Square Mile to ramp up efforts against ‘menace’ of Lime and Forest bikes

The City of London corporation will significantly ramp up efforts to tackle disruptively parked electric bikes, following warnings from local councillors over blocked pathways and safety hazards.

Shravan Jashvantrai Joshi, chair of the body’s planning and transportation committee, told the Court of Common council at least 19 new parking bays would be installed this financial year, with some 50 rolled out in the coming years, along the City’s carriageways.

The City of London corporation is also lobbying hard for legislation, namely the introduction of a pan-London contract for e-bike operators, which would enable authorities to issue fines for poor practice.

Lime and Forest are currently the only operators of e-bikes in the capital, following the departure of rivals Dott and Tier for Europe.

Joshi noted the timing for such a contract was currently “unclear,” with “no indication” from TfL or the government of when that might happen.

Responding to a question from council member Jason Groves, he added: “I share his frustration with the elongated process we are having to go through before any meaningful enforcement can actually happen.”

It comes amid mounting scrutiny on Lime, London’s largest e-bike operator, over abandoned or incorrectly parked bikes blocking pathways and proving a hazard for the elderly and disabled.

Brent Council recently promised to ban Lime bikes entirely if a series of demand proposed by borough chief Muhammed Butt aren’t met by Halloween.

An ‘impenetrable phalanx’ of Lime and Forest bikes

There are currently 87 dedicated dockless parking bays across the City, of which 23 are shared with e-scooters. That provides capacity for 660 bikes and 104 e-scooters.

Groves told the Court of Common Council: “Over the summer, there have been numerous times when major public footpaths in Tower Ward, most notably on Tower Street… have not just been impeded, but at times totally blocked by an impenetrable phalanx of dockless Lime bikes and Forest bikes.”

“This has resulted in the obviously unacceptable situation of large numbers of people having to walk in the street, just to get around them.”

“The situation continues to get worse,” he concluded.

Joshi said ultimately it was the “responsibility of Lime and Forest to manage their fleets in accordance with available capacity.”

“We continue to press operators to improve compliance with our requirement for all dockless bikes to be left in designated bays.”

A spokesperson for Lime said: “We recognise that the huge growth in demand for e-bikes can lead to challenges with overcrowding and we are working to address this in partnership with the City of London.

“It is welcome news that the City is committed to rolling out increased parking capacity as demand for e-bikes continues to rise, as this is the best way to improve e-bike parking. Lime already provides data and funding for parking bays in addition to identifying suitable parking locations.”

The spokesperson added: “Lime has recently held a number of productive meetings with the City to discuss the need for more parking capacity in high usage locations and to set out Lime’s increased investment in our on-street team.”

Alex Berwin, Head of Policy at Forest, told City A.M. “We are incredibly proud to have supported the City of London’s transition to become one of the most popular locations in London for people to cycle, with one in every four vehicles in the Square Mile now a person cycling. This has been helped in large part by the availability of dockless e-bikes such as Forest. 

“We agree that identifying and installing a dense network of dedicated parking bays should be a top priority to ensure all our users have a suitable place to park their e-bikes and footways are kept clear for non-users. 

“In the meantime, we remain committed to working with the City of London to share data as well as identify and fund additional parking bays. We will also continue to implement a range of measures to encourage responsible parking including fining and eventually banning users who repeatedly misuse our service.”