A London council has threatened to evict cycle hire firm Lime for allegedly ignoring its safety concerns amid ‘havoc’ caused by e-bikes left ‘scattered’ across its streets.
Brent Council told the US-based dockless bike operator that it has three months to address the issues or remove all 750 cycles currently allowed in the borough.
The local authority in North West London is particularly worried about the dangers posed by the abandoned green bikes for pedestrians and disabled people.
Its ultimatum is the latest round of an ongoing battle between councils and private hire bike firms amid soaring demand for battery-powered bikes since the pandemic.
Lime now has 30,000 e-bikes across London and has been working with Brent since 2019 as the council tries to promote eco-friendly travel to reduce air pollution.
But Brent leader Muhammed Butt said the council is receiving ‘repeated, regular complaints about the bikes left across paths and roads in a haphazard way’.
Dockless Lime hire bikes lie in a pile on a pavement on the Strand in Central London
Councils cannot yet regulate e-bike hire firms amid soaring demand since the pandemic
He added that this was ‘putting unsustainable pressure on council staff who are spending time cleaning up after Lime’, describing the situation as ‘unsustainable’.
And the authority has now told Lime that it must remove its bikes by the end of October if it ‘continues to ignore Brent Council’s safety concerns and suggestions for improvements to the scheme’.
These requests include the introduction of dedicated e-bike parking bays, which would be dedicated, cordoned-off areas in high footfall zones such as stations, town centres, employment areas and other visitor attractions.
A ‘no parking zone’ would also be introduced in all other areas of the borough with any e-bikes left in this zone removed by Lime in an agreed timeframe.
This aspect presents a problem for Lime’s business model, as it wants riders to be able to hire a bike and park it near their starting point and destination – wherever that is.
Brent added that more resources would be required so that any e-bikes reported to be inconsiderately parked or abandoned are removed quickly.
The council also wants Lime to increase penalties for users who fail to leave their e-bikes in the correct location, given the current fine of £10 is not an ‘adequate deterrent’.
In addition, Brent has asked Lime to provide local training, jobs and community events as part of its activities in the borough, including a residents’ forum so people can share their views on the scheme.
Mr Butt said: ‘Lime bikes left scattered across our streets are causing havoc for other road users, especially for pedestrians and disabled people.
‘Residents have gone sour on Lime and the council is receiving repeated, regular complaints about the bikes left across paths and roads in a haphazard way.
‘This is putting unsustainable pressure on council staff who are spending time cleaning up after Lime. Something needs to change as the current situation is unsustainable and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.’
The move has been welcomed by the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK), which said the e-bikes are dangerous to blind, visually-impaired people and other pedestrians.
A spokesperson told BBC News: ‘The bikes need to be docked and locked off the pavement like the Santander ones. Until this happens the e-bikes need to be removed.’
One anonymous Brent resident also told the broadcaster that children would often tip the e-bikes over, adding: ‘They’re gathered around laughing… they pull them in the way. People don’t have respect for community assets.’
Brent said Lime has not yet done enough in response to its requests for improvements.
Mr Butt added: ‘To date, Lime has not satisfied our proposals, which we consider vital to ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the scheme in Brent. Unless Lime changes the way it works with us, we are out of road for its activities in Brent.’
More than 12million trips on Lime bikes were made across London between 2019 and last year
Brent Council wants Lime e-bikes to be parked safely in dedicated, cordoned-off areas
So far Brent has created about ten ‘pilot’ parking bays and hopes to eventually increase the total to 100, reported the Evening Standard.
However, this is just over two bays per sq km (0.4 sq miles), which is significantly below the recommended density given by independent experts of 25 bays per sq km.
A spokesman for the Brent Cycling Campaign, part of the London Cycling Campaign, told the newspaper: ‘Lime and Brent Council must work together and stop this counterproductive blame game.
‘As the highway authority, Brent Council has the power to solve the challenges around shared e-bike parking: the solution is to provide sufficient marked bike parking areas on the road in problem areas, enforced in collaboration with the hire bike operator.
‘We are surprised, given that other London boroughs have successfully addressed this issue for some time. Removing a popular zero emissions transport option is not the answer.’
Tom Fyans, chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign, added: ‘We welcome the increased number of people cycling in London using bike hire schemes including Lime, and encourage all councils and operators to work together to maximise the opportunity for more Londoners to use them safely and responsibly.
‘We urgently call on all councils to work with operators to increase parking provision to meet rising demand so that hire bikes continue to play their role in bringing the joy of cycling to more and more Londoners’
Some 1.25million riders took more than 12million trips on Lime bikes across London between 2019 and last year.
Rival firm Forest operates on a smaller scale with around 10,000 dockless e-bikes.
Transport for London (TfL) has about 15,000 Santander Cycles which must be docked in ranks. These are commonly known as ‘Boris bikes’ after Boris Johnson who was Mayor when they were introduced in 2010.
TfL is currently working on a London-wide policy for dockless bike operators and e-scooters, but this is not expected to come into force until 2026.
And a spokesperson for Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is the self-appointed chair of TfL, said his team were working with councils in London to address the issue.
He wants them to ‘explore a coordinated scheme to manage dockless e-bikes and e-scooters and additional enforcement mechanisms for poorly parked e-bikes’.
The council said it now awaited a response to a letter to Lime, and has provided formal pre-emptive notice that all e-bikes must be removed from Brent by October 31.
Officials are worried about dangers posed by the e-bikes to pedestrians and disabled people
Lime bikes have been in operation in Brent since 2019 and have soared in popularity since
Mr Butt said: ‘It’s high time Lime takes responsibility for its service and users. We want Lime to take ours and residents’ concerns seriously and amend its operating model to account for the common-sense asks we have made.’
But a Lime spokesperson responded by saying: ‘We are proud to have run a successful shared e-bike service in Brent for the last six years, with tens of thousands of local residents now using Lime to make essential journeys in the borough.
‘We understand the critical importance of maintaining a safe service and avoiding pavement obstructions and are committed to working with the council to deliver the required improvements to extend our operations here.
‘It is possible to move to a mandatory parking model in Brent, but the council needs to install a sufficient number of parking locations for people to park at.
‘We need these locations in order to maintain a tidy and easy to use service that can continue to contribute to the council’s active travel goals. We can support this process by providing trip data and infrastructure funding.’
