London e-bike sharing scheme investigated over 'free' claims

A London e-bike sharing company is being investigated by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) over its claim that users can have "10 minutes free daily", which is attached to all its bikes across the capital.

The ASA confirmed the investigation into Forest this week after London Centric revealed that it had contacted the regulatory body over the claim.

While riders do get 10 minutes of free riding time, every use of a Forest bike incurs an unlock fee and a flat service fee, totalling £1.90, meaning the "10 minutes free daily" tag line could be questioned. While this is clear on their website, and also in an advertising campaign the brand embarked on in September, it is not made clear on the bikes themselves, with the advert on the rear mudguard.

When approached by Cycling Weekly, a spokesperson for the ASA said: "I can confirm that we've launched a formal investigation into Forest E-Bikes' advertising 'first ten mins free'. We can't comment further on this at this time, but we will publish our findings in due course."

If the investigation rules against Forest, the company could be forced to remove the statement from the bikes.

The brand say they are the "only shared e-bike in London to have a zero emissions fleet and service vehicles with all our vehicles being powered by certified renewable energy".

A press release from Forest in September read: "This year has been our best performing yet, with over 1 million trips a month this summer. In total, 7.2 million miles have been cycled for free on Forest bikes, which has helped us surpass 1 million registered users for the first time.

"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," Agustin Guilisasti, the CEO and co-founder of Forest, said. "It’s something we’ve offered riders since day one so we wanted to shout about how far we’ve come in just 3 years."

Forest were contacted in relation to this story, but had not responded by time of publication.

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