07 Oct E-bike parking update
Hammersmith BID and Hammersmith & Fulham Council are working with the e-bike operators in the area to improve parking, keep pavements clear for pedestrians and keep the town centre tidy. Over the past few weeks, we have met with both Lime and Forest to review progress and agree next steps.
Lime: more parking near the Apollo
On 26 August, the BID met Lime’s Senior Public Affairs Manager alongside Cllr Nimmo to discuss progress on additional e-bike parking in Hammersmith. The aim is to ease the build-up of bikes outside the front of the Apollo.
Lime told us an operations team member visits five to six times a day to tidy bikes and remove any excess. To stop too many bikes gathering in one spot, Lime is also investing in AI technology: riders keep being charged until they submit a photo showing they have parked responsibly.
Lime acknowledges the system is not foolproof. Some bikes are affected by “GPS drift”, which means the virtual parking boundary has to be set more loosely for them.
Forest: daily visits until the end of October
On 3 September, the BID met with Forest’s Parking & Infrastructure Lead, who apologised for the recent disruption.
Since late August, Forest has been visiting all of its Hammersmith bases. Operations staff will continue to tidy bikes and manage numbers every weekday until 31 October, and will keep monitoring the area after that. Whenever more than 10 bikes build up in a bay, Forest sends a van to clear the surplus.
Forest also confirmed that in Hammersmith its parking bays are recommended rather than mandatory. Riders can park anywhere except private land and sensitive sites such as hospitals.
Progress so far and what’s next
There has been good news on private land. Following a BID letter to Lime, Lime bikes are no longer being left on Huddle’s private land, which Huddle has confirmed and our own checks support.
The pavement in front of Hammersmith Broadway remains a challenge. Bikes there are now being stacked more neatly, but the number of bikes is still too high, particularly where the pavement narrows round the corner onto Shepherd’s Bush Road. We are discussing with the Council how best to manage this spot.
Listening to our businesses and in partnership with the Council, we have installed new e-bike bays on Butterwick to provide more parking space in the area and prevent overcrowding.
The BID will meet the Council again in October. Together we plan to share joint updates on new parking bays in the BID area and tips on better parking for e-bike riders.