hen Marta Francisco takes her toddler, Daniel, to daycare before commuting to work in Sydney’s CBD, she doesn’t use a car. Instead, she navigates the hilly route from their Clovelly home in Sydney’s east on an e-bike. She and her partner use car share companies in addition to the car they own, but decided to also sign up for a $59-a-week e-bike subscription from rental company Lug+Carrie.
As a result, relatively affordable electric bikes have stood out as a cost-cutting alternative to gas-guzzling cars while kerbside e-bike rental companies are spreading across capital cities.In 2017 when states and territories adopted uniform laws on the use of e-bikes, about 9,000 were sold in Australia. Since then sales have doubled each year, according to the Bicycle Industries Australia general manager, Peter Bourke.
While car trip costs include petrol and tolls, “e-bike trips cost in the cents”, Bourke says, noting the average bike costs about 15 cents to charge up. “Not many people are thinking about dropping their car altogether, but people are looking at that second car and rethinking the trips they make on that,” he says.
Lena Huda, a WalkSydney spokesperson, said teenagers are increasingly embracing e-bikes, gaining a level of independence and safety they haven’t been able to as pedestrians on car-centric streets.