Santander Cycles
How much does Santander Cycles cost?
Prices are current as of 11 Sept 2026.
Santander Cycles has no in-app products on record in the United States.
10+ alternatives to Santander Cycles
| Santander Cycles |   London & UK Live Bus Countdown |   South Western Railway |   Avios: Shop, Collect & Travel |   Forest - eBike Sharing |   THORPE PARK – Official |   Addison Lee: Taxis & Couriers |   Beryl - bike & e-scooter hire |   Oxford Tube: Plan>Track>Buy |   Step: Your World | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating / 5 | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Reviews | 13K | 326K | 64K | 53K | 25K | 14K | 11K | 8K | 4.2K | 1.7K |
| Released | 2015 | 2011 | 2016 | 2018 | 2023 | 2017 | 2013 | 2018 | 2021 | 2021 |
| Monthly price | — | $0.99 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $5.99 |
| Annual price | — | $3.99 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $49.99 |
| One-time price | — | $14.99 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
The going rate for each plan in United States, in its own currency, shaded from the cheapest price on the row to the dearest.
Santander Cycles reviews
3.7 out of 5, based on 12,528 reviews.
What people like
- Cheap if you return bikes quickly
- Lots of docking stations everywhere
- Refunds given if subscription isn't used
What they complain about
- Keeps crashing when you open it
- Registration fails for non-UK phone numbers
- No Apple Pay or auto-fill support
Pathetic
Buggy, illogical, unhelpful. So TFL
Absolutely infuriating
The worst app experience I’ve ever had. Bug filled, won’t let me hire, sign up is a complete pain too. I will NEVER again use this app.
Map bug pls fix
Can you please bring back the map view feature? It was really useful and all I can see on my iPhone 7 right now is the Activity page (can't navigate away)
Good bikes, worst transport app ever
Never tried using a worse transport app. Loads of bugs, no Apple Pay, doesn’t recognise basic UK postcodes, have to type in everything manually. And lots of bugs bringing up error messages trying to register a card. It constantly logs out of your account too. Compare this to Lime, Forest or any competitor and it’s 10 years behind. TfL get your act together (same goes for TfL Go)
Have to delete and reinstall for it to work 1st time
Install, sign up, purchase a day pass, go to get release code using ‘hire now’ And the app crashes on the 3 different iPhones we tried. Delete app, reinstall app, get verify code from SMS and it worked all all 3 iPhones.
Excellent
My wife and our friends enjoy going to major cities and moving about the city on rentable city bikes. Such a great way to see a city. We have done this in New York, Edinburgh, Chicago, and now, London. With Santander, we were not sure which pricing plan to choose. The standard 30 minute option for £1.65 was pleasing, however we went with 20 £ option for one month. We were only in the city for three days and we were unsure if we would actually hit the 20 pound value. After we canceled our subscription upon leaving, we were given a detailed receipt and a refund for £6.30 because we did not hit our 20 pound mark. we all thought this refund was above and beyond.
App completely broken
It’s just showing a white page. Have to uninstall and reinstall. How can a simple app be this glitchy
Quasi perfetta
Per essere perfetta dovrebbe integrare la navigazione fino ad un punto di raccolta selezionato magari sfruttando un collegamento con Google maps o Apple map.
Barely usable, nor reliable
It’d be great if it worked… the app is barely usable, when it works. In fact, issues are constant, be it app crash or connectivity etc. It’s not reliable.. they don’t invest in it.
Doesn’t work more than it does
Not a very reliable app if you’re using it to commute. App keeps glitching. Get the fob instead!
👍🏻
Ruin my trip. Berry nice
Shockingly amateur
Still face random crashes that should be incredibly easy to trace and fix Trash
Really good
In London for a couple of days and really loved the bikes! Lots of docking stations, which meant we never went over 30 minutes, so good value. Agree with another review, that you need UK phone, address and billing address for credit card, to use the app. Much easier to just pay with credit card on machine. Riding around on a Sunday a delight, little traffic and the sun shone!
Annoying
Ever since the last update , the app keeps logging me out after 5 min - please fix!
Dubious app
App is inconsistent- sometimes it works and sometimes it fails miserably despite being used from the same location.
Londres en bici
Mi novia y yo hemos pasado unas vacaciones alucinantes en esta bella ciudad gracias a las bicicletas. Si la climatología es buena, para mi la mejor manera de conocer Londres.
Please fix the bugs - we cannot cycle..!
I reiterate the August review before mine. Love the idea of making cycling accessible and affordable across London. Today, I had planned to use it as it would have saved me a lot of time. Stood there with the app frozen, unable to hire. Ended up being even later. It worked for me last time I used it in November, and I have an up to date iOS and had 5G etc. So frustrating and cannot rely on it so will not use again unless I know this has been addressed in the next update.
Rich
The worst app I have ever used.
Nice service, app needs optimisations
Adress details don’t match entering creditcard with non-uk adresses, you need to cheat and enter stuff like blablabla or 12345 to get it to work around form field validation (e.g. street). Also cant plan a route to a near location with bikes or free slots. Oh and explanation of process can be mich better for first time users
Useful
And easy
Does not work
Immediately crashes when pressing the button to confirm a hire
App won’t accept Non-U.K bank info
I just called Santander cycle customer service, they specifically said if you do not have a UK bank account and UK phone number, the app will not work for you. Please make this clear when someone downloads this app. However, I can still use my physical credit card from the US at the kiosk by the Santander cycle rentals. Again, developers, please make this information visible to people who just download the app. Or push to change it to accept U.S Credit Cards in the app.
It does not handle international cellphone number
The app is very good for finding bicycle spots but is terrible for handling the actual rent process since it does not support international cell phone number for the SMS activation key.
London is great
I tried this on my last day in London and wish I had started sooner. The set up was a bit of a challenge as I have a Canadian credit card. Once I was set up I used my credit card in the machines and it went smoothly. I had a wonderful cycle along Regents Canal to Camden locks. Next time I plan to cycle along the Thames and explore the bike lane routes. It's a great way to get around.
Terrible App
Waste of time. Registration process is ridiculous.
Not for tourists
The app account requires a text message which won’t work for US phones. The stations won’t complete a rental with a US card. Wasted an hour
No favourite stations ?!
The application is really basic, but how come you cannot favourite the stations you use the most ?! That should have been part of the minimum viable product for sure... As-is, it's not interesting enough to use. Even planning the journey was not giving a satisfactory result. That's a pity, the design overall is not bad, just the functionalities are lacklustre Please improve.
App works perfectly
Great app! No issues.
Crashing app. Waste of Money
Crashing when confirming hire for day pass. Latest IOS. Waste of Money
Registration process is too difficult
Several improvements can be made to make the registration smoother. 1. Browser auto-fill 2. Sign up w Apple or Google 3. Reduce information collection such as home address. Is that really necessary? 4. Allow sign up without a UK phone number, that will make it more tourist friendly Otherwise the bikes are great and price is reasonable. Although all 3 bikes I rode had weak brakes in my experience.
Ottima app per un eccellente servizio
Una premessa fondamentale: non si tratta di un servizio di noleggio in senso stretto; concettualmente consiste, in realtà, nell'utilizzo quasi gratuito (due sterline per 24 ore) delle bici presso i numerosissimi stalli ma solo per brevi spostamenti (max 30 minuti) in modo da consentire a tutti di poter usufruire del servizio mediante continue ricollocazioni presso gli stalli ed equilibrata e costante presenza di bici negli stessi. Spiego meglio perché, nelle sintetiche istruzioni sulle colonnine, si rischiano fraintendimenti con successivi addebiti non proprio economici, come anche già evidenziato in alcuni commenti critici: 1) scegliere "noleggio bici"; 2) impostare per 24 ore; 3) scegliere quante bici noleggiare max 4; 4) inserire la carta di credito e autorizzare il pagamento (2 sterline per bici). Non son sicuro se la sequenza sia esatta ma, nel caso di mio errore, l'intuito aiuterà 😏! La colonnina rilascerà un tot di ricevute (pari al numero di bici noleggiate) con impresso un codice di 5 cifre da inserire nella postazione della bici prescelta; inserito il codice si illuminerà un led verde (a meno che la postazione non sia fuori uso, nel qual caso si sceglierà un'altra postazione) e la bici verrà liberata per l'utilizzo gratuito per mezz'ora, superata la quale vi verranno addebitate altre due sterline per bici e, così, di mezz'ora in mezz'ora. Per evitare questi questi ulteriori addebiti, prima dello scadere dei 30 minuti, ricollocate la bici in uno stallo (con un inserimento un po' secco, attendendo che il led diventi verde) e, dopo 5 minuti, vi verrà data la possibilità di riprenderne un'altra con la stessa procedura iniziale solo che, una volta inserita la carta di credito già utilizzata, il sistema vi riconoscerà indicandovi anche quanto manca allo scadere delle 24 ore iniziali e, pertanto, non addebitandovi ulteriori costi (se poi vi risultasse troppo stressante e macchinoso questo continuo restituire/riprendere, due sterline ogni tanto in più non vi cambieranno la vita 😏) Importante, comunque, non fare scadere le 24 ore perché potrebbero esserci, a quel punto, sanzioni. Per avere piena conoscenza delle numerosissime postazioni in città, raccomando di scaricare l'app "Cycle Hire" sponsorizzata da Santander che indica anche quante bici da prendere e quanti stalli vuoti (per ricollocare quelle in vostro possesso) troverete negli stalli; a mio parere è utilissima anzi, fondamentale per il miglior utilizzo del servizio! Tanto per dare un'idea, un giorno ho percorso un notevole tratto, da Kensington palace fino all'Abbazia di Westminster, senza ulteriori costi, attraversando gli interi Hide Park e Green Park, trovando persino all'interno dei parchi (con piacevoli soste presso i bellissimi laghetti pieni di cigni e papere) stalli di noleggio. Per quanto riguarda la mia esperienza, un servizio davvero eccellente. Spero di essere stato sufficientemente esaudiente... buone pedalate.
Rubbish!
Waste of time trying to get it to work
Unable to enter a credit card
Just wouldn't work, on app or website. In each received only cryptic error messages. Perhaps because I have a U.S. credit card?
Sistema perfetto
Estremamente consigliato per tutti i viaggiatori da 12 a 72 anni
Wtf is this app?!
Wtf is wrong with this. Unusable.
Illogical
The app flips out if you don't enter a mobile phone number. While it accepts it when registering you can't then do anything with your account. How many non-UK visitors would carry a mobile phone with them?! Not me! Also, it doesn't appear in app searches for bicycle. Surely "cycles" implies motorbikes as well. Finally, your sub starts when you register, even if the wifi you use is miles from the nearest station. Why not make it start with the first rental? Overall: poorly thought through.
Simple and easy to use...;-)
Great tool!
Having to manually enter in your card details for every ride makes this app usable
Despite being able to save your card details to your account, it still asks you to enter your card details every time. There is also no apple pay. Pay a few £ extra for Forrest or Lime
Cycle Hire App is better.
What should have been a carbon copy of Cycle Hire - or just bought them out - is instead an in your face, don't forget this is Santander, overly sponsored, clunky app. It does add a feature to hire a bike through your phone - but only get the app when you want to do that. Otherwise - Cycle Hire is much better.
Santander Cycles FAQ
- Is Santander Cycles free?
- Yes. The app is free, in all 175 countries it sells in, and it sells nothing inside it.
- Does Santander Cycles have a free trial?
- No. None of its offers (US) come with a free trial.
- What are the best alternatives to Santander Cycles?
- London & UK Live Bus Countdown (4.7 from 326,207 reviews, premium from $0.99), South Western Railway (4.6 from 64,046 reviews) and Avios: Shop, Collect & Travel (4.6 from 52,645 reviews).
Santander Cycles download
Last updated 1 year ago.
Santander Cycles sells in 175 countries. It was released 11 years and 4 months ago, on 12 May 2015. It holds a 3.7 rating from 12,528 reviews.
Supports 1 language: English.
How much does Santander Cycles make?
Third-party estimates for the last 30 days, worldwide — not the store's own figures, which Apple publishes for nobody.