Lime bikes

[MobilityCat]

Every day, I find myself having to navigate around Lime bikes blocking the sidewalk. It’s frustrating, and honestly, it feels dangerous. Whenever I have to move into a busy road just to get by, I know I’m putting myself at risk. Drivers don’t always expect someone in a wheelchair to suddenly be in the street, and I shouldn't have to face that kind of uncertainty just to go about my day.

It’s not just an inconvenience—it’s a safety issue. I shouldn’t have to worry about encountering a blocked pavement or wonder if today’s the day I won’t have a clear path forward. A simple solution, like designated parking spots or better rules to keep these bikes off the pavement, could make a huge difference for people like me.
Is this too much to ask?

Whats a Lime Bike? and where?

They’re a menace. It’s not just the public leaving them there, their vans pull up and dump loads on the pavement or private land despite being repeatedly told not to do it. They do not care.

Lime bikes are electric for hire bikes (same company that also does electric scooters to hire), I live in a city where they have been around for years, when I am with a wheelchair user and have to navigate around these blocking the path it is frustrating to say the least. If you move them without hiring them they start alarming. If you’re really affected by this take photos and report to Lime, it is their responsibility to make sure they are being left in safe places.

It's a green electric hire bicycle and they're everywhere

No it isn't too much to ask.

Have you complained to Lime themselves? Also, do you mean in a particular borough or London in general? Or a different city?

Brent Council threatened to remove Lime completely from the borough unless they complied with restrictions including parking bays and patrols. They had until 31 October. They complied. So persistent complaining does work.

I dont think they are 'everywhere' as they are not where I am, or have seen :-)

You're quite right. There are several of these communal bike/scooter companies and some do have a functionality to only be parkable in designated areas so you can write to your local councillors to ask them to choose one like that next time the franchise is due for renewal.

It doesn't completely solve the issue because irresponsible riders find workarounds to avoid following the rules, but it helps.

Where are you?

England, nearish a big city

7 locations in the UK

Probably feels like everywhere when its in your city though

Yanbu but councils and car drivers will be pissed off if car parking is reduced in favour of e-scooter and e-bike spaces.

It would be reasonable to expect the council to be more concerned about the state of their pavements, which are often cluttered with bikes left carelessly by users.

Ideally, the council might consider restricting or even banning these bikes, following the example of some responsible cities that have already taken steps to address similar issues.

By implementing stricter regulations or prohibitions, they could work toward ensuring safer and cleaner pedestrian spaces for everyone.

The equivalent of lime bikes where I am have to be parked in designated bays and those are fine. Visiting somewhere with lime bikes I was really surprised that they can just be left anywhere and those really were all over the place and were often blocking pavements when they had fallen over. You are not being unreasonable.