Concerns are rising over discarded Lime bikes in public waterways, with potentially damaging consequences on the water quality of London’s rivers, and significant strain on people to remove them.
Last month, the BBC revealed the financial cost and environmental harm caused in Nottingham after hundreds of Lime bikes were dumped in the Trent.
On land, the controversy has continued, as both Lime and competitor Forest were sent more than £30,000 in penalty fines as Transport for London cracked down on abandoned e-bikes in the capital.
Theo Thomas, chief executive of London Waterkeeper, a company who advocate for clean rivers, said: “They need to get better at covering the cost of retrieving [the bikes], rather than just profiting off the fact that they have the convenience of people using them.
“Then it takes a lot more time to get them removed from the environment, because the longer they’re in the water, the more damage they could potentially cause.”
A Lime spokesperson said: “We take responsibility for removing our vehicles from the UK’s waterways – at no cost to the public.
“We always aim to promptly collect obstructive or misparked bikes reported to us via the ‘report bad parking’ function in our app within a matter of hours.”
Feature Image Credit: Bryce Carithers via Pexels
