Cyclists using Lime e-bikes are again at risk of “Checkpoint Charlie” restrictions after London’s biggest hire bike firm lost a contract to operate in a key borough.
Richmond council decided on Monday night to award an exclusive contract to rival operator Forest after it outbid Lime by more than £1m to secure the three-year deal.
Lime bikes will have “ride through” rights – meaning they can be ridden through the royal borough but not parked or hired within its boundaries.
But cyclists already using Lime bikes - which clocked up 1.5m trips in Richmond last year - warned the restriction on choice would inhibit people from cycling across borough boundaries.
This could cause problems in Barnes, where many residents – and hundreds of school pupils – use the bikes to ride across Hammersmith bridge, which has been closed to vehicles for seven years, to reach Hammersmith Tube station.
One industry insider said the decision would make it harder for Transport for London to eventually introduce a pan-London scheme regulating the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.
Richmond’s decision has similarities to one by Hounslow council last summer to award Forest – and Voi – a contract that initially excluded Lime bikes from the borough.
This resulted in Lime bikes being abandoned on Chiswick bridge and in Shepherd’s Bush due to the “geo-fencing” restrictions that meant the bikes could not be pedalled across Hounslow’s borough boundaries.
Hounslow eventually granted Lime “ride through” rights, and Richmond promised this would be the case once its Forest contract begins this summer.
But one industry source told The Standard: “If you can’t park in [Richmond] borough there is no benefit to being able to ride through the borough. Everyone is still going to abandon their bikes on the border.
“This decision will result in Checkpoint Charlie 2.0. Because there are more trips in and out of Richmond, this will probably be worse [than Hounslow]. It will make it harder for people to cycle in London.
“There is absolutely no joined-up thinking. If councils are awarding exclusive contracts by tender, it’s like pot luck. It creates a downward spiral and ingrains the political nature of how e-bikes in London operate.
“In two or three years, this will all be run by TfL. These decisions are really damaging in the run-up to that. If you create a situation where lots of bikes can’t cross borough boundaries, it’s going to break a [pan London] scheme before it starts.”
Lime and Forest bikes are currently available in Hammersmith and Fulham and in Wandsworth, both of which share a border with Richmond.
Richmond’s decision means that only it and Brent have exclusive contracts with a sole e-bike firm.
Forest will now be the dominant operator in south-west London, in four neighbouring boroughs – Hounslow, Richmond, Kingston and Sutton.
A Forest spokesperson: “We’re delighted to be bringing our e-bikes to Richmond, supporting the borough’s ambition to expand sustainable travel options for residents.
“Shared e-bikes have quickly become part of everyday life across London, and as the capital’s homegrown operator, we’re proud to play a key role in that transition.
"Expanding into Richmond as the sole operator in the borough marks another step in growing our network in south west London, connecting riders across Kingston, Hounslow, Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth.”
Richmond’s transport committee voted overwhelmingly on Monday night to award a sole operator contract to Forest rather than to allow it and Lime to operate alongside each other.
Lime has been the sole operator in Richmond since 2021, under a memorandum of understanding arrangement rather than a legally binding contract.
Forest increased its charges after securing the Hounslow contract but David Tidley, Richmond council’s head of transport strategy, said Richmond would not agree to a contract where there was a “significant risk” of that being repeated.
He said that Lime had had provided a “successful” service for several years in Richmond that had been of “particular benefit” to residents living in areas with poor access to public transport.
He said: “Clearly having more than one operator potentially provides advantages in terms of the resilience of the service and choice to residents and local competition, in the event, for example, of one operator running into any financial difficulties.
“There are also potential advantages in terms of the geographical spread that means that whatever other boroughs are doing around us or elsewhere in London, there is potentially a greater choice as well.”
But potential disadvantages of having two bike firms were the risk of “double clustering” in busy locations, so there are two rather than one set of bikes, and residents not knowing who to complain to about issues with dockless bikes.
A single operator would give greater clarity as to who is responsible for the scheme, Mr Tidley said.
“There could be greater incentive for one operator to offer up the borough as being a flagship borough,” he said. “It would probably also be easier to monitor usage and performance.”
Cyclists told the committee that not all Lime riders would switch to Forest, and warned that Lime may seek to gain exclusive operating rights in another borough – with a negative impact on bike users in general. “I think a duopoly is better than a single choice,” Paul Barrett said.
Helen Edward, a Barnes resident and Tory activist, said Lime bikes had been a “game changer” for many people in Barnes, including school pupils at St Paul’s school and young women returning home at night.
She urged councillors not to ban Lime bikes from Barnes. “Because they have adopted e-bikes, do not expect them to jump from one brand to another,” she said.
Richmond Libdem council once again removing choices for the residents! We need options and transparency @GBNEWS @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/QFLHTt9hu2
— saragezdari (@saragezdari) March 13, 2026
Sara Gezdari, a former Tory parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park and North Kingston, accused the Lib-Dem controlled council of removing choice from residents.
The council tender required bidders to take an “effective approach to minimise hacking” of bikes, to ensure “best in class parking” of the bikes, avoid causing danger or inconvenience to pedestrians and guarantee “responsiveness to complaints”.
Tim Lennon, of the Richmond Cycling Campaign, said the new contract should put “rocket fuel” into the council to provide more bike parking bays and lead to improved enforcement of safe parking.
He also called for better enforcement of safer roads by the Metropolitan police, saying vehicle drivers were to blame for the vast majority of the 94 people – mostly pedestrian or cyclists - who were killed or seriously injured in Richmond last year.
Transport committee chairman Alexander Ehmann said the tender process was undertaken to try to deliver “better returns for residents”. He said the council would seek an “orderly transition” ahead of Forest’s new contract starting this summer.
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