E-bike parking on London’s pavements could soon be completely banned

There’s nothing more tragic than seeing someone accidentally knock over a stack of Lime bikes. We've all witnessed it – acid green armies parked up outside every single pub in south and east London. All it takes is one overly-sauced person to come along and topple them like dominoes.

So in a bid to prevent these frankly embarrassing incidents from happening, soon e-bike parking on London pavements could be totally banned. 

TfL is reportedly drawing up a plan that would require e-bikes to be parked in designated bays, stopping them from being left on pavements. These could be in place from ‘early 2026’ and would limit the number of bikes per borough and city-wide, and ban the use of ‘free floating’ parking where riders are able to leave a bike where they want after finishing their journey.

But one e-bike company said this could ‘stifle’ rental bikes in the city, making them less appealing as a green alternative to public transport. 

Alex Berwin, the head of policy at Forest, which has 10,000 bikes in London, said: ‘Yes, we need dedicated parking bays and mandatory parking, but when you go out to the more suburban areas, having more of a free-floating model works best, so people can have more flexibility around where they want to end their ride - nearer their home, for example.

‘We can’t have something like the scooter trial, which is just mandatory parking across the whole city – very few parking bays, very few vehicles on the road, which has ultimately really stifled the scheme and made it not really usable for anyone.’

A TfL spokesperson said: ‘We know that poor e-bike parking can cause significant safety issues for many Londoners, particularly disabled and older people. Our experience from the existing e-scooter trial shows that well-managed and regulated schemes can be successful in mitigating such issues.

‘To tackle this we're looking closely at how we can improve the management of e-bikes in London. This includes exploring a coordinated scheme with London Councils and the London boroughs to manage dockless e-bikes and e-scooters in London, through a contract. No decisions have yet been taken.’

This London council has already banned e-bikes being abandoned on pavements.

TfL has just opened a new cycle docking station in north London.