Electric bike hire scheme could be on the way to Sheffield says Dame Sarah Storey

The multi-gold medal winning Paralympian was announced as South Yorkshire's first active travel commissioner on Monday. 

She is set to work alongside city region mayor Dan Jarvis to lead efforts in promoting and incorporating walking and cycling into everyday transport.

Sheffield’s rolling hills can test even the most experienced riders like many who took part in Stage 2 of the Tour de France in 2014, is an obstacle in getting more people on their bikes. 

But Storey said e-bikes, which are charged with electricity to ease riding uphill, could encourage more people to hop on the saddle.

Chinese firm Ofo, which provided more than 1,000 'scan and go' bikes for hire in Sheffield withdrew the scheme to 'focus on other key markets'.

Dozens of vandalism incidents were reported but the firm denied this was why they were moving out of the city.

Storey said: “Sheffield as everyone knows is really hilly so we’ll be looking to bring in a bike hire scheme – that might be a e-bike scheme and we’ll be looking at other opportunities introduce people to e-bikes.”.

“Someone even suggested to me there should be a ski-lift style mechanism that you put up hills but obviously we’ll be looking at the best way for people to get around those hills and just embrace the fact people have this beautiful hilly city and trying to get people about.

“It’s about enabling people – we won’t be telling people what to do. We want to provide them with an alternative which is more attractive to what we have at the moment.”