Here is something that infuriates Londoners: e-bikes parked in the wrong place. In recent weeks there have been murmurings that Transport for London will launch a crackdown, demanding that all are parked in bays and stopping them from being left on pavements. According to reports, this could be in place from early 2026.
I wouldn’t be surprised. In January, the Standard’s front page took aim at “London’s Lime bike epidemic”, declaring that “badly parked cycles are a scourge on the capital’s streets”. Ever since, Standard readers have been writing in with their stories about the e-bikes — and not just about their parking. One 77-year-old woman was knocked over by a young person cycling fast on the pavement. Her husband struggled to get Lime to admit any responsibility.
Another correspondent parked his new Ulez-compliant electric car in a parking space on Soho Square, next to a Lime bike collection point. Returning after an hour, he found two bikes had fallen on his car, causing dents to two doors. The police did little about it, and he’s not the only one.
One problem is that the Mayor’s Office has no legal power to limit the parking
But most common stories are from people who have had their way blocked: while many can just walk around the e-bikes, others cannot. Tesfi Berhami, a retired council worker living in Streatham, is a guide dog user. He said that bikes are regularly parked right outside his flat, leading him to fall down several times and taking the skin off both of his hands. He said they make him fear trips outside.
Every day the Dockless Obstructions (@DocklessObs) account on X posts images of pavements and pedestrian crossings dangerously full of e-bikes. Posts in the last week show mobility scooters navigating the bikes, and delivery workers being stopped from using loading bays. Most shocking was footage of a guide dog who couldn’t get around bikes that were strewn across pavements, leaving its visually impaired owner trapped near a busy road, struggling to find a path home with her hands.
Though the fact that the bikes are dockless, and can be left anywhere, is clearly attractive to users, and has helped them overtake Boris bikes in the popularity stakes. Still, you might hope that authorities and companies would be jolted into tweaking the rules.
Change has proved possible elsewhere: last year, Paris banned electric scooters after a referendum. But here in London there has been little movement. In fact, this spring Lime (the biggest e-bike company) announced it was planning a £25 million London expansion. One problem is that the Mayor’s Office has no legal power to limit the parking — with officials there saying that technology is advancing, but legislation is lagging behind.
All this means that each London borough has a different deal with the bike firms, meaning varying rules on parking. Usually in more central boroughs, e-bikes have to be parked in designated bays which are mapped out by GPS. In other boroughs, the rules are more lax about where they can be parked, and anywhere is fair game.
Some boroughs, like Wandsworth, are taking matters into their own hands and banning riders from leaving e-bikes on busy town centre pavements — once it has finished installing 111 parking bays. Last year, Westminster council started a pilot scheme, building 330 new parking bays using money from the e-bike companies, which they claim was a success.
Hal Stevenson, director of policy for Lime, knows more needs to be done. “We understand the importance of preventing pavement obstructions in London and have worked hard to improve user parking over the last 12 months,” he says. Stevenson claims the firm is clamping down on bad parking using GPS and escalating warnings and fines, as well mandatory photos at the end of rides. They’ve also hired more people to work in their Bermondsey warehouse, as well as out on the streets. But some say that the parking rules are easily dodged.The reason all this matters is that e-bikes should be a good thing. For many of us, sailing around town on an electric bike is a useful and healthy way to travel, a great addition to the city’s transport network.
It’s just that the powers that be still need to sort out their safety.
