More than 5,000 fines have been issued monthly to riders of e-bikes for breaking major parking rules put in place across London.
A recent report found that during summer 2024 riders who failed to properly park their vehicles in Westminster’s designated bays were slapped with hefty fines by e-bike operator Lime.
The penalties were part of Westminster City Council’s efforts to tackle the growing problem of abandoned e-bikes blocking pavements in central London.
The fining system came during the council’s 18-month trial of dedicated e-bike parking bays, which has now led to plans for permanent parking infrastructure across the borough.
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E-bike operators have fined thousands of riders for breaking the parking rules last year
PA
The crackdown on improper parking aimed to address thousands of complaints about abandoned e-bikes creating hazards for pedestrians, particularly those with mobility and visual impairments.
Now Westminster has established a network of 350 parking bays across the borough for dockless e-bikes, with about 60 of these also accommodating e-scooters from the TfL-approved hire scheme.
The system has proven largely successful, with approximately 93 per cent of rides ending with bikes properly parked in designated bays.
These parking locations can be either physically marked or “virtually” designated through the bike operators’ apps.
Popular parking spots include Ebury Street in Pimlico, Exhibition Road in Kensington, and various locations near Hyde Park and Marylebone.
The council invested £945,000 in creating the bays, but recovered £845,000 from operators Lime and Forest, with a £100,000 Transport for London grant covering the remaining cost.
Riders who breach parking rules face fines starting at £10, with penalties increasing for repeated violations.
Persistent offenders risk having their accounts suspended after multiple infractions.Users must complete an “end of ride” check and photograph their parked bike to verify proper placement.
Lime also announced plans to implement artificial intelligence technology to determine whether bikes are correctly parked in designated bays. The company’s GPS technology currently allows bikes to be parked up to 30 metres from designated bays without registering a violation.
To address this “GPS drift” issue, Westminster Council and Lime plan to test Bluetooth beacons in trials scheduled for spring.
Westminster has seen a surge in e-bike usage, with 664,000 e-bike and e-scooter hires recorded from parking bays in October 2024. The borough handles approximately 630,000 e-bike trips monthly, with an estimated 2,878 dockless e-bikes operating in the area.
Councillor Max Sullivan said: “Cycling is a great way to get around the city and, as a council, we want to make it as easy as possible to hop on a bike – but too often shared e-bikes in Westminster cause obstruction on our pavements.”
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E-bikes have been blamed for taking up huge portions of the pavementPAHe added: “That’s why I’m glad to confirm that our network of e-bike parking bays will continue to be a feature of Westminster streets and part of lessening the impact on pedestrians of the over 600,000 journeys by shared e-bike per month in our borough.”
The council has now proposed to make 177 physical bays permanent parking spaces for hire e-bikes. There are also plans to consult on expanding the network further. The Cabinet Member for Streets is due to make a formal decision on the permanent implementation on February 28.