As International Women’s Week shines a light on who gets seen and who gets left out, this week’s Net Hero Podcast asks a simple question: who are our streets really designed for?
I sat down with Laura Elms from Forest to talk about e-bikes, safety and why getting more women cycling matters just as much as cutting carbon.
Laura told me the shift is already happening. “In the UK there’s been a huge growth since 2019 and 2020,” she said. “We’ve seen about a 300% increase in rides over that period of time.”
What started as a central London experiment is now becoming a real part of the transport mix, especially for commuting and short urban trips that would otherwise be done by car.
But she was honest that the system is still messy. “London likes to do things in its own unique way,” she told me as we talked about the 32 boroughs, different rules and patchy infrastructure that still make cycling harder than it should be. The bikes may be there but the city has not fully caught up.
We also got into the harder bit: safety and women.
Laura told me “often our journeys now are making up part of wider journeys” but too many women still feel shut out of cycling because the streets feel unsafe or the experience feels intimidating.
She said “when I talk to women they say they were nervous about getting on an e-bike” and that is where electric assist can help as a real barrier-breaker.
Forest’s own numbers tell the story. Around 30% of its users are women, better than many rivals but still not good enough.
Laura’s point was bigger than bikes, she argues if we want cleaner cities we have to build streets and systems that feel safe, practical and open to everyone.
When it comes to net zero and emissions Forest is not just selling a transport service, it’s trying to make the model more circular.
Laura told me the company looked hard at its own footprint and realised “so much came from the production and shipment of the bikes.” So instead of just buying new stock they bought unused second-hand bikes from another operator using the same manufacturer.
On top of that they are stripping bikes back, repairing them and putting them back on the road. “We haven’t actually got rid of any bikes yet,” she said. “That is quite testament to the fact that we really have pushed this reset, this repair.”
Listen to the full conversation on the Net Hero Podcast now and please subscribe.
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