Dockless e-bike operators in the Square Mile are set to face penalties of up to £10,000 unless they meet requirements outlined in a new deal agreed with the authority.
Lime, Forest and Voi will be expected to comply with rules relating to parking allocations and enforcement or risk being penalised by the City of London Corporation.
In a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Corporation will also be receiving increased financial contributions from the three operators.
Background and new measures
Last summer the Corporation signed agreements with Lime and Forest as it looked to formalise existing practices such as payment for the use of parking bays. They were part of an attempt by the Corporation to manage the huge influx of e-bikes in the City, which while providing an affordable active travel option have led to frustrations over poor behaviour and abandonment of the kit.
In the Square Mile there has been a five-fold increase in the number of dockless bikes counted in summer 2025 compared to two years prior.
The existing MoU with Forest and Lime was signed for a year with the option to extend. A revised MoU was agreed by the Corporation’s Streets and Walkways Sub-Committee on Tuesday afternoon, which has been expanded to include the operator Voi as well as some stronger controls. These include:
- Increased financial contributions, expected to generate £455,360 per year
- A new penalty regime for poor parking compliance and other failures
- Requirements around affordability, data sharing and other areas
On the penalties, operators could be liable to fork out as much as £10,000 if certain requirements are repeatedly broken. For example, if an operator is failing to issue warnings and fines when users do not park in a compliant manner, with a difference of 25 per cent or more between actual and expected enforcement action, this could eventually lead to the penalty.
Committee concerns and further actions
One of the asks by Corporation members at the sub-committee meeting was that the operators be obliged to do more to support campaigns promoting safety and courtesy among riders.
Common Councillor Jacqui Webster, Deputy Chair of the Sub-Committee, said: “We are very good in this country at running flu jabs, drink aware, smoking campaigns. Why can we not do the same through our dockless bike operators?”
Deputy Tom Sleigh said that while there is no doubt the management of dockless e-bikes in the Square Mile requires improvement, the growing number of riders is a positive and aligns with the Corporation’s push for more active travel.
Members voted separately on the draft MoU and adding Voi as an operator, both of which were agreed.
Fixed Penalty Notice trial results
The Corporation ran a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) trial focussed on dockless e-bikes from early March until the end of May.
A new paper has revealed a total of 779 reports were issued to operators from March 23 until May 31, 310 of which were removed because there is no record of whether an FPN was issued. Of the 469 remaining, 129 FPNs were reported, and 258 had bikes removed within 90 minutes. On 82 occasions the officer could not return to check.
Lime was the operator with the most reports (449) and FPNs (90) recorded, followed by Forest (319 and 34) and Voi (11 and 5).
The report states that, following the trial, “the issuing of FPNs is now a business-as-usual activity that will continue alongside the penalties set out in the revised MoU”.
