Westminster Labour is a firm supporter of Active Travel and we want to increase the use of bikes by residents, workers and visitors.

E-bikes are becoming more popular, but there is currently no regulation on how they are used and so e-bike riders are able to park wherever they like, with a sizeable minority of riders parking in the middle of the pavement and causing a dangerous hazard for pedestrians.

Over recent months, we have been working with the e-bike companies to introduce some sanity to our streets with a Westminster-wide network of e-bike parking bays.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Cabinet Member for City Management and Air Quality, explains:

‘We are looking to implement a city-wide network of parking bays for dockless bikes this summer, with the whole of Westminster being geo-fenced as a no parking zone, meaning dockless bike riders can only park their bikes in a designated bay. Most bays will be on the carriageway, however, some footway spaces have also been identified to tackle this issue and to ensure all parts of the city have access to dockless bikes and more sustainable travel options. The location and coverage of bays is vital and so all bays implemented as part of this scheme will be temporary to start off with to provide the flexibility to rethink bay locations if necessary over the months to come. Ongoing discussions are taking place with operators on how they will help to fund the re-purposing of parking bays and the implementation of new infrastructure for dockless bikes, and the final agreements are still being worked through. Our initial phase of e-bike parking bays will see around 200 parking bays with a capacity for around 2,000 e-bikes and 1,000 e-scooters. If successful, we will introduce additional e-bike bays in subsequent phases.”

“As part of the e-bike parking bay network, I have asked the operating companies to have a much greater presence of their staff on our streets to monitor their bikes and ensure they are parked within the bays provided, and I have made it very clear that the onus must be on them to remove any bikes that are blocking the footways and adding to street clutter.”

There is a dedicated function on our Report It page to report irresponsibly parked e-bikes and e-scooters to the Council, and our officers are continuing to investigate complaints and remove any bikes that are causing an obstruction, danger or nuisance in the borough.