Docking the undocked

You may already have started to notice a new arrival at the end of your street, or next to key locations in the area. It seems that Lewisham Council have started to roll out dedicated spaces for dockless e-bikes (Lime, Forest, etc.) and scooters.

The zones look like this, with the area of a single car parking space marked, indicating it is for E-SCTR & CYC HIRE and also protected by bollards:

A dedicated e-scooter and e-bike drop off zone

As you will no doubt be aware, bikes that are branded as Lime, Forest, Santander & more have been a great success in London in recent years, with Lime alone clocking up 12 million e-bike trips and 30 million kilometres of rides between 2019 & 2023, and usage has only been increasing since then. They are convenient and straightforward to use for anyone looking to get around London, and the e-bike option is a particular saviour on hilly roads like those in Forest Hill, Sydenham and Honor Oak.

abandoned bikes on the pavement

However, as their numbers have increased, so has the problem of bikes being dumped on pavements and blocking the path, particularly around stations or busy high street locations. Councils have been trying to find ways to fix this, and the most popular solution seems to be to create dedicated drop-off locations where bikes MUST be parked to avoid fines.

This means that there will need to be a network of very convenient locations near our stations, shops and homes that allow for these bikes to be stored. To address this, Lewisham drew up a map of proposed locations - though, to the best of our knowledge, did not consult on these with residents or businesses. You can find the whole map of proposed locations here, but these are the locations for Forest Hill, Honor Oak and Kirkdale (more could have been added or removed since this was created)

map of Forest Hill, Honor Oak and Kirkdale drop off zones

As far as we know, enforcement has not yet started, but we imagine that once all the zones have been created, the council will require the rental companies to enforce dropping off the bikes in these locations, so it will not be long.

It is already fairly obvious that destinations like Forest Hill or Honor Oak Park stations will require a great deal more space than is currently allowed. If past experience is anything to go by, this volume of bikes at Honor Oak Park will not fit in just the spaces available on the side streets:

pavement full of dockless ebikes at Honor Oak Park station

What do you think of this solution and the range of proposed stations? Will this make walking on pavements easier? Will it stop you riding the bikes, maybe because there is no station near your home? Let us know what you think and we will collect the feedback to share with Lewisham councillors in the Forest Hill, Perry Vale and Crofton Park wards.