“Let’s have more spaces to park them and this won’t happen”: Lime bikes accused of damaging vehicles as “hundreds” dumped on street – but cyclists say there are “too many cars” + more on the live blog

Over the past few years, we’ve spotted a new trend emerging in London. Whenever there’s a major event on somewhere in the capital – such as boat race between posh universities, a tournament for posh tennis players, or a posh solar eclipse – it’ll almost certainly be followed by complaints about Lime bike parking.

Last April, you may remember, thousands of Boat Race spectators flocked to south-west London using the green hire e-bikes, leaving the dockless machines strewn across streets usually frequented by huge 4x4s, annoying a few SUV owners in the process:

And last month, hundreds of Wimbledon watchers were accused of causing parking chaos in SW19, prompting the local council to warn that it will confiscate bikes if they’re not parked properly (and, oddly enough, Ant of Ant and Dec to lash out and kick a few badly parked bikes over).

Now, it’s the eclipse’s turn to spark some Lime controversy, after Londoner Mia Edie woke up on Thursday morning to find her street dominated by a sea of green, white, and black – and her Volkswagen Beetle allegedly covered in scrapes.

However, Mia, taking to Instagram to post a video of the abandoned bikes (and a fair few abandoned cars), wrote: “This wasn’t eclipse chaos. This was completely preventable. Lime, how was this allowed to happen?

 

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“Hundreds of Lime bikes were abandoned blocking residential roads and access to people’s homes. One resident undergoing cancer treatment couldn’t even access her driveway.

“Cars had to be abandoned in the road and were subsequently damaged. Your parking system is broken, facilitating anti-social behaviour.”

While most of the comments were from people up in arms at the “disgraceful” e-bike parking – with several users calling for Lime to be “banned” from the streets of London – Tim offered up another, alternative take on the issue of Lime parking.

“Let’s have more spaces to park them and this won’t happen,” he said.

“Too many cars anyway. Lime bikes have revolutionised transport and movement in London. There just isn’t enough space for them to be parked. You can fit 10-15 lime bikes in ONE car parking space.”

Meanwhile, Jonny pointed out: “The cars on that street still use more parking space.”

I’m not sure that’ll appease them, if I’m honest.

Earlier this week, it was announced that England’s first ‘Cycle Street’, opened at the end of May in Cambridge, has already been closed for more works, due to some road markings not being up to scratch.

The upgrades to Adams Road saw the street painted red and narrowed to encourage slower driving, while pavements were widened and much of the on-road parking removed. Drivers can still access the road but are crucially no longer able to overtake cyclists or pedestrians, and must give way to them along the renovated stretch, which attracts over 3,000 cyclists at peak times.

The Cycle Street is part of the Comberton Greenway project that aims to link the city of Cambridge to surrounding villages with 150km of infrastructure suitable for walking, wheeling, and cycling.

> “You’re not worried about the things that come out of nowhere”: Cyclists broadly support England’s first ‘Cycle Street’ but some concerned by £2.4 million “bleedin’ waste of money”

However, the BBC reported this week that the road will be closed until next Friday, after double yellow lines were removed.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP), which was behind the scheme, said in a statement that, as it was carrying out routine checks, “it became clear some of the road markings were not up to the required standards”.

“Our contractor, M Group, takes full responsibility and is removing and replacing them at their own expense. There is no additional cost to the GCP or taxpayers.”

“We’re supporting the Greater Cambridge Partnership and carrying out the work as agreed at no cost to the taxpayer,” a spokesperson for highways firm M Group said.

“We’re sorry for any disruption caused to local residents and businesses and are working to keep this to an absolute minimum.”

That announcement, based simply on an oversight from a contractor, has sparked a completely normal reaction from the pro-motoring, anti-cycling corner of the internet. Oh, wait…

“A lot of ‘cycling infrastructure’ seems designed to slow down motorists, restrict parking, and deter travel full stop rather than to provide significant benefits for cyclists,” Richard Wellings, a former head of transport at the right-wing Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, posted on Twitter yesterday.

“I noticed that they used the lockdowns to rush build loads of cycle lanes. Research into the councils showed it was directly related to reducing car capacity,” another user commented.

“Indeed, and it made zero sense in terms of the Covid rationale. There was clearly a hidden agenda,” Richard replied.

Yes, Richard, that hidden agenda publicly and vociferously supported by the then-Prime Minister at almost every opportunity. It’s all a big conspiracy, eh?

 

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> Merida Speeder gets a gravel makeover with space for 50mm tyres and an £800 entry point