Cambridge could be set to swap the bike for e-scooters

It is as much a cliché of Cambridge as punts passing underneath the Mathematical Bridge or undergraduates cycling through the city, shirts billowing, bells tinkling.

Now students late for a supervision or trying to catch last orders have an alternative: the e-scooter.

Hundreds of scooters are to arrive on Cambridge’s streets in time for the new term at a cost of £1-a-time plus 20p/minute or £10 a day or £40 a month after the city embraced the e-scooter craze by handing an exclusive contract to Voi, the Swedish group.

There will be discounts for keyworkers and those on low incomes.

The award follows the department of transport’s decision last month to legalise the rental of the 15mph machines which can be left anywhere.

Cambridge is ahead of its Varsity rival. Oxford has yet to start its tender for e-scooters.