The brilliance of Lime Bikes

I was disappointed to learn that the authorities are planning to crack down on dockless bikes and electric scooters. Westminster City Council says it intends to fine the rental firms if vehicles are ‘abandoned’ on pavements, while the Department for Transport is planning to introduce a licensing scheme. This is partly in response to lobbying from disabilities charities, which claim the vehicles are a safety hazard. ‘They need to be stopped, docked and locked,’ a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind told MailOnline.

I knew it couldn’t last. The sudden appearance of dockless bikes and e-scooters on the streets of England’s cities in 2021 – they’ve yet to reach Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland – was one of the few rays of sunshine in the gloom of the past three years. In general, local authorities shamelessly took advantage of the lockdowns to impose permanent restrictions on the freedom of road users, from Low Traffic Neighbourhoods to cycle lanes. But in the midst of all this the town-hall Sir Humphreys approved the rollout of these unlicensed vehicles without the usual red tape. Their obsession with reducing carbon emissions momentarily trumped their clipboard–wielding, health-and-safety, Warden Hodges mentality.

I had my first go on an electric scooter in Minneapolis in 2019 and was instantly hooked. I was impressed by the fact that you could just jump on without having to take any kind of test, wear a helmet or prove you were over 18. All you needed was a debit card and you could take your chances in the fast-flowing traffic. It was gloriously at odds with the precautionary principle, a throwback to an earlier, more confident period in America’s history. In Minneapolis, you could also park the scooters wherever you liked, which made them incredibly convenient. Just use the app on your phone to track one down, hop on, then hop off at your destination.

When they arrived in London two years later, they weren’t quite so unregulated. You had to prove you had a driving licence before you could unlock one, and park them in designated bays that were often as far from your destination as you were when you started. On the few occasions I rented one, they ran out of juice about half the time and I ended up having to wheel those ones to the nearest parking spot – not easy given the weight of the battery. I soon gave up.

But a year later I decided to have a go on a Lime Bike, and in a flash my life was changed. Until that point, I’d been a Brompton man, cycling to the nearest Tube, folding it up, taking it on the train, then unfolding it and continuing on my journey. I reckoned it was the quickest way of getting around London, but the downside was that you had to keep it with you wherever you went, because if you locked it to a lamppost it would be stolen in about 30 seconds. And there are certain places – the House of Commons, for instance – where you can’t take a Brompton in with you. It’s also quite heavy, which made switching from the Central Line to the Jubilee Line at Bond Street a bit of a workout.

The great benefit of a Lime Bike, by contrast, is that you can just leave it on the pavement when you get to the station, pick up another when you exit the Tube, and then abandon that one five minutes later. Yes, you’re not allowed to park in certain areas – e.g. Horse Guards – but you’re not restricted to bays like you are with e-scooters. And they’re actually pretty quick. The speed limiter kicks in at 14.8 mph, but the acceleration is impressive, enabling you to pull away from middle-aged men in lycra at traffic lights. From that day onwards, even though I’m a climate contrarian, I’ve been a happy warrior in the e-bike army.

But now the fun police are on to us. Some finger-waggers claim electric bikes are more dangerous than regular bicycles, pointing to the fact that they’re heavier and therefore more likely to result in serious injury if you collide with a pedestrian. Others decry the ‘scourge’ of dockless bikes littering the pavements, either parked antisocially or lying on their sides. I make a point of picking them up and putting them back on their stands, but it’s a losing battle.

We’re up against the same coalition that was responsible for prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s – bootleggers and Baptists. The bootleggers in this case are the local councillors who’ve spotted an opportunity to cash in on this craze. Just make it illegal to park the bikes outside certain designated areas, and then issue swingeing fines, knowing they’ll be passed on to the users.

Ah well. It was fun while it lasted. It won’t be long before I’m back on my Brompton.