Agenda item

This item will consider the proposed scrutiny review topic of ‘Environmental Health: The health and wellbeing impacts of active travel and improved access to nature and how these can be extended through our borough’.

Jack McKenna, Senior Public Affairs Manager UK and Ireland, Lime will present. A  paper is enclosed.

The chair explained that this item will consider the proposed scrutiny review topic of ‘Environmental Health: The health and wellbeing impacts of active travel and improved access to nature and how these can be extended through our borough’.

Members were invited to make any comments on the review scope, listed under item 10.

Lime

The chair welcomed Jack McKenna, Senior Public Affairs Manager UK and Ireland, Lime, and invited him to provide a summary of the paper circulated with the agenda.

Members were then invited to ask questions and the following points were made:

·  Lime is seeing a 50% growth in routes in Southwark, and that is in large part because of the flexible street parking policy.

·  The majority of journeys are by commuters and consistent users – these are early morning on office days and last mile journeys, including to train stations. Many users are using passes.

·  There are two types of parking for Lime EV E-Bikes  and scooters: considerate street parking (Flexible Parking Zone) and set bays (Mandatory Parking Zones). Different boroughs have different rules. In Southwark parking is on bays in high use areas but in other areas people just need to park considerately on the street. The users have to provide a photo to show how they have parked.

·  Inconsiderate parking is dealt with by Lime through progressive sanctions. Lime has to comply through a Service Level Agreement with Southwark Council’s conditions. Lime meet with officers to discuss performance. 92% of bikes are considerately parked.

·  Members spoke about the pros and cons of street parking. The impact of bikes discarded on pavements and bad parking can mean cluttering the pavement up and reducing accessibility for the mobility impaired, buggies, and wheelchair users. However, the advantages of flexible street parking are that women in particular feel safer being able to start and finish a journey close to home.

·  Lime said that park-ability is key. Mandated bays are very expensive to provide full coverage. The problem is that an inadequate number of bays also can lead to overcrowding, and this can result in swapping one problem for another, but reduce usability. Data shows that people will not take a bike if they cannot locate one close by.

·  A member spoke about e-bikes becoming a disincentive to walkers in parks or concern about danger of collisions with children. Lime said it is possible to look at limitations being imposed in certain areas via Geo Fencing. Elephant Park and Burgess Park were mentioned as problematic areas. The geo fencing technology is very flexible but must be mandated by officers. The max speed 15.8 Km / hour, and this can be reduced. Lime encouraged members to get in touch regarding concerns.

·  There was a problem about hacking Lime Bikes; a hardware upgrade had addressed this. Lime work closely with the police and will hand over details and help identify people committing crimes.

·  The electric source is fully renewable, and it is possible for Lime to change batteries on location which improves use.

·  There was a discussion on the cost of bays and if this ought to be borne by Lime as a commercial provider or the council in pursuit of its ambition of moving more journeys out of cars and towards active travel. Lime said that the costs are very much the time and the consultation process.

·  Members asked how the wealth was shared and Lime explained that they are a low margin high volume business. Lime have set up a million pound infrastructure fund to work with London Boroughs to increase use. Two competitors have exited the market. Lime said that they are looking for long term partnerships.

·  Lime have offered to assist with the provision of bays using the infrastructure fund for London Boroughs and made offers to the council. Lime have offered to provide dual parking for regular bicycles and Lime e-bikes. Lime said they believe this is the best option as bike racks as easier to deliver.  This is subject to ongoing discussion with officers and TFL.

·  There are concerns that removing flexible on street parking without adequate bay provision will impact on usage. Paris have moved to a bay on every street though making a big commitment and considerable investment.

·  The Streets for People has a target of increasing active travel journeys.  This is in part about reallocating parking spaces used by cars to provide more parking, including parking bays. To provide sufficient parking bays to enable take up of shared e-bike schemes under Mandatory Parking Zones a density of 25 bays per sq. km) would need to be achieved, which would be expensive, although conceivable with significant investment in high density areas.

·  Lime has teamed up with the London Cycling Campaign and Loud Mobility to launch a new £100,000 ‘Share the Joy’ fund to increase cycling within underrepresented groups and deliver equitable access to its benefits. Lime have partnered with local organisations to increase participation amongst lower income groups including refugees and certain ethnic groups, young people plus people exiting prison.