Lime Disease

Something selfish has infected the streets of N22… we have Lime Disease!

Lime’s business model is incredibly selfish.

They will dump dozens of bulky, heavy and ugly cyclable objects onto your streets and see how much money they can make out of your neighburhood.

But is this okay, Haringey?

Lime certainly is not a cycling company.

Our Streets are now Paved with Lime

As a regular tax-paying flirt between Enfield and Haringey, I was never asked if I wanted this.

Micro Mobility providers are (currently) gifted with superpowers to help local communities and be a force for good (indeed, I once enjoyed working in the industry) but they must be wielded with respect and careful consideration to everyone that (directly or indirectly) are forced to touch their innovations.

Or they should be taken away.

My school run now has games where we jump over dumped Limes! But for others, it is far more serious.

Demographics

Let’s look at the users (or “Riders”, as we call them in the industry). These observations are from my personal experience within London only and are not masquerading as hard evidence.

• Riders are 90% men under 35
• Riders are predominantly non-locals who are passing through or visiting, or working
• School children joyriding after their daily learn (each day we hear the “beep-beep/clickity-click” of stolen bikes outside our house – could be a central London problem? (indeed, I can hear them even now!))
• Very, very few women use the service
• No one over 50 uses the service
• Locals who have to put up with the litter rarely use the bikes but do have to drag them out of their way

When I see the same “riders” using the bikes each day, I can’t help thinking how disrespectful Lime are to those who must live amongst their litter.

Where is the ambition to promote cycling as an inclusive, healthy activity for everyone, as, for example, Beryl does? Where is the respect for the communities that have to negotiate around their litter? When the vast majority of riders are young men, how is everyone else who needs to ride a bike coping? Is cycling even important to Lime (heads up, I’m a cyclist!)?

Safety and health (and cycling!) should be at the heart of each council's provision of Micro Mobility.

You can quickly conclude that no one is riding a Lime bike for leisure (except for the after-school kids) and that those using Lime to get from A to B are confident, tech-savvy males who are brave enough to not care about cycling through traffic (or pedestrians) and families on pavements — or where they leave their litter.

Children on bikes, partially sited people, those on mobility scooters, those that have to drag the damn bikes out of the way before they can drive out from their homes… it makes residents furious having to work around Lime (who don’t care). I’ve seen drivers have to get out of their car to move the Lime Litter before being able to do their reverse parking manoeuvre (which I never got the hang of).

Behaviour

The behaviour of Riders reflects the demographics (sorry to stereotype). Note that once one bike is dumped somewhere, more dumping follows (Lime don’t care).

Bikes dumped on pavements

Bikes dumped on crossings.

Bikes are mostly dumped with no respect for those who live amongst Lime’s Litter.

Lime’s “photo finish” for their Riders is ineffective.

These spaces are supposed to be a facility for proper cyclists.

Not for Lime!

The lack of responsibility from Lime Riders is a side effect of the culture driven by Lime.

Lime does have street operations to clear up their mess, but we rarely see them. When they do appear, they are in unmarked white vans (and dash to their litter and back again) because if they were to be in branded vehicles, they would feel the wrath of the community.

Safety

When I grew up, the importance of cycling helmets was drummed into me. This message – decades in the making – has been obliterated by Lime in just a couple of years. Children growing up now see Lime cyclists with headphones and helmetless and assume that is normal.

We also took courses to learn to cycle safely on roads. Lime has taken this lesson back decades as Lime riders mostly cycle on pavements (with headphones and no helmet).

If you go through central London on any evening, you can see drunken fun-loving youngsters using these Limes to get to the next pub or party (which is fun!) but nothing here is about the love of cycling or the well-being of the Rider.

Limes are Litter. Once the disease takes hold, you’ll be dodging their litter every time you walk through your neighbourhood.

Inclusiveness

Cycling can be fun for everyone. It’s healthy for your body and brain. Beryl has that outlook. Lime does not.

Why are there so few women riding Lime? I do see some women riding around London Bridge and Old Street, but not in N22. I’ve never seen anyone over 40ish riding anywhere.

What can we do about it?

Lime wants you to install their app before being able to raise an issue: don’t.

Lime is a menace so don’t pander to their statistics by installing their app; contact your local councillor and provide dated photos of evidence.

Lime will deal with your complaint according to their minimal-impact process that adheres to the agreement they have with each particular local authority and the result is… nothing.

You can email london-ops@li.me but do CC and BCC your councillor and self into the conversation for evidence.

My suggestion to Haringey and Enfield is to allow residents to declare their street “Lime Free”.

The Streets are Ours, not Lime.

#LimeLitter