Kingston Borough currently has a single e-bike operator with Forest, but this is set to end on Sunday, 6 September.

While the council previously revealed that there will be a switch in the borough's e-bike operators, it hadn't revealed who the new contract will be with.

according to Kingston Council, there were 29,000 rides per month in 2025 on Forest bikes in Kingston.

The authority said it was looking to raise revenue from the "rapidly evolving" e-bike market and councillors decided to back council officers' proposal that the council signs contracts with two providers and enters into "two identical service concession contracts".

The Kingston Echo revealed that it knows four e-bike providers bid for the work, and two were chosen.

It said: "The bidders have never been named, but presumably include existing London e-bike providers Forest, Lime Bikes and Voi, plus maybe Dott or Bolt."

Kingston Council said that "the key evaluation criteria that the bidders were scored on in their tenders included: Managing Risky Behaviours (by e-bike users), Managing inconsiderate parking, parking location identification, user charging structure and social value".

The new operators will pay a fee per bike and the selected operators each need to have between 150 and 250 e-bikes in the borough.

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This means there could be 500 e-bikes in Kingston from next week, up from 220 Forest bikes over the past few years.

A Kingston Council report suggested that between them, the two providers will generate £3.94 million of revenue over the next five years, from which the council expects to get between £50,000 and £90,000 per year.

It said the winning bidders have offered financial contributions for the provision of on-street e-bike parking bays.

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