Closed
Lime bike station noisy and littering
Sent to Hackney Council less than a minute later. FixMyStreet ref: 7598713.
I request the removal of the lime bike station on the corner of our house. There is a lot of garbage and is often thrown into our yard! It is very loud, bikes being thrown on the ground, beeping sounds, people yelling and we work and sleep just above.
Updates
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Thank you for writing to us raising your concerns regarding poor cycle hire user behaviour on Ufton Grove. We have logged your specific issue which, alongside other issues we record, will be raised directly with Hackney’s cycle hire provider Lime as part of our regular management meetings.
We understand and share the concerns you have raised about the improper behaviour of cycle hire users on the footway and in shared public spaces. We also recognise your desire for the cycle hire service to be used properly without negatively impacting residents and the local community, particularly those with visual impairments and physical disabilities.
The Council is committed to making Hackney’s roads safer and more accessible for everyone living, working or visiting the borough, ensuring that shared public spaces remain safe and accessible. We agree that it is completely unacceptable for cycle hire bikes to be parked in an obstructive manner that results in inconvenience or potential health and safety issues for road users.
Hackney has been a leading local authority in the enforcement against uncontrolled cycle hire parking and has taken a proactive and firm approach, working closely with suppliers to support compliant parking behaviour.
Hackney has a borough-wide planned network of cycle hire bays providing users with an accessible and safe place to end their trip, away from the footway. The bay network is based on a number of factors relating to level of service, equity of distribution, distance between bays, and places of interest.
The Council is committed to expanding the borough’s network of cycle hire bays, aiming to deliver a total of 400 bays by 2026.
A map of all cycle hire bay locations can be found here or on the Lime app.
Dedicated cycle hire bays have been funded by Hackney’s current cycle hire operator Lime and it is within the council’s contract with Lime that cycle hire users must park within these designated bays, which is supported by taking an end of trip photo.
Hackney enforcement officers have enforced against uncontrolled cycle hire parking in the past, and the Council reserves this power. However, high levels of use means that the network of cycle hire bikes is highly mobile, creating some practical challenges to enforcement, as bikes are often moved by another user before our enforcement officers are able to attend.
However, we recognise that there is clearly more work to be done to improve cycle hire parking and Hackney continues to work proactively with Lime to identify and deliver operational solutions, using new technology to improve parking accuracy, compliance and safety. These include:
Improved geo-fenced parking restrictions in public spaces, such as parks, to ensure that bikes are only parking in dedicated bays on the carriageway
Limiting e-bike speeds in parks and shared public spaces to reduce the risk of injuries
Users must take a mandatory photo to record how bikes are parked, with users at risk of being issued a fine if parking non-compliantly
Increasing patrols at key hotspots, with Lime staff removing bikes left outside of bays
Retrofitting of 100% Lime’s bike fleet so they can no longer be stolen and ridden as they were before with the characterised clicking sound, minimising the number of bikes being parked outside of dedicated bays.
As a result of these measures, 92% of the more than 500,000 e-bikes journeys ending in Hackney each month between July and September last year saw e-bikes parked correctly.
Hackney’s contract with Lime ends in summer 2025 and the Council is conducting an open market tender to continue the cycle hire service in the borough. This is an opportunity to collaborate with cycle hire operators to establish further improvements to the borough’s cycle hire service.
While we do not want to put the onus on residents to report cycle hire issues, if you do encounter a problem such as Lime bike which is particularly obstructive, then you can report it to Lime directly at London-ops@li.me or via https://reportaproblem.hackney.gov.uk/ , which allows Lime to respond to and resolve the situation promptly. As Streetscene continuously monitors Lime's activity in Hackney, please copy streetscene.enquiries@hackney.gov.uk into your email.
We appreciate the frustration felt by this issue, but hope that you can see the Council has taken your concerns seriously and will look into additional options that can both reduce the use and impact of poor Lime bike parking and dangerous riding in the borough, while still providing a high quality service for users.
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.