HumanForest
Forest (formerly HumanForest) is a dockless bicycle hire service in London in the United Kingdom. The service charges riders £1 to end their ride, and rewards them with 2 minutes for parking in borough designated parking areas. [1] [2] As of September 2021, Forest has over 800 bicycles[3] on city streets, making it one of the four main e-bike operators in London, competing with Santander Cycles (docked) and Lime/Jump (both owned by Uber), these services replacing Chinese companies Mobike and Ofo after their insolvencies and removal.[4]
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.[5]
The service aims to be different to its competition by promoting green ideals and providing users with 10 minutes of "free" service a day[6] (users still need to pay a "parking fee" for every ride, which is currently £1).
Forest is ad supported by partners such as Nutmeg and Whole Foods[7]
References
- "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.