Encountered this at the weekend when trying to cycle through Chiswick. Bike just gave up and had to cycle back to the borough boundary.

Just one of the million ways in which people who chose to cycle are constantly discouraged.

How are lime bikes ( even with their disadvantages) more of a problem than cars choking the streets?

by volantistycoon

41 comments

  1. It has nothing to do with cars but with the idiots in the different councils.

    The question you should ask is why is a company licensed in one and not the other?

  2. Lime bikes and their users are a fucking plague and we should absolutely be creating more infrastructure for cyclists. Both can be true.

  3. being able to just dump a lime bike anywhere is a big issue – ive had someone park a bike right next to my car which then fell over and dented and scraped the front wing of my car – stupid. ive seen 6 lime bikes parked in an electric charging bay basically rendering the bay unusable. We’ve all see the photos of loads of lime bikes blocking pavements forcing wheelchair uses and prams/pushchairs into the road

    Given you have to take a photo at the end of the ride and the potential use of AI why cant the app force people to park in more sensible places at the end of the ride – its stupid. I use lime bikes but im at the point now where i think they should either be banned or more heavily regulated in terms of where they can be parked.

  4. Limes are constantly left in roads and walkways, feels like half of them are stolen as well. They are a nuisance.

    If these companies can’t enforce their policies then they should all be banned.

    You never see stuff like this with Santander bikes.

  5. As a resident of Hounslow, Lime bikes were a menace. Being left all over the pavement, saw people with buggies and wheelchairs struggle to get around them. The Forest bikes I’ve not seen this be an issue so far.

  6. Another prime example of London being administered like small towns rather than a joined up global mega city

  7. Yay! Private enterprise does it again!

    Imagine if London had its own cycle hire scheme and then invested in cycling infrastructure with the revenue.

    But no. We get this bullshit.

  9. Yeah well.. As i’ve pointed out previously. Theres a few things wrong in the minds of Hounslow council’s mangement regarding a fair few policies…

  11. Councils taking independent decisions on this is a bit ridiculous.

    Sadiq should probably have some involvement in a guideline or something at regional level.

    And the most at fault at the bike companies that refuse to do anything about bikes blocking walkways, its gotten bad again and im very pro these bikes but the companies and city need to come to a logical parking arrangement.

  13. This is the problem with having 32 councils, rather than 1.

  15. I’m still quite surprised that no one has considered to implement a system Washington DC has, which is that every bike has a strong reinforced chain attached to it and you cannot complete your ride until you chain the bike. Also makes it harder to nick. I’m sure maybe if you combine that with a London-wide enforcement of parking in designated spaces that it could make things a bit easier?

  16. There should definitely be coordination between councils – maybe the Mayor could step in here and try to get them to work together ? That’s a pretty crazy situation for adjacent councils to have completely different policies.

    Getting people on bikes is brilliant – less car usage , makes space on public transport for people who don’t want to cycle , and gets people active = better for their health . Win win! But bikes being left all over the place is awful. Where I live, the pavements are really narrow along v busy roads, and I’ve seen bikes left all over the place blocking the path. I dread what would happen if someone in wheelchair or mobility device had to get past one. There needs to be a major rethink . When the Santander bikes first started , I felt like they had to be put in proper bays? Now all these bike companies are just letting their bikes be dumped any old place? Doesn’t seem sensible at all. I know it’s not great if you have to walk a long way to find a bay for pickup / drop off but the current system isn’t working for others

  17. Hounslow council are generally stupid. Chiswick High Road is a nightmare for everyone, pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and emergency vehicles. They’re just too stubborn to admit it.

  18. … I wondered how they enforced the bans, now hearing they geofenced the fucking bikes from entering without siezing up is absolutely scummy from Local Authorities…

    Frankly, I hate to say this, but this sort of licensing should go through the Mayor’s office and just like Boris Bikes, be available everywhere.
    If Local Authorities have a problem, talk to the Mayor, it might keep him focused on town rather than talking about Foreign Policy he’s not leading.

  19. I agree with banning Lime bikes and I live in Hounslow.

    People don’t park them correctly and they don’t give a shit about pedestrians.

  20. Wait a minute, are you telling me Lime is now banned in Chiswick? Wtf?

  21. Same with lime scooters they have different zones to the bikes. For instance you can ride a lime bike down birdcage walk but if you try and take a scooter it conks out, despite it being a dedicated cycle lane. Infuriating.

    It’s also one of the reasons I take Lime bikes rather than Voi as, for central at least, I know the Lime is going to operate. Take a Voi out of the City and it turns off. Another pain in the ass.

    The Mayor needs to pull his finger out and sort out this madness.

  22. You can’t run the city as one council, but 32 boroughs is too many.

    The problem is the wealth and cultural disparity between boroughs, even neighbouring ones. We are London but day to day we are our 1/32nd of it that we reside in.

  23. Public ownership or legislated compatibility. Same with the parking apps. It’s getting stupid.

  24. To be honest all private e-bikes should be slowly banned and instead the boris/santander bikes should be made e-bikes utilising the pre-existing parking infrastructure for those bikes. It’s really shitty having all the private ones just parked on the sidewalk and they are a health and safety hazard. The private bikes are also stupidly expensive to rent

  25. We should demand they only use a UK provider e.g. Forrest

  26. Honestly, Lime Bikes are annoying. Not only are they left anywhere and everywhere but the riders are nuts. The amount of times I’ve almost been hit when crossing the road (with a green man) is insane. Or when there’s traffic on the road so they hop up onto the pavement, cycle past the traffic and then back onto the road.

  27. Really feels like something tfl should have say over. Otherwise stuff like this is bound to happen when the council’s don’t communicate.

  28. Meanwhile, my £50 shitheap of a bike can go anywhere!

  29. Merge the councils and make Sadiq Khan (or whoever comes after him as Mayor) the PLENIPOTENTIARY for the capital. Obviously the title must be in all caps, and the position holder must go around dressed in a toga.

  30. Proof that London is actually 32 children (boroughs) in a trenchcoat, and not a city

  31. > How are lime bikes ( even with their disadvantages) more of a problem than cars choking the streets?

    They are an actual nightmare for people with disabilities/reduced mobility. One bike plop sideways on the pavement can be enough for a wheelchair user to not be able to continue their journey, and if enough bikes are littered all around it will make it impossible or very difficult for a blind person to navigate it and go across.

    Not saying that cars are not a big problem!

  32. They should all be melted down for scrap. Unsightly pieces of shit that they are.

  33. Man if these e-bike companies knew how to regulate and resolve the very obvious issue their service and product brings, this wouldn’t be an issue.

  35. Well the problem isn’t bikes, the problem is that your goverment is shit and instead of making social public transport that is funded by goverment, it chooses to have gig economy wehicles that are profit driven and will leave a trail of trash after a few years. Also the cycling infrastructure is trash compared to cities that actually try to have stuff regulated.

  36. Cars don’t get abandoned in the street by random people to block pedestrian pathways would be my top answer. Fuck the ugly looking shit bikes. Having a system like that requires living somewhere people care and are competent at their jobs. We live in London.

  37. If Lime bikes managed their ‘fleet’ and their customers better, then Hounslow wouldn’t have felt the need to ban them. Saying this is just another way cyclists are being discouraged shows the arrogance of many cyclists. Sorry but Lime bought this on themselves.

  38. A private system is so dumb. There should be one, public system for the whole city, and you can pay for it with your oyster card. With set parking/pickup points, so they don’t get left everywhere willy nilly. 

  39. it’s like the city says “please cycle” then throws obstacles at you every 500 meters

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