Hire bike parking on the pavement

[ScumOfTheRoad]

I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet regarding hire e-bike parking. LAst week I discoverd three Tier bikes on their sides on the pavement outside where I live, one was on athe tactile paving of a dropped pavement section. OK, clearly yobs had pushed them over in the night.
Complained to Tier and they promised to pick them up.
One other bike has been there three days now and the basket is being used as a litter bin. Tier say: "We checked about the bike in that area, it's in our operating region so you don't need to worry about that, and the bike is fine and active, we appreciate your concerns."

Anyone know what the position is for parking hire bikes on the pavement in Southwark?

Now edited - title reads Hire bike

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I suspect the issue is actually hire bikes (and scooters) rather than e-bikes (and scooters).

[Lightning Phil]

Probably same situation for parking cars on the pavement all over the country.

[Wobbly John]

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but I suspect the issue is actually hire bikes (and scooters) rather than e-bikes (and scooters).

I suspect the issue is the people who hire them...

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's also the non-enforcement by the hire cos of their own rules about parking.

[Kim]

Probably same situation for parking cars on the pavement all over the country.

This is a fair point, and I'm generally the first to point out that cars are the greater issue, but the hire bikes/scooters are different in that they're not owned by the inconsiderate parkers, and the owners are particularly reluctant to enforce whatever rules they may or may not have about sensible parking.

(Some discussion of this in the e-scooter thread.)

[Cudzoziemiec]

Cars are obviously more obstructive, being larger, but scooters are probably more of a trip hazard due to their shape. Bikes are probably less of a trip hazard, at least as long as they're upright.

[Kim]

This being BRITIAN, I think there's also the fundamental problem that even if the hire scheme users are made to park sensibly, in the absence of a physical dock constraining the bikes/scooters, there's nothing to stop random oiks kicking them over for the lols.

AIUI the RNIB take on the matter is that the unpredictability is a menace, even if they're parked relatively sensibly wrt obstruction or trip hazards.  Having established docks (which can just be geo-docks without physical infrastruture beyond a bit of paint) means that visually impaired pavement users can learn where to expect them.

[Cudzoziemiec]

In theory Voi, presumably other schemes too, do have geo docks.

[Kim]

In theory Voi, presumably other schemes too, do have geo docks.

The Birmingham approach seemed to be enforcing docks within the city centre, but out here in Silly Oak is was a free-for-all (with discounts for parking in designated useful parking places).

To be fair, in Silly Oak, badly parked scooters were a minor annoyance compared to the usual fuddish motor vehicle parking and - overwhelmingly - bins.  In contrast, the Beryl bikes have designated docks, and are problem-free.

[grams]

The better solution than docks is to encourage people to park them in car parking spaces (in the road), but I’m not aware of any place that does this.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've definitely seen photos of (physical) scooter docks in the road, but I can't remember where. I can also think of one or two places, I think outside student HMOs, where there is a designated space on the road for (large, skip) bins.

[hatler]

I think the Lime scheme in London states that you must not park them in the road.

[Lightning Phil]

I think the Lime scheme in London states that you must not park them in the road.

Why on earth not?

[hatler]

Don't ask me.

https://www.li.me/en-gb/london-parking

When Liming to Boroughs without mandatory parking areas or bays, you should continue to park your e-bike considerately. Please park carefully and out of the way of others.

This means:

Find the nearest public bike rack where possible

Park neatly to the side

Leave at least 2 metres of space

Think about whether wheelchair users or pushchairs could get past your parked e-bike

Don’t park in car parking spaces

Avoid entrances, exits, and crossings

Tuck both the front and back wheels in neatly

[Kim]

The better solution than docks is to encourage people to park them in car parking spaces (in the road), but I’m not aware of any place that does this.

No, because that causes the same issue for visually impaired people crossing the road as it does to have them randomly in the pavement.  Docks are predictable.

(Plus a motorist will come along and sling it onto the pavement in order to use the parking space.)

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not if you put the docks in the parking spaces, which is the arrangement I've seen a photo of.

[Kim]

Not if you put the docks in the parking spaces, which is the arrangement I've seen a photo of.

That would be using a dock, which is fine.

We have a little cycle parking like that in the town centre, but not that I've seen for the hire bikes or scooters.

[quixoticgeek]

Doesn't have to be a hire bike to park like a bellend.

J

[quixoticgeek]

And one from today's bike ride...



J

[quixoticgeek]

https://nltimes.nl/2023/07/14/36000-complaints-shared-scooter-parking-last-year

Hire scooter complaint data.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

Different sort of scooter mind.

[Lightning Phil]

Plus badly parked car in those photos

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't see any car at all in the photo? Are you talking about QG's Dutch link?

[fruitcake]

I see this with e-scooters for hire, where I suspect it is entirely accidental - scooters are tall and top-heavy, and so they're easily blown over. 

Essentially all of this represents abuse of the public realm. It's a form of flytipping and the hire companies are responsible for the obstructions caused by their property, it seems to me. After all it's those companies seeking to use pavements as business space. A few years ago I read reports that one London borough (Camden?) removed all the dockless hire bikes from the pavements just days after they 'appeared'. I think they removed them under flytipping laws.

In contrast, Boris bikes can't fall over because they're secured in bike docks.

Mobike in Manchester was an innovative dockless hire scheme. It was innovative for its time in that it used a smartphone app for payment and for unlocking the bike. It failed, with people stealing some of the bikes (by taking a hammer to the glorified-nurses-lock serving as immobiliser), while other bikes were thrown in the canal. The bikes in the replacement scheme are parked in bike docks.