300 new e-bikes now available as part of Great Manchester's hire scheme
New e-bikes are now available for people to use as part of Greater Manchester’s Starling Bank Bike hire scheme.
The arrival of 300 new bikes this month gives users greater choice over the bike they would like to use.
Transport for Greater Manchester said: “The new bikes have the added benefit of being lighter, with the battery integrated into the main frame, plus a larger basket at the front for users’ belongings. The electric bikes are more popular to ride as they are ridden twice as often and tend be ridden further.”
This also supports Greater Manchester’s ambition to enable one million more sustainable journeys every day by 2040 and to make the city-region greener.
So far, Starling Bank Bike users have clocked up 1.23million rides, with 1,698 rides being made per day in April 2025.
Dame Sarah Storey, Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester, said: "The arrival of the three hundred new e-bikes is a welcome sight in Manchester. I was fortunate to get to see the new design of these bikes prior to them being added to the on-street fleet and it is good to see the upgrades in the flesh.”
Adding: “Not only are the bikes lighter but they have other features that make them easier to ride, such as the automatic gearing and rear wheel locking system. The bigger front basket is also very useful and they will be a popular addition to the scheme."
To hire a bike, people can either pay as they ride or save money as part of minute bundles with both payment methods available via the Starling Bank Bike app.
On the ‘pay as you ride’, e-bikes cost £1 to unlock and 10p per minute of cycling and pedal bikes cost 50p to unlock and 5p per minute of cycling.
Additionally, minute bundles offer 5p per minute to ride any bike with no unlock fee on standard bikes but a £1 unlock on eBikes still applies.
Michele Rousseau, Chief Marketing Officer at Starling Bank, said: "We’ve supported more than a million rides since launching Starling Bank Bikes in 2024, and with half of our fleet now electric, we’re taking another step forward in promoting sustainable travel across Greater Manchester.”