Westminster Labour Councillors and our three MPs (Rachel Blake, Georgia Gould and Joe Powell) have been calling for regulation of dockless hire e-bikes, so we welcome the provisions in the Government’s English Devolution and Empowerment Bill that will give Transport for London (TfL) the power to licence this industry.
The new Government has listened to our campaign and is bringing forward the necessary new powers to force Lime, Forest and others to get a grip and crack down on users who aren’t following the rules. The licensing scheme will include minimum standard conditions set by the Secretary of State for Transport to ensure a consistent baseline of operability and safety, with additional local conditions set by the Greater London Authority to ensure the licensing scheme will effectively tackle issues with badly parked hire ebikes.
There’s also good news in the Crime and Policing Bill, which allows the police to seize illegally modified e-bikes and scooters, and those involved in anti-social behaviour.
Labour Council Leader Cllr Adam Hug said: “I’m delighted that the Labour Government has listened to the needs of our residents and will be giving the powers to London to crack down on bad behaviour by the e-bike companies.”
Cabinet Member for Streets Cllr Max Sullivan said: “Once introduced, these new powers will strengthen the council’s ability to take action against the likes of Lime and Forest when they and their users make our pavements hazardous to use. Until then, the Council will do everything in its power to ensure the companies honour their commitments to us, including increased proactive management of their fleet and taking action against riders who fail to park in a designated bay.”
Currently, because the hiring of e-bikes is unregulated, the Council and TfL have limited powers to take direct action when these e-bikes are badly parked.
While other London councils like Hackney have been rolling out on-street bays to manage dockless bikes from 2019, the previous Conservative administration in Westminster sat back and did nothing while e-bike use and bad parking grew. Since coming to power in May 2022 Labour-run Westminster Council has used what limited powers it has under the Highways Act to confiscate bikes, which caused extreme safety hazards. We then negotiated an agreement with the e-bike companies, resulting in them deploying marshals to Westminster to move bikes and help improve rider behaviour. In addition, fines issued by Lime have been used to run education campaigns to encourage responsible riding and parking.
To help manage the more than 650,000 Dockless hire bike trips in Westminster each month, the Council has introduced 380 hire ebike parking bays across the city, prioritising locations with minimum impact on residents. To date, Westminster Council has recovered the additional cost of implementing these bays from operators.
The operators are required to permit parking only within these bays, verified by GPS, and to fine users if they fail to do so. Lime now issue as many as 5,000 fines per month against users in Westminster. The Council is also trialling Bluetooth technology in our parking bays to improve on GPS verification that a bike is parked in the correct location.
While these bays have helped to reduce widespread pavement parking, and we will continue to roll them out to manage the current unregulated system, there are still real issues with overstocked bays and bikes being left in the middle of the pavement. This is especially harmful for parents with buggies, wheelchair and other mobility aid users, those with limited mobility and people with visual impairments. This is why Westminster Labour has been lobbying hard for the legislation needed to give enforcement real teeth.
We are now pressing the Mayor of London and TfL to be ready to bring in these new rules as soon as possible after the legislation is passed, along with the long-awaited new regulations to control pedicabs on our streets.