London council threatens to ban Lime bikes after cycles block pavements

One London borough could soon be a Lime bike-free zone after a council gave an ultimatum over scattered e-bikes.

Brent Council warned the operator Lime that hundreds of its rental bikes face removal unless it tackles safety concerns.

The recognisable lime green bicycles available for renting through an app have caused a controversy across London after they have been spotted parked across pavements.

The council said the dockless e-bikes were causing ‘havoc’ to disabled people and pedestrians in the northwest London borough where they have been ‘inconsiderately parked and abandoned,’ the BBC News reports.

Now it has told Lime that it must remove the e-bikes from the borough by October 31 if the council’s conditions were not met.

These are the introduction of dedicated e-bike parking bays, in-borough resources to remove inconsiderately parked or abandoned e-bikes, a higher penalty fine plus community engagement events.

Lime reportedly operates 750 e-bikes in the borough.

Muhammed Butt, the council leader, said the situation was ‘unsustainable and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.’

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He claimed the council receives ‘repeated, regular complaints’ about bikes left across paths and roads.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said they had seen children tipping bikes over as they gathered ‘around laughing’ and pulling ‘them in the way.’

The plans were welcomed by the National Federation of the Blind of the UK (NFBUK) as they were ‘causing danger’ to blind, visually impaired people and other pedestrians, according to the broadcaster.

A spokesperson said: ‘The bikes need to be docked and locked off the pavement like the Santander ones.’

But until that is done, ‘e-bikes need to be removed,’ they added.

Lime bikes said the bikes are used by ‘tens of thousands of local residents’ in Brent and they were used in 10 trial locations where bikes can be parked in the borough.

However, it said there were not enough parking spots to enforce mandatory parking rules.

Lime said it was happy to provide funding for more parking spots but the council needs to install these.

The Brent Cycling Campaign, part of the London Cycling Campaign, urged Lime and the council to ‘work together and stop this counterproductive blame game.’

It told the Standard that 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,’ it added.

Other London councils like Westminster have targeted bad e-bike parking by erecting 350 additional parking bays.

Wandsworth council has said previously it will ban ‘free-floating’ parking on pavements in busy locations after it has installed 111 parking bays, the Local Government Lawyer reported. Free-floating parking would still be allowed outside of the hotspots in quieter parts of the borough.

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