Report claims London needs 10,000 more e-bike parking bays

A new report from consultancy group Steer – commissioned by micromobility operator Lime – is calling for the creation of over 10,000 e-bike parking locations in London by 2025.

Steer defined a parking location as either a parking bay or rack which can hold multiple e-bikes, adding that the density of the bays was of key importance. The number of spots for vehicles would vary depending on space.

The recommendation is in response to the “growing demand for green and shared transportation”, and comes as Transport for London (TfL) and London Councils plan to regulate e-bikes city-wide.

Between January 2019 and March 2023, Lime’s e-bikes have clocked over 12 million trips in the UK capital, with average usage increasing by 10 percent each month, according to the firm.

“We fully agree that the record demand for shared e-bikes in London requires a new regulatory approach, and we support TfL and London Councils in developing these plans,” said Wayne Ting, Global CEO at Lime.

“We also see a need to add designated e-bike parking locations across London to keep up with demand.

“This will have the dual benefit of improving parking behaviour, while continuing to extend the benefits e-bikes provide. Lime is ready to step up with funding and partner with local councils to make this dense parking network a reality.”

Speaking to Cities Today, Matthew Clark, Executive Director at Steer, said the exact number of e-bike parking spots in the UK capital is unknown.

“One of the challenges of the current management of the sector at a borough by borough level is there is no single source of information, such as allocated parking spaces,” he said.

“I’d estimate that there are between 500 and 750 marked bays, but some of these are for shared e-scooters rather than both shared e-scooters and shared e-bikes.”

Issues

Lime currently has operating contracts to deploy e-bikes with 10 London boroughs: Camden, Islington, Hackney, Southwark, City of London, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Brent, and Richmond.

Parking remains a challenge, though, with some councils facing complaints from residents about poorly parked e-bikes blocking access.

Parking bays are allocated to Lime by borough councils, often based on data and advice from the firm.

“Some London boroughs require Lime e-bikes to be parked in what’s called ‘mandatory parking areas’,” a Lime spokesperson told Cities Today.

“That means in Camden, City of London, Hackney, Ealing, and Hammersmith and Fulham, you must leave your e-bike in designated parking bays.

“If you’re Liming to one of these boroughs, you can find these parking bays marked in-app on the map.”

When parking, all e-bike users are required to take an ‘end-trip photo’ showing how they have parked, with photos reviewed. Users who are parked incorrectly are warned and can be fined.

Fines start at £2 (US$2.58) and escalate to £20 under the company’s ‘progressive discipline policy’, which can see the user permanently banned from the service.

Lime declined to comment on how many riders have been fined or whether any have been banned.

“We cannot supply those figures for fines – these types of statistics include sensitive rider data, so Lime is unable to share them with third parties,” the spokesperson said.

“However, Lime regularly shares relevant data on rider behaviour and enforcement with the Department for Transport and all local councils within areas it operates in.”

New controls

Last month, the London borough of Camden established new controls to address poorly parked rental e-bikes which obstruct pavements and hinder pedestrians.

Under a new “contract approach”, the council has entered into agreements with hire bike providers Lime and Human Forest.

It said the measure was needed as there are currently no powers available to councils in England to manage the impacts of hire bikes.

The contract stipulates bike specification and safety measures, expected levels of customer service, data reporting and a requirement for at least 90 percent parking compliance within the council’s parking bay network.

“The contract approach allows the council to effectively manage the hire bike service within the borough by having expected levels of operation and service,” Councillor Adam Harrison, Cabinet member for a Sustainable Camden, told Cities Today in June.

“This ensures both a good standard of hire provision for people within the borough but also ensures that the hire service is delivered in a safe and sustainable manner.”

Hacking

Lime says it is still trying to fix a hacking issue, where videos circulating across social media demonstrate how to bypass the dockless bike software and use bikes for free.

Concerns have been raised that riders using hacked bikes are untraceable, meaning the users can potentially dump bikes on the pavement without facing punishment and could even be involved in antisocial behaviour.

Westminster Council has said it receives daily complaints about dockless bikes being abandoned on the pavement across the city, and called for the apps to be improved so residents and businesses can report badly parked bikes more easily.

“We are aware of a limited issue relating to the criminal damage and vandalism of our e-bikes [and] we are implementing a series of measures to prevent this behaviour with hardware solutions set to be rolled out throughout August and September,” Lime’s spokesperson said.

“In the meantime, we are working with the police and local schools to identify, limit and warn against it.

“We are also in contact with social media platforms, which bear the responsibility of removing criminal content like this if shared by its users.”

Image: Lime