A couple of months back, e-bike share scheme operator Forest put up a billboard highlighting how much money it had ‘sacrificed’ by offering users free ride time each day. “Forest gives you 10 minutes free daily,” it read. “If we didn’t, we’d be £11m richer by now.” The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is now investigating that ‘10 free minutes’ claim, on the basis that users are unavoidably charged an unlock fee and a flat service fee before they can use one of the bikes.
The claim that users get 10 minutes of free riding time every day is made in several places on the Forest website. Generally, the terms are clear.
“Just a friendly reminder: The free 10 minutes do not cover any unlocking / daily service fees,” it states on one occasion.
How free is ‘free’ then?
As the brand itself states: “If your first ride of the day lasts between 0 and 10 minutes, the standard charge will be £1.90 if you don't have a bundle or subscription. This cost includes a £1.00 unlock fee and a £0.90 daily service fee. The ride time itself is free of charge!”
The ASA recently told London Centric that it was now investigating and that it could ultimately order the company to remove the claim from all its vehicles.
Cost is a key element of Forest’s pitch versus its higher profile rival, Lime.
For example, an Instagram reel from July shows a Forest employee riding up to a man with a cast on his leg who is riding a Lime e-bike.
“Why are you riding Lime?” he asks. “It must cost you an arm and a leg?”
“It’s just a fun way of showing Forest’s unique selling point that it’s one of the most affordable micromobility operators in London,” co-founder and chief marketing officer Michael Stewart told Zag Daily.
“We jokingly call our competitors out, but at the end of the day, they’re on the same mission as us, which is to take cars off the road.”
Commenting separately about the billboard, CEO and co-founder Agustin Guilisasti said: “We often get asked what’s different about Forest, and whilst there are a number of differentiators, our 10 free minutes of riding every day is a unique, unwavering and unmatched identifier of the Forest brand and our mission. It’s something we’ve offered riders since day one, so we wanted to shout about how far we’ve come in just three years.
“The shared e-bike market in London is booming, so we could easily just charge the same as our competitor and be better off as a business by now. We’ve made a conscious decision not to do this, as it is - and will always be - our mission to make zero emission travel actually affordable for Londoners.”
> Forest launches Cycle to Work scheme for its share e-bikes
