The Wild West of E-Bikes

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter January 2026

London’s E-Bike Boom: Convenience Meets Chaos

E-bikes have transformed the way Londoners travel over the past few years, offering a convenient, zero-emission way to move around the city. They’ve quickly become a favourite for commuters and casual riders alike, so popular, in fact, that it’s often a race to find one for the morning journey to work.

But this boom has also brought confusion and frustration. Many residents are irritated by e-bikes left badly parked, tipped over, or even deliberately vandalised. The soundtrack of some neighbourhoods now includes the telltale clicking of Lime bikes that have been ‘broken into.’ Even official parking bays, such as one recently installed by Islington Council near a popular pub, have become overwhelmed, with bikes spilling out onto the pavement and into the road. To counter the problem the City of Westminster has started fining Lime and Forest where bikes were found ‘blocking pavement, doorways or other public space’ rather than in designated parking spaces, and Islington has threatened both firms with withdrawing permission to operate in the borough unless they tackle dangerous parking and poor rider behaviour.

Lime is one of the city’s biggest operators but, despite controls through GPS and imaging technology, do not seem able to address this issue and struggles to tackle illegal use and parking.

Currently, the sector remains unregulated, sparking growing concerns about safety and accountability. Change, however, may be on the horizon. The English Devolution Bill, now making its way through Parliament, will give Transport for London (TfL) the power to regulate and license dockless e-bike operators.

Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the rise in cycling but described the current situation as ‘the Wild West.’

‘It’s great that more and more Londoners are cycling, but regulation has not caught up with the pace of people’s desire to use cycle hire bikes,’ he said. ‘One council has a certain set of rules, another doesn’t allow the bikes, and another has a completely different system. We should have one system across London and we’re lobbying the government for a pan-London approach to regulation.’

Meanwhile, Hackney Council has taken matters into its own hands, announcing a new pricing agreement with Lime and Voi that sets a 30-minute ride at £1.75 which is the same as a London bus fare.

The long-term plan is for all e-bikes to be parked in designated bays, with thousands of new spaces planned across the capital. For now, though, Londoners will have to keep dodging the clutter, while still embracing the convenience, speed and eco-friendliness that e-bikes bring to city life. Watch this space.

(Lime declined to be interviewed for this article.)

Liza Dodds