Lime bikes (and other hire companies) left in middle of pavement

[malumbu]

Pretty irrelevant as this is hire scooters. There are other threads on this site where angry of East Dulwich can gnash their teeth. Micomobility like it or not is hear to stay.

[Rockets]

Malumbu - you might want to hope that it is irrelevant but if Mayor Anne Hidalgo (who is a massive pro-cycling/micro-mobility /15 minute city supporter) bans e-scooters that is a very significant moment for all micro-mobility and will send ripples to every city globally and will likely also have an impact on the approach to rental e-bikes - which are also causing similar problems to e-scooters.

Talk to anyone who lives, works or visits Paris and you will know that the city is no longer functioning properly due to a lot of the measures that Mayor Hidalgo has brought in in her quest for a 15-minute city and the situation there is not too dissimilar to what has been happening across London - and like London it isn't working or delivering on the strategic objectives.

Many believe, myself included, that this may shift focus back towards investment in public transport and walking - both of which have either been negatively impacted or neglected by the over-indexing and blinkered focus on cycling and micro-mobility.

It will be fascinating to watch.

[malumbu]

Sorry Ricks, life is too short to read your long posts. Can you summarise them. That would help your case.

I'll summarise mine. E scooters and e bikes offer a number of benefits such as environment, convenience/personal mobility. There are down sides such a road safety/ how to accommodate on our crowded roads

Most posting on this thread dislike the concept and over emphasise the negative impacts.

(I've never hired a scooter or e bike, but occasionally a push bike on holiday).

[Spartacus]

Mal, I'll do a summary for you

E transport proves problematic due to selfish twits abandoning them unsympathetically.

Paris found same and may abandoning trials.

E transport in principle good idea but in practice riden by idiots.

Simples

[Rockets]

Sorry Ricks, life is too short to read your long posts. Can you summarise them. That would help your case.

I'll summarise mine. E scooters and e bikes offer a number of benefits such as environment, convenience/personal mobility. There are down sides such a road safety/ how to accommodate on our crowded roads

Most posting on this thread dislike the concept and over emphasise the negative impacts.

(I've never hired a scooter or e bike, but occasionally a push bike on holiday).

 

Malumbu - no need to be rude. Try to keep it civil. If you can't be bothered reading then don't - trust me, I won't be offended. Anyhow I thought you had exiled yourself to the lounge - was it my posts that dragged you back? ;-)

My trend may be to write detailed responses - yours is to deflect attention when you don't read something you have a response to or agree with.

[first mate]

The devil is in the detail, so Rocks please do continue to make your posts as long and detailed as you choose.

I don't think any of us care much for the high- handed comments of our self-styled 'chief of post writing'. They would make their case so much better if they dropped the needling.

I thought the Guardian article on Paris was interesting and definitely a wake up call. I guess this is what can happen when you force through change at too rapid a pace, there is too much unforeseen fallout and what seemed a good intervention in theory becomes the opposite in reality.

[malumbu]

Love the bromance - but surely I am not the only one who goes, oh no, not another long post by Rocks, either repeating previous stuff or going to yet another level. Well I suppose there are worse pastimes.

Anyway, being, more constructive, thought I'd do a little research. Well a couple of minutes on Google.

Lime have appointed their own parking wardens, and will 'fine' users as you have asked for (do take this as it is, rather than use it as another blunt tool to dis the concept:

https://ebiketips.road.cc/content/news/lime-parking-wardens-introduced-in-london-to-ensure-responsible-parking-of-e-scooters

And with Move Electric have a campaign to encourage responsible parking:

www.moveelectric.com/e-bikes/lime-and-humanforest-launch-campaigns-promote-good-e-bike-parking

You could also go to their Trustpilot review - not great either as some don't rate the VFM, and a few are peed off for being fined for unsocial parking.

Perhaps some of you would like to hire one, and then you can let rip on Trustpilot, Obviously some in SE22 must love them as they are quite popular. It would help if they had a mobile phone holder so you could keep two hands on the bars. Riding whilst holding a mobile phone on a hire bike or e scooter is compulsory.

Note isn't it good when we comment on links rather than just posting them. Enjpoy.

[first mate]

But now you are breaking your own 'rules' and guidance on post length. Do be consistent Mal and sorry if you are missing the love.

I read your post and those sound like positive moves. Will check out the links.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Lime and Human Forest both have mobile phone holders on the handlebars of their bikes and scooters.

[Bic Basher]

In Camden, City of London, Hackney, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham, Lime Bikes have to be parked in bike bays allocated by the respective councils.

[Rockets]

Love the bromance - but surely I am not the only one who goes, oh no, not another long post by Rocks, either repeating previous stuff or going to yet another level. Well I suppose there are worse pastimes.

Anyway, being, more constructive, thought I'd do a little research. Well a couple of minutes on Google.

Lime have appointed their own parking wardens, and will 'fine' users as you have asked for (do take this as it is, rather than use it as another blunt tool to dis the concept:

https://ebiketips.road.cc/content/news/lime-parking-wardens-introduced-in-london-to-ensure-responsible-parking-of-e-scooters

And with Move Electric have a campaign to encourage responsible parking:

www.moveelectric.com/e-bikes/lime-and-humanforest-launch-campaigns-promote-good-e-bike-parking

You could also go to their Trustpilot review - not great either as some don't rate the VFM, and a few are peed off for being fined for unsocial parking.

Perhaps some of you would like to hire one, and then you can let rip on Trustpilot, Obviously some in SE22 must love them as they are quite popular. It would help if they had a mobile phone holder so you could keep two hands on the bars. Riding whilst holding a mobile phone on a hire bike or e scooter is compulsory.

Note isn't it good when we comment on links rather than just posting them. Enjpoy.

 

Malumbu - you're really positioning yourself as not a very nice person - just chill - live and let live - go for a bike ride or something, get some fresh air and take a deep breath - as I said before if you don't want to read my "lengthy repetitious posts" I am not going to be bothered/offended - to be honest you don't live in Dulwich nor Southwark so really perhaps the reason you find some of this content posted here so irksome is because you're not the target audience for it!!! ;-) #sorryIcouldntresist.

But in all seriousness your post (even though I did laugh that you were critical of my tomes and then counter with an epic one of your own) does throw up some good points and it is all about how vested the companies providing the services are to get their house in order. I walked along Pall Mall today and from St James' Palace to Waterloo Place I counted 18 e-bikes littering the pavements - many of them abandoned mid-pavement. Forcing providers to only allow them to be parked in bays may have to be the way forward - but that works counter to the business model and the appeal of the bikes.

[Nigello]

Two Dott bikes had been left on the pavement - dead centre, near a corner - a few Saturdays ago. I sent a picture of them to the company which eventually confirmed it had removed the riders from its books. Win!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Good work!

The operators should make it easier for us to report inconsiderately (actually, illegally - it is already against the law to block a pavement) parked bikes, so they can fine the lazy sods responsible.

I had to pull over today and move a bike - some pillock had left it 90 degrees across a pavement. 🤬😡

[exdulwicher]

Forcing providers to only allow them to be parked in bays may have to be the way forward - but that works counter to the business model and the appeal of the bikes.

 

That actually doesn't appeal to me at all. With Santander, I know where my favourite/routinely used docking stations are and I can reliably park or pick up a bike there.

Lime, you sort of get to know the popular places where bikes are often parked/dumped but it's a complete lottery and you can end up being in a dead zone - even if that same area had half a dozen bikes in it yesterday.

It's a minor point, and to some people, the convenience of being able to leave it wherever clearly appeals but I'm not a fan at all. Absolutely agree on designated parking zones. Personally I'd prefer an extension to the Santander scheme out to Dulwich/Peckham rather than 2 or 3 competing dockless systems.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Seems a bit "dog in the manger" to want the government to ban dockless dropoffs and pickups for everyone else because you don't find it convenient as a user. That's like banning taxis because you prefer the predictability of finding a bus at the bus stop.

[Siduhe]

Lime in particular do seem to have upped their game recently.

They now have a review of the photos that you have to take when parking - and they send follow up warning emails and are starting to fine users who persistently park badly.

I got a warning email last week - not for a ride I had taken mind (and when I got in touch they acknowledged it wasn’t my photo or my ride they were following up on) but it seems to be a “one warning email and then we start fining you” process.

Not sure what happens if you don’t take a proper photo of your parking…

[Bic Basher]

Last night I nearly crashed into a Lime Bike dumped on Melbourne Grove at the junction of Grove Vale. It appeared the battery had run out, so the user just dumped it in the street rather than on the pavement.

[pablogrande]

I would say the easiest solution would be for the person who hires the bike has to take a photo of the bike in it’s final parked position within the app. Some of the parking seems a bit suspect to me maybe people opposed to these schemes have on occasion moved them?

[exdulwicher]

I would say the easiest solution would be for the person who hires the bike has to take a photo of the bike in it’s final parked position within the app. Some of the parking seems a bit suspect to me maybe people opposed to these schemes have on occasion moved them?

 

That's what currently happens.

Finish ride, tap "end" on the app and it requires you to take a photo. There are geofenced areas too - Brockwell Park is one although Dulwich Park is not. I'm not sure if it actually stops you parking there or you can park but just get fined. The app does say not to park in the red zones and also tells users to park responsibly although I have no idea if the photos are reviewed.

There's a few places up in town that have designated spots now - a big parking bay saying "rental bikes/scooters only" which is a decent way of keeping them relatively neat and tidy.

[first mate]

Pablogrande,

Circular argument; the major reason for opposition to the scheme is the way the bikes and scooters are being left just lying here and there.

So you are suggesting that all over London, groups of those in 'opposition', are picking up carefully parked bikes and placing them across paths or roads to create multiple obstructions? Seriously?

[hellose5]

email for lime bikes is:

[email protected]

sadie khan would be a good person to email but don't know his email

people have no consideration and just park anywhere on pavement and anyhow - I always move them but they are heavy to move

[Bic Basher]

I would say the easiest solution would be for the person who hires the bike has to take a photo of the bike in it’s final parked position within the app. Some of the parking seems a bit suspect to me maybe people opposed to these schemes have on occasion moved them?

 

That's what currently happens.

Finish ride, tap "end" on the app and it requires you to take a photo. There are geofenced areas too - Brockwell Park is one although Dulwich Park is not. I'm not sure if it actually stops you parking there or you can park but just get fined. The app does say not to park in the red zones and also tells users to park responsibly although I have no idea if the photos are reviewed.

There's a few places up in town that have designated spots now - a big parking bay saying "rental bikes/scooters only" which is a decent way of keeping them relatively neat and tidy.

 

Dulwich Park you can ride and park with Lime, nor is there the 8mph speed restriction seen in Forest Hill. HumanForest doesn't allow you to ride in the park.

The Lime app notification when riding in the Sainsbury's car park at DKH as a no ride zone, but users don't see their speed capped and users are allowed to park there. Again Human Forest has Sainsbury's greyed out.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

There is no way that bike haters are going around maliciously and meticulously repositioning yhese bikes to obstruct people so they get irritated enough that the bikes get banned. That's just wild

 

email for lime bikes is:

[email protected]

 

That seems like a US press inquiry contact email.

[Spartacus]

Has this issue been resolved now as this thread went quiet ?

[Bic Basher]

Has this issue been resolved now as this thread went quiet ?

 

No, I picked up a bike on Dulwich Common yesterday which was parked across the pavement, blocking access to pedestrians and other cyclists.