because the fee is deducted from their pre-tax salary, an employee can get a Santander Cycles membership worth £90 per annum for as little as £52.20, depending on which tax band they’re in.
Loft delivers the technology
As Cyclescheme’s technology partner, Loft has extended the company’s system and added City Bike Hire to the product range available on its MySchemes platform. Building on the existing architecture, Loft has ensured that City Bike Hire functions exactly like the existing Cyclescheme except instead of facilitating the purchase of a bike and/or accessories, the employee receives a Santander Cycles membership.
The new product has been seamlessly integrated with the Cyclescheme website and we’ve focused on creating a simple, straightforward journey for all users, including employees, employers and staff at Santander Cycles. Data entered into the system is securely stored, bike hire agreements are generated automatically, and on approval by the employer an online payment is issued to Santander Cycles and the employee’s membership is dispatched. All that’s left for them to do is book a bike, put on a helmet and start peddling.
Designed for expansion
Currently, City Bike Hire is available in London through Santander Cycles, Transport for London’s bike hire service. However, the scheme is expected to expand, and has been designed so that it will be easy for Cyclescheme to extend it to other cities and further bike hire retailers.
For further background on our work in the bike industry, read the case study covering our work with Cyclescheme over the last decade.
