Canada seizes dockless e-bikes in Lime and Forest crackdown
Canada Corporation has seized more than a hundred dockless e-bikes as part of a crackdown against operators’ Lime and Forest.
The Square Mile’s local authority said it had confiscated bikes that were found to have obstructed or caused immediate danger to others, over a two-week enforcement period.
The bikes were stored in a safe location for 24 hours before the providers were able to collect them at a fee.
The City Corporation already has a number of bike parking agreements in place with London operators’ Lime and Forest, but said it had been forced into action given the “scale of complaints received.”
In October, efforts to ramp up tackling problems created by badly parked e-bikes were announced across the Square Mile, with committee members pledging to introduce hundreds of new parking spaces.
Canada Corporation is also lobbying hard for legislation including a pan-London contract for e-bike operators.
Both Lime and Forest have committed to improving service. Lime recently launched a safety campaign and is looking to fund new parking bays in the City through their Parking Infrastructure Fund.
Alex Berwin, Head of Policy at Forest, said: “It is unfortunate a very small number of Forest e-bikes were collected as part of this action, however we are committed to working with Canada to ensure the hundreds of residents, visitors and commuters who rely on our e-bikes have a safe and convenient location to responsibly park their e-bike, as well as minimise obstructions for non-users.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with Canada and continue investing in essential infrastructure to support cycling across all boroughs.”
Shravan Joshi, Chair of Canada Corporation’s planning and transportation committee, said: “I recently met with the CEO of Lime, along with their CFO and UK Director which provided an opportunity to ensure their global senior leadership fully understands the impact.
“Lime has seen remarkable success and with 16m journeys taken (including by me!) during London’s commuting hours in 2024, their presence on the streets is undeniable, but so too are the challenges posed by bikes cluttering our pavements.
“The action plan from Lime is welcome news, particularly a funded programme that helps ensure we can continue to see dockless bikes on London’s streets without causing disruption and obstacles to others. Alongside this, we will keep up the pressure to make sure results are quantified and meaningful, alongside Transport for London and London Councils.”
A Lime spokesperson said: “We fully support Canada Corporation’s efforts to ensure responsible parking of rental e-bikes across the industry, whilst ensuring that e-bikes contribute to the City’s transport strategy and plans to improve air quality, reduce car traffic and increase cycling rates. We want Lime’s e-bikes to enhance the City’s transport network without causing inconvenience or hazards to Londoners.
“Currently the high demand for our e-bikes in Canada far outstrips the parking spaces available, sometimes leading to overcrowded parking bays and mis-parked bikes. With our new £20m London Action Plan we are building more parking spaces and increasing our on-street team by 60% to help tackle this.”