There is some encouraging news regarding the ongoing problems with Lime rental bikes being left inconsiderately blocking pavements, although don’t expect things to happen quickly. Your Conservative Councillors took this up with both Lime and Kingston Council. Although there are some plans in place to improve the service, it looks like it might be quite some time before major improvements are made.
There has been a specific problem near Wolverton Avenue, which is close to Norbiton Station. This seemed to be partly due to a ‘geo-fence’ (an area where bike hirers are electronically prevented from leaving a bike) preventing parking at the station. This resulted in people parking as close as they can and causing a problem along nearby Wolverton Avenue. Wolverton Avenue has now been added to the ‘geo-fenced’ area. That is a good first step, but of course that is likely to cause knock-on problems to neighbouring roads.
Lime also advised that they are in contact with the NHS Trust and South Western Rail to start discussions about the possibility of these organisations designating space on their premises where hire e-bike users are able to leave the bikes at either end of their journey.
Kingston Council is currently working with London Councils and TfL on the issue on ‘micromobility parking’ with the aim of finding a London-wide solution, so bikes are left only at designated parking places. Kingston Council is also bidding for some ‘carriageway bays’ from TfL (locations not yet decided) to allocated road space for dockless bike parking and reduce the number of bikes left on the footway. This could lead to the Lime bike service being expanded borough-wide to include Surbiton and the south of the borough
Your Conservative councillors will keep working with Lime and Kingston Council to help come up with the best outcome for all. However, from previous experience of dealing with Lime, Kingston Council and TfL, we don’t expect a quick solution.
We will keep pushing for early action, and ensure that adequate consultation is put in place so that residents have a say over where the planned cycle parking spaces will be.
