Case Studies

Here are a selection of examples of where App-Bike has been deployed. These include Universities, Housing Developments, Towns, Leisure and Corporate schemes.

University of Hertfordshire

As a forward thinking and sustainability focused institution, the University of Hertfordshire sought our advice and expertise in setting up a shared bike scheme for students and staff connecting the campuses of De Havilland and College Lane in Hatfield. Having tried and failed with their own bike schemes in the past, our offer of providing a fully managed operation and system appealed greatly.

We introduced the UoH liveried bikes and system at the start of the 2025 academic year and it has very quickly became the favoured way to travel fro students and staff. 18 months on and the scheme has seen over 90,000 journeys made on the bikes. This is way more than some town wide/ city schemes achieve in the UK. In response to the high level of demand and the flexibility and adaptability built into our AppBike system we have quickly been able to increase locations and fleet size which now covers 8 locations across the University with 60 bikes.

As with many of our clients we provide our services on a fixed per bike fee basis with 100% of rental revenue used to offset operating costs.

Link to University of Hertfordshire Bike Scheme.

 

 

Saffron Walden – E-bike Scheme

Saffron Walden is rural market town steeped in medieval history and is typical of the similar rural towns, having  generally poor public transport, congestion, and lack of active travel options. Saffron Walden is also quite hilly necessitating the need for e-bikes. Good train connection to Cambridge and London are provided at  Audley End train station but this is several miles outside of the town.

In 2023 Uttlesford DC were awarded a grant to set up an e-bike scheme for the town of Saffron Walden from Defra under a clean air initiative, and came to us to help advise and plan a shared bike scheme for its residents and visitors.

That plan went live in 2024 with the launch of our AppBike system and e-bikes, initially serving 10 locations with 24 e-bikes. The scheme has been very well received and has quickly expanded to 14 locations and 35 e-bikes and a e- cargo bike. There nearly 1000 users and over 9000 journeys completed.

As with almost all our bikes schemes we fully manage the operation of the bike scheme, including user support, maintenance and re-distribution of the bikes.

Plans for further expansion are in the pipeline to link up some of the outlying villages and to take the scheme to the wider district by accessing developer contributions and section 106 monies from new housing developments.

In addition to the e-bike share scheme we also offer a longer term bike and e-bike loan/ try before you buy scheme accessible to residents throughout the district.

Link to Saffron Walden Council bikes.

London Borough of Lambeth Pool Bikes

The London Borough of Lambeth has a good reputation for promoting cycling within its borough and like many employers has its own pool bikes for employees to use. Also like many employers the bikes were under-utilised and difficult to access due to lengthy drawn-out procedures to book a bike and then obtain a key for the lock. Often bikes came back with faults which didn’t get reported and there was a lack of accountability and control within the system. Keys regularly went missing and bikes even lost or stolen.

Lambeth approached us wanting to improve the efficiency, utilisation and accountability of their pool bike system. They wanted to keep their existing mixed fleet of bikes which included Brompton bikes in lockers, cargo bikes, electric bikes and standard pedal bikes, and ensure bikes were only used by those authorised to do so.

Using our App-Bike locking and rental system we were able to retrofit all their bikes with our electronic locks and provide them with a closed access system so that only authorised users can use the bikes. Once authorised and registered a user can book a bike in advance and then unlock it with our App-Bike app. No need for signing out keys, and through our system dashboard we can see exactly who has each bike and for how long. Bike faults are easily reported in the app also, allowing bikes to be taken out of service until repaired. Maintenance contractors have access to our operator functions allowing them to access bikes scheduled for repair.

Housing Development & Mobility Hubs.

Central Bedforshire – Linmere & Bidwell

Over a 15 year period the Linmere and Bidwell developments will deliver around 7500 homes with sustainability and active travel at the heart of their ethos. We were originally approached by the master developer and subsequently Central Bedfordshire Council to provide our App-Bike self-serve bike rental system to the development. The initial batch of bikes and locations were delivered in late 2023 and since then our bike scheme grown with the development with more bikes and locations being added and also beyond the development itself to provide a reliable and meaningful active travel solution to the residents. As of March 2026 there are now over 900 people registered onto the scheme and over 5000 journeys have been made. The fleet is expanding further in 2026 with approximate 60 bikes across 15 locations.

This has only been achieved through the flexibility  and scaleability of our App-Bike system.  We fully manage and operate our system providing user and maintenance support. Regular updates and reports are provided to the Council and developers to allow for future planning.  The scheme is funded primarily through Section 106 contributions, but with 100% of the scheme’s rental revenue being used to offset the operational cost.

The scheme has been deemed such a success that Central Bedfordshire have contracted us to provide our App-Bike system & bikes to other new housing developments across their area.

For further information please also use link to the Linmere Development.

Leeds Dock (Allied London)

Allied London is an award-winning property development and investment company, creating inspiring places that dynamically change the way we work and live. Leeds Dock is designed to be an exciting and vibrant waterside development combining commercial, residential and leisure space. We were approached by Allied London to provide a bike rental scheme for use by the commercial and residential tenants only. Use of the bikes would be free for up to six hours per rental, and then chargeable for extended rentals.

App-Bike provide a fully managed solution which includes the bikes, maintenance, user support and insurance. The bikes scheme is positioned centrally within Leeds Dock and has proved incredibly popular with over 1,000 rentals being achieved by residents and employees in the first full year of operation. The bikes are very much an integral part of life at Leeds Dock and can frequently be seen in the background of Channel 4’s Stephs Packed Lunch which is also filmed and produced at Leeds Dock.

Scott’s Farm Camping

Located in the beautiful Witterings in West Sussex, Scott’s Farm is a family run campsite set within 40 acres of flat grassland. It is popular with families and makes an ideal base to explore the stunning beaches, countryside and villages and Historic Chichester is also close by. For some time, owner Doug had explored the idea of offering bike hire to his guests but was concerned that it would take up too much time with administration, be problematic, and require professional bike mechanics to maintain the bikes.

It was through a chance meeting whilst we were staying on-site at Scott’s Farm that Doug learnt about App-Bike. He immediately liked the idea that we fully managed every aspect of our App-Bike cycle hire operation, meaning his staff did not have to get involved in the day-to-day operation, and was keen to try it out. Shortly after we installed a fleet of bikes on-site for his guests to use.

With great cycle routes around the area and the rise in popularity of cycling as a holiday leisure activity, the bikes have been very well received by his guests, and each season we have been putting in more bikes to meet demand.

MAG Stansted Airport

Airports are big places with thousands of employees on-site working for various companies to support the operation of the airport. Dealing with this many people arriving by car each day presents problems for many airport operators in being able to shuttle these employees to and from the terminal buildings. Stansted airport has also seen rapid growth and a rise in people working on-site and to accommodate these workers additional car parks have been created, but these are some considerable distance from the terminal.

The surface transport team at Stansted approached App-Bike looking for an effective and greener solution to getting workers to and from the terminal from outlying car parking. Given that running a shuttle bus service costs over £100K per year, they were keen to look at more cost-effective options. For less than a 10th of the annual cost of a bus service, we have been able to provide a large fleet of bikes using our App-Bike system to shuttle these employees to the terminal and back again. There is no waiting around for a bus, and a user simply unlocks the bike with our app and locks it again when at their destination. In all it is quicker and more convenient for the user. We have also configured the app so that only authorised users can access the bikes, and all maintenance, support and insurance is provided by App-Bike.

2026 Update: The scheme is now expanding into other areas of the Airport with extra bikes and locations. There are over 1000 users registered to  the scheme and annually over 30,000 journeys made on the bikes.