Lambeth Council has signed a multi-million-pound deal with three major e-bike operators to convert more than 130 kerbside car parking spaces into dedicated bike bays.
The south London council has signed a two-year deal with London’s three biggest e-bike firms, Lime, Forest and Voi.
The deal requires that all Lime, Forest and Voi riders end their journeys by parking the bikes in the designated bays, to tackle the problems of e-bikes being abandoned on pavements.
In addition to more than 400 existing bike parking bays in Lambeth, a further 136 will be created, bringing the total number of bays to more than 500. The majority of these will be from kerbside space currently used by cars.
Each converted car parking space can accommodate 15 e-bikes, with some plans to create double bays, which will accommodate 30 bikes. In the end, there should be a parking bay every 200m.
> King Charles reckons e-bikes are cheating… but here’s why that’s unfair
They will be funded by the bike firms and Transport for London. Each bike firm pays an amount per bike, in a deal believed to be worth several million pounds. Lambeth declined to reveal the amount being paid by each of the firms.
Both Lime and Forest will be permitted to have around 2,000 bikes each in Lambeth. Voi, which began operating in the borough a fortnight ago, will be allowed to have 800.
The council has secured discounted e-bike rentals for residents, which means that some shorter journeys will cost no more than £1.75. This is the current price of a London bus fare.
Lambeth and the bike operators will use real-time data to ensure that bikes are swiftly removed when they block pavements and roads. There will be fines and bike seizures if they fail to comply.
The measures come ahead of TfL receiving new powers to introduce a pan-London scheme to regulate the use of e-bikes, which could include maximum fleet sizes and parking rules.
> Dott, Lime, Tier and Human Forest – a user’s eye view of London’s various e-bike share schemes
The move is the latest development in tensions between councils and e-bike firms over parking.
“Dockless bikes are an affordable, sustainable way to travel, but we recognise poor parking causes real problems, especially for disabled and elderly residents,” said Councillor Rezina Chowdhury, Lambeth’s deputy leader.
“Our new deal ensures dockless bike operators manage their fleets responsibly. It will unlock cheaper fares for residents, clear pavement clutter by making Lambeth a ‘bay parking only’ borough, and set tough penalties if operators fall short.
“Badly parked bikes don’t just cause a nuisance, they are a serious hazard for disabled people, the elderly and parents with buggies. Nearly half of blind and partially sighted people say dockless and e-scooters stop them from getting out and about – that’s just not acceptable.
“We will be deploying a dedicated team of officers, with data-enabled targeting and an enforcement van to tackle the issue.”
Lambeth will also create temporary bike parking in areas of high demand, such as The Oval cricket ground during Test matches, or at Brockwell Park during major events.
The bike firms will be asked to redistribute the bikes when many are left in the same location.
Cllr Chowdhury added: “We’re doing everything in our power to manage this rapidly growing mode of transport, and we’ll be working with the Government and Mayor of London to ensure dockless bike and scooter hire is managed effectively across London when a city-wide regulation comes into force.”
The council has signed memorandums of understanding with Lime, Forest and Voi, which are formal yet non-binding agreements serving as a mutual acknowledgement of potential outcomes and processes. They said they aim to “work collaboratively” with the bike firms.
This is instead of tendering a contract for exclusive rights to operate in the borough, as Richmond has just done. Lambeth has added that exclusive contracts were problematic unless there was a way of preventing rival firms from having their bikes cross borough boundaries.
Harry Foskin, senior public policy manager at Voi, said: “Lambeth has long been a trailblazer for active travel, so we’re thrilled the council is welcoming Voi’s new, more responsible way of operating e-bikes to the borough.
“Together we’re bringing one of London’s most affordable, accessible and accountable services to residents – with lower fares, new bike models for a wider range of riders, and properly enforced, tidy parking on every street we serve.”
-1024x683.jpg)
Hal Stevenson, director of policy at Lime UK added, “We’re thrilled with Lambeth council’s decision to extend our partnership.
“Lambeth has done an incredible job creating one of London’s most comprehensive dockless parking networks.
“The hundreds of designated bays the council has built across the borough show what’s possible when councils invest in the right infrastructure to help shared e-bikes work well for everyone.”
Alex Berwin, head of policy at Forest, said: “We are proud to be partnering with Lambeth to make our sustainable and affordable e-bikes even more accessible to local residents.
“We have seen trip numbers grow year on year in the borough and through this new partnership we are delighted to be funding cycle training and even more dedicated parking infrastructure to ensure our services integrate seamlessly within the local community.”
3 thoughts on “Over 130 car parking spaces to become e-bike bays in attempt tackle bikes being abandoned on pavements”
Well done Lambeth.
From what I know, the 1.75 basic fee will be across London and not just Lambeth. I also understand some councils are not so happy about that as they take a revenue percentage. And is this drastic reduction in the cost an attempt by Lime to cripple the opposition? Are the e-bike pricing wars about to break out in London?
Until all of the bike hire scheme use docking stations, people will still leave them in inconsiderate locations, because…people
@belugabob yup. Probably most people will make a small effort, some people are a bit thoughtless and a few will kick bikes over, dump them in the road etc.
Them there’s stuff like wind blowing them over, drivers clipping them as they cut a corner…
Docked systems don’t fix all the issues (certainly not all the vandalism) but they do address some eg. neater storage, marginally less likely for bikes to be dragged into the road to be trashed / end up in canals etc.
Plus I think they can make arrangements with hire companies more likely to end up with goals for the latter with more overlap with “general public good”. (Unlike some of the dockless arrangements – which at the far end can be schemes to extract venture capital though dumping stuff in public space).