Lime bikes outside St Andrew's Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury
From Brent Council
Lime has agreed to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds in the creation of hundreds of bike parking bays across Brent, as part of a comprehensive plan to tackle residents’ safety concerns.
The bike hire company was in the limelight after Brent warned that the dockless e-bikes would need to be removed from the borough if a number of concerns were not addressed by 31 October.
A plan to improve the way the bike rental service operates in Brent has now been negotiated following a series of constructive meetings, with a new operating model to begin immediately.
Lime Bike parking bay (not in Brent)
Under the new plan, which was launched today Lime will:
- Introduce and fund the creation of 200 new parking bays, in priority areas. These designated parking bays will be implemented and enforced in phases. All locations will be added before July 1 2025.
- Immediately reduce the size of its fleet in Brent by a third - from 750 to 500 bikes - while these other improvements are made, and consult closely with the council before increasing bike numbers again.
- Introduce zoning changes that prevent the parking of bikes in areas where parking has frequently been poor.
- Introduce automatic ‘slow zone’ speed controls in busy hotspots such as around Wembley Stadium and Wembley High Road, as well as a dedicated events plan for the stadium with the council.
- Increase the number of Lime cyclist patrollers and parking wardens on-the-ground in Brent by 78%, ensuring that any issues reported can be dealt with quickly.
- Remove inappropriately parked bikes within 2 hours of being reported via a newly created email.
- Reinvest the fines from poor parking back into the local community through the council’s Together Towards Zero grant scheme.
- Launch a new resident cycling forum to meet on a quarterly basis and provide a cycle training session each month for Brent residents.
Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment and Enforcement, said:
Since raising our concerns with Lime earlier this year, we've spent considerable time at the table with them, communicating residents' issues, outlining our expectations, and closely reviewing their proposals.
We’ve squeezed a number of really important improvements out of Lime, and it is welcome that they have listened to residents’ feedback and are taking immediate steps to change.
This council supports active travel, but safety is non-negotiable. We hope that we have turned a corner with Lime and expect residents to see real, noticeable improvements from now on. We will hold Lime to these new commitments to ensure they are honoured.
Hal Stevenson, Director of Policy at Lime, UK, said:
We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Brent Council to continue offering our service to the tens of thousands of residents that rely on us daily across the borough.
Over the past two months, we’ve collaborated closely with the Council to establish an action plan that will deliver immediate, on-street improvements, while also funding the creation of a new network of mandatory parking locations by July 1.
Our significant investment in this network demonstrates our commitment to working alongside Brent to provide long-term solutions that address community concerns, while continuing to support their efforts to ensure more journeys in the Borough are taken by bike.
We are listening to our Council partners and taking action to manage the record demand for our e-bikes responsibly.
Residents should report badly parked bikes to Lime directly on their website or through their App or alternatively through a new email Brent@li.me or by calling 0800 808 5223.
8 comments:
Good news but comes on the sad day that a poor 2 year old was run over by a car driver. When will Brent treat all kinds of road violence as seriously as it does for cycle parking?
Pathetic. Brent are fully committed to active track and to tackling the climate crisis. Meanwhile they are reducing the number of available bikes by a third. Well done.
Hmm. Yes, that doesn't really answer it. It's fine to promise parking bays, but the one shown in the photo is an indentation of the road as with a bus stop, so how will that work even in high traffic areas like Wembley Park station? And the main reason I use them is to get to and from the station to my house, so are we going to get parking bays in all the residential areas? Most residential roads wouldn't be wide enough to take a chunk out for a parking bay. But there is usually, or at least often, room for one bike on the pavement.
Also what if the parking bay is full, as is. often the case in central London with motorcycle bays? With Santander bays, there is a docking station for each bike. That couldn't work with Lime bikes. So would it be allowed to add your bike to the end of the line?
And do we need to report every bike that we think is incorrectly parked? In NextDoor there are loads of photos of Lime Bikes, many of which are parked perfectly sensibly, but now it seems that any Lime bikes are considered evil.
Needs more thought.
Why not buy your own bike?
The money for this scheme woukd be better spent on public transport?
Does Brent Council allow Lime bikes to be ridden on pavements? Are people using Lime bikes required to wear a safety helmet? What does the word "immediate" mean in the statement from the Lime representative? What consultation will take place about location of the "designated bays". Will Line Bike riders have to obey Red Lights like all road users? Will these proposals be forgotten about just like the Brent Council promise to consult about the provision of a wheelie bin in place of their Blue Bags?
of course Lime riders have to obey the Highway Code on pavements, red lights etc. If you insist on complaining at least say something constructive.
How much does this company pay brent to litter our streets with these bikes? Each bike should at least be the cost of a peddlers license.
So who ever upholds these regulations??? The Lime Bike riders don't for sure!!!!!
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