Richmond council to consider Lime’s future in contract vote
Richmond councillors will next week decide whether to force Lime out of the borough’s booming e-bike market, Morning Wire understands, as riders are mobilised ahead of a crunch committee meeting that could reshape cycling across southwest London.
Emails seen by Morning Wire show Lime users have been invited to attend Monday evening’s transport and air quality committee meeting, where councillors will debate whether to approve officials’ recommendation to replace Lime with rival operator Forest.
The message invites residents to speak directly to councillors at the 7pm session at the Civic Centre at York House, urging them to explain why they use Lime and how losing access would affect their daily travel.
Users are asked to outline whether the bikes help them commute or run errands, why they prefer Lime over other operators and what the impact would be if the service disappeared from Richmond.
The outreach comes as Richmond prepares to decide whether to accept officers’ recommendation that Forest should become the borough’s sole dockless e-bike operator from this summer.
If councillors back the proposal, Lime would be forced to withdraw its bikes from Richmond entirely unless the council allows riders to pass through the borough without hiring or parking them.
Battle for one of London’s busiest e-bike markets
Richmond is not a marginal patch for Lime. Council papers show the operator recorded more than 1.5m trips in the borough in 2025, a figure 50 per cent higher than the previous year as demand for dockless bikes surged.
The borough currently permits Lime to operate a fleet of 500 bikes, although council officials have acknowledged that far more can be seen on the streets during peak periods.
Forest, a London-based operator that has expanded rapidly across the capital, has already secured exclusive operating rights in neighbouring Kingston and Sutton and was also selected last year as one of the operators replacing Lime in Hounslow.
Richmond officials have recommended awarding the new contract to Forest after evaluating bids on criteria including service quality, rider costs and financial returns to the council. The financial details of the bids have not been publicly disclosed.
However, the recommendation highlights a growing tension in London’s dockless bike market between councils seeking greater financial contributions from operators, and companies arguing that bike performance for riders should carry greater weight.
That debate has intensified as boroughs face tight budgets and increasingly lucrative e-bike tenders.
Morning Wire previously reported on how some council procurements, namely Hounslow, have effectively become a contest over which operator is willing to offer the largest financial commitment, rather than purely a competition on service quality or operations.
The Richmond vote also comes just days after Haringey council moved in the opposite direction, awarding a new four-year contract that allows both Lime and Forest to operate side-by-side in the borough.
The north London authority said retaining two operators would give the council more leverage over pricing, fleet size and service standards while preserving rider choice.
A Forest spokesperson said the Richmond and Haringey tenders had been highly competitive.
“We’re delighted to have been selected as the sole provider by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, as well as one of two operators in the London Borough of Haringey” the spokesperson said. “Both were highly competitive and rigorous processes, and we’re proud that the strength of our bids stood out.”
On the other hand, Lime, who is in favour of a two-operator model, told Morning Wire: “Almost all London boroughs are moving to systems with a minimum of two operators to give residents a choice of shared e-bike services in the capital. We hope councillors in Richmond choose to follow that model.”.
The spokesperson added: “It is important shared e-bike schemes prioritise maintaining access to high quality, popular cycle options in London, rather than reducing them. This should always take precedence over financial commitments from companies, which are often unsustainable.
“If not, then we risk creating unpopular, dysfunctional schemes that drive down cycling rates and hinder London’s net-zero goals.”
The Richmond decision could have wider consequences for cycling across southwest London, where single-operator boroughs could lead to gaps in coverage, an issue that has previously left riders stranded at borough boundaries where bikes suddenly stop working due to geo-fencing restrictions.