Councils should be given legal powers to crack down on e-bikes abandoned on pavements and potentially cap the number available in London, campaigners demanded on Thursday.
Westminster council said new legislation was the “missing link” in enabling it and neighbouring boroughs to address public concerns about the thousands of dockless bikes that have flooded onto the capital’s streets.
Westminster has drawn up a voluntary agreement with Lime, Forest and Tier that requires e-bike and e-scooter users to park in designated bays.
But it relies on the firms to discipline their customers if parking rules are breached. Many pedestrians regard the battery-powered bikes, which can be found parked or fallen on pavements across central London, as a menace.
Paul Dimoldenberg, Westminster’s cabinet member for city management, and Will Norman, the Mayor of London’s walking and cycling commissioner, believe laws on e-bikes should have been included in draft legislation to license pedicabs.
This could potentially have enabled council parking wardens to issue fines for abandoned e-bikes and given local authorities the ability to control the number of dockless bikes available for hire in each borough.
Mr Dimoldenberg said: “We pressed the Government when they introduced the pedicabs bill, saying we urgently need it widened to include e-bikes and e-scooters. Unfortunately, they have refused. We think that is a missed opportunity.”
A voluntary agreement between the council and Lime, Tier and Forest, that created 330 parking bays for bikes and scooters — 220 marked and 110 virtual — is “working well”, though there are about 15 locations in the busiest parts of Soho, Covent Garden, St James’s and Marylebone where parking is a problem.
Mr Dimoldenberg said the Labour-run council wanted to encourage cycling — but said the bike hire firms had a duty to ensure riders obeyed the rules.
Lime, which reportedly has more than 12,000 bikes in London, is thought to have about 80,000 users a week in the West End, making it the firm’s busiest area globally.
Mr Dimoldenberg said: “If there are riders who don’t park in the right way or who leave their bike obstructing the pavement, they should issue fines. If the riders continue to park badly, they should ban them from their network.”
“At the moment, we have contacts with the three operators but enforcing them is more difficult without the legislation.”
Mr Norman regards e-bikes and e-scooters as a “good thing” - but said it was a “massive missed opportunity” not to widen the pedicab legislation to include e-bikes.
He said: “They should have considered all forms of ‘micro-mobility’ including e-bikes and e-scooters rather than just concentrating on a few hundred pedicabs. Dockless bikes are a national issue, not just a London issue.”
Studies have found that Government-approved trials of rental e-scooters, which are regulated, show about 95 per cent are parked within a designated bay.
A DfT spokesperson said: “The Pedicabs (London) Bill is focused on giving Transport for London the powers to regulate and license London’s pedicab industry.
“There is already legislation in place to regulate e-bikes, which is a matter for police to enforce. In addition, local authorities already have powers to remove e-cycles from pavements where they are causing an obstruction and are responsible for working with rental operators to keep pavements clear where possible.”
The current regulations limit e-bikes to a top speed of 15.5mph. When this speed is exceeded, the bike is treated as a motorbike - meaning it must be registered, taxed and insured and the rider has to wear a helmet.
Susan Hall, the Tory mayoral candidate, said: "It is completely unacceptable that hire bikes are being left in the middle of the pavements, posing a serious risk especially to people with visual impairments.
“As mayor, I will take robust action on this issue, working with the providers and local authorities to ensure parking bays are used. I will also lobby for stronger regulations, so that we have the powers we need to enforce these rules properly."
Transport for London this week announced that it was boosting the number of its electric “Boris bikes” — which have to be parked in docking stations — by 1,400 this summer.
Tom Fyans, chief executive of the London Cycling Campaign, said hire bikes were helping to increase the number of Londoners on two wheels and “introducing cycling to a new audience”.
But he added: “The rollout of dockless bikes and e-scooters needs to benefit all Londoners – riders and those who don’t cycle. For now, that means more parking bays dedicated to shared devices – where these have been put in, we see more sensible parking from users.
“We also need councils, TfL and operators to work together to build in incentives and penalties to eliminate poor user behaviour.
“We also need TfL and councils to do a lot more in general to deal with pavement clutter, trip hazards, illegal parking of all vehicles and put people walking and wheeling first.”
