From Brent Council
It is your turn to have your say on new parking bays for Lime bikes which will be popping up across the borough this year.
Since 2019 over 100,000 people have used Lime bikes with nearly 2
million cycle trips taken across the borough. With rising demand, many
residents raised concerns about the bikes, such as poor bike parking and safety.
Lime agreed to a number of the council's demands last year and will be implementing them this year, these can be read in full here, and include:
- immediately reduce the size of the fleet in Brent by a third- from 750 to 500 bikes - while other improvements are made and consult closely with the council before increasing bike numbers again
- introducing and funding towards the creation of 200 new parking bays, in priority areas. These designated parking bays will be implemented and enforced in phases and we aim to have all locations will be up and running by 1 July 2025
- implement zoning to prevent poor bike parking in certain areas.
The consultation on the location of the 200 dedicated parking bays is now open for residents to give their views.
Councillor Muhammed Butt, the Leader of Brent Council, said:
I am pleased we have been able to squeeze concessions out of Lime, since most residents are simply tired of the minority that park their e-bikes badly.
We are working with Lime to address this with a borough-wide network of mandatory parking bays which will make cycling around the borough easier and also set stronger expectations of riders. Decisions are shaped by those that get involved, so I would encourage residents to have their say on the new locations proposed.
The first Resident Cycling Forum will take place on Monday, 24 February in the Civic Centre Conference Hall at 18:30. This forum will provide an opportunity for residents to hear directly from Lime about the scheme and raise any issues or concerns they may have.
Until the new parking bays are introduced, Lime bikes will still be able to park anywhere on a pavement, but users must follow Lime's rules to ensure bikes do not obstruct pathways. If you find a badly parked or abandoned Lime bike, you can report it directly to Lime via email or online.
Brent Council is also in talks with other e-bike operators, such as Human Forest, to explore formal arrangements for their bike hire schemes in the borough.
