Increase in Lime Bikes on LL

[Bic Basher]

Has anyone noticed the sudden increase in Lime Bikes parked on Lordship Lane?     There are some legal parking spaces that have been added by the council, such as outside the Dulwich Cafe and St Thomas More Church by Dulwich Library, but I saw unused bikes with a full charge left on pavements from Goose Green up to The Grove.   One of them was right by the Post Office by the bus stop, which restricted space for pedestrians.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for e-bike rental, but it seems a tad OTT that suddenly Lime are blitzing East Dulwich with bikes in every other street.    HumanForest sensibly only dumps bikes in Green Bays where the pavements are wider and not obstructing pedestrians.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

They're everywhere. I had to move one that was entirely blocking a pavement on a street off LL so a geezer who uses a wheelchair should get by.

I've changed my tune. I now think they should only be allowed to be parked in designated bays. The companies and the riders are taking the piss. The council should just confiscate and auction the ones abandoned across pavements. 

[portioncontrol]

A lot of the bad parking is by kids who steal the bikes - you can get them moving without paying if you know how, and then park them wherever without a penalty charge. So if you see them parked in stupid places it’s probably not the people who use them properly, as we risk a fine for parking them badly!

[Bic Basher]

  On 19/05/2023 at 19:55, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

They're everywhere. I had to move one that was entirely blocking a pavement on a street off LL so a geezer who uses a wheelchair should get by.

I've changed my tune. I now think they should only be allowed to be parked in designated bays. The companies and the riders are taking the piss. The council should just confiscate and auction the ones abandoned across pavements. 

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This is why I prefer the HumanForest rental offer.  Give incentives to riders to park in allocated green bays.    When I use their bikes, for example when I go to Sainsbury's DKH, I park using the Green Bay on the corner of DKH and Quorn Road which has plenty of space for e-bikes to be left at where you only pay a 50p parking fee rather than £2 for dumping it on the pavement.    

They also offer 10 free minutes daily and you can add free ride minutes by watching at least 3 commercials on their app.

Lime have taken up using the council's new designated e-bike rental bays, but as I saw today, they're still dumping bikes on pavements.

[wayne10]

Irritating , one parked in the road blocking the goose green roundabout.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

  On 19/05/2023 at 21:15, portioncontrol said:

So if you see them parked in stupid places it’s probably not the people who use them properly, as we risk a fine for parking them badly!

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If you see bikes in clusters - it's because  vans have dumped them there overnight. Idiot riders will dump 1 or 2 - not not 6-10 all at the same isolated spot. 

[first mate]

The council have said they want more hire e-bikes. They are very aware of the issues associated with the increase but seem to be turning a blind eye. They just want to tick their green credential boxes.
 

One plan is to have lots of hire bike hangars on the road. In my view, that will not work. Many hire e-bike users seem to want to dump and go. They will not want the hassle of putting the bike away in a hangar. Failing that, just expect more hire e-bikes to be left willy nilly on the road or on pavements. As the warm weather kicks in this will become much more of an annoying issue.

[Monkey]

Got home yesterday evening and there were Lime bikes all over the pavements on Dunstans Road, blocking the way. This is absolutely ridiculous. 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

Went to Lordship Lane for first time in a couple of weeks, and it certainly looks like Lime is saturating the area by leaving bikes around here. I cannot believe there has been a sudden and huge increase in the number of riders dropping them off at the end of a ride.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Dogkennelhillbilly

[Rockets]

Definitely Lime dumping them, there are loads along Court Lane too.

The council has added more bays (Calton) and Lime seems to have taken this as good reason to dump hundreds of the things all over Dulwich. Someone ought to remind the council that this is supposed to be a trial and people are getting fed up that our streets are getting littered with dumped bikes.

 

It's beyond a joke.

[Bic Basher]

The amount of Lime Bikes on Dawson's Hill tonight.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Bic Basher

[first mate]

In this link at around 18:17 Cllr Rose outlines her plan to increase hire bikes but especially e-bikes and scooters, across the borough. There will be increased docking but also dockless ( "curated", whatever that means). 
 

Also see 26:48 on dockless trials.
 

Perhaps this is the reasons for the sudden influx of Lime bikes. They have been given the green light by the Council.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by first mate

[Rockets]

Is there a mechanism to respond to the trial? Are constituents being given an opportunity to feed into it?

[David Peckham]

A few weeks ago they were targeting  East Dulwich Road and the roads off it, always with one just on the corner where you couldn't miss it. Unless it was dark and you'd had a couple of pints. They're quite 'pointy'. And painful.

A week ago, a school kid ran directly at me, with his head down, pushing one to break the lock on the rear wheel before riding off on it. Last night I got buzzed by another school-aged kid on the pavement outside Papa John's. That bike was making a very strange clacking noise from its back wheel as well.

It does seem like a deliberate field marketing campaign, but my 'Brand Experience' has been shite.

I'm not advocating it, but a few years ago a Chinese firm tried to implement a similar scheme in Manchester but pulled out because so many ended up getting thrown into the Irwell.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by David Peckham
Sp

[Bic Basher]

I spotted another poorly parked Lime Bike on the Wood Vale/LL junction where a bike was parked in the middle of the cycle lane traffic island on Wood Vale.    How can anyone be that stupid?

[first mate]

A number of streets in ED today with Lime bikes scattered untidily on the pavement or road. A number seemed to have fallen over. Another road in Nunhead has a freshly painted bay but a number of bikes were left strewn outside of the designated drop off point.

[ianr]

  On 20/05/2023 at 21:55, Rockets said:

Definitely Lime dumping them, there are loads along Court Lane too.

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What's your evidence?

[ianr]

  On 19/05/2023 at 22:55, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

f you see bikes in clusters - it's because  vans have dumped them there overnight. Idiot riders will dump 1 or 2 - not not 6-10 all at the same isolated spot. 

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Is there any  good evidence of the dumping times and numbers?  Would it in future be obtainable from automated monitoring of bike location maps made available by Lime?  How well parked are the presumed dumped ones?  How long do the bikes remain where dumped?

Edited May 22, 2023 by ianr
Added detail.

[Rockets]

Well, lots of Lime bikes have suddenly appeared on our streets scattered around in far greater numbers than we have ever seen before. They appeared around the same time as the new Calton cycle hire bay appeared (which was chocker full of bikes when it opened with no room for any more), And following that there were a lot of bikes dumped along the length of Dovercourt, Court Lane, Woodwarde and Beauval - you could understand if there was a cluster of bikes near Dulwich Park, for example, but the way the bikes were left along the length of the roads looked very odd and not at all random. 

 

If you look at the Lime hire map there are a lot more bikes in the area as a whole than there has been so it does look as if Lime are increasing the numbers but maybe they have more bikes than the official parking spaces can take so are being forced to put them elsewhere. Or maybe there has suddenly been a huge overnight increase in the number of people using them but that would be more gradual rather than overnight. More likely though is Lime is trying to force their solution as part of the trial - flood the market so they become the go-to option due to availability.

 

Now the council has added more bays then I see no reason for the Lime bikes to be parked anywhere other than in the bays. Inconsiderate pavement parking is a problem - but one that is not uncommon in any city that has hire bikes.

 

BTW does anyone have a link to the council's e-bike here trial page - I can't see to find one?

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

  On 22/05/2023 at 07:40, ianr said:

How well parked are the presumed dumped ones?  How long do the bikes remain where dumped?

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Very shittily. Ages.

[exdulwicher]

  On 21/05/2023 at 08:25, Rockets said:

Is there a mechanism to respond to the trial? Are constituents being given an opportunity to feed into it?

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The e-bikes aren't on a trial scheme, it's the e-scooter rental scheme that is being trialled.

[Rockets]

Ex- that'll explain why I can't find anything about them on the Southwark site! ;-). Are e-bikes a done deal then - I notice on the Westminster site that they refer anyone who has any issues with badly parked bikes/bad usage etc to the operators themselves?

 

Does Southwark have any mechanism to monitor the problems residents may be having with the bikes?

[exdulwicher]

  On 22/05/2023 at 08:40, Rockets said:

Does Southwark have any mechanism to monitor the problems residents may be having with the bikes?

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They'll be in touch with Lime, yes.

[David Peckham]

This is the closest I've managed to find. It does describe the e-bike situation as a trial.

I can't be arsed to read through it, but it may give a few pointers.

 

https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=50029869&Opt=0

[David Peckham]

https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=7739

Looks like another year of fun.