London’s pay-as-you-go personal transport mix has got a new player in the form of Yo-Go’s electric golf buggies.

JOHN EVANS goes for a spin

PHOTOGRAPHY JACK HARRISON

Bus, bike and underground are just three of the ways you can B travel around London – and now there’s another: golf cart. There are currently 10 of the yellow electric buggies, operated by Yo-Go and scurrying around Hammersmith and Fulham, as part of a trial launched in September 2024. The idea sounds bonkers, but once you’ve driven one, it soon makes sense. Each buggy can carry two people plus their luggage. They’re restricted to the prevailing speed limit of 20mph, but because they’re partially open to the elements, they feel faster. They can be driven by anyone aged between 25 and 70 who has held a UK driving licence for more than two years. The hire charge – 10p per minute for subscribers paying a £10 monthly fee, or 20p a minute for nonsubscribers – includes insurance with a £250 excess. When the vehicle is parked, the hire charge falls to 5p per minute. These rates make the buggies cheaper to use than a Lime e-bike or Zipcar Flex. To drive a Yo-Go buggy you need to have registered as a user by submitting your licence and payment details, national insurance number and postcode. Approval takes 24 hours. You will find the vehicles (there are plans to increase the currently small fleet to 70) in dedicated parking bays dotted around Hammersmith and Fulham. Find one, scan the QR code on the side of it or select the vehicle on the Yo-Go app to unlock it (just like a car, each buggy has a registration number) and your hire session begins, ending only when you return the vehicle to the parking bay. Future plans include allowing users to park them where they choose, perhaps on their street, meaning that a buggy would be available for a group of households. In Hammersmith and Fulham the buggies enjoy free parking, but elsewhere parking becomes chargeable.