Dara Ó Briain likens e-bike borders to ‘Checkpoint Charlie’

Lime bikes abandoned on the Richmond side of Chiswick Bridge

Dara’s post strikes a chord with frustrated e-bike users

Comedian Dara Ó Briain, who lives in Chiswick, has likened the new e-bike borders to ‘Checkpoint Charlie’, the Cold War border crossing station in Berlin.

‘Hounslow council have banned Lime bikes, and licensed Forest and Voi; neighbouring Richmond has licensed Lime and banned the others. So every bridge is Checkpoint Charlie, with loads of Lime bikes parked on one side and loads of Forest and Voi on the other. Top work everyone!’ he posted on X.

Many people have commented on the daftness of having different operators in different boroughs, so that if a rider crosses a boundary line they can’t continue to ride or find anywhere to park their bike legally.

Not many are expecting the new licencees to do any better than Lime, including our own ‘Angsty Aunt’:

READ ALSO: Lime bikes lose contract to Forest and Voi in LB Hounslow

READ ALSO: What’s the biggest social sin you can commit on the tube? Also, will Lime bikes be missed? – Chiswick’s Angsty Aunt

Dara Ó Briain; photograph IAB Engage

‘Hounslow Council’s fault’

Dara Ó Briain laid the blame sqaurely at Hounslow’s door when Richmond Council’s Chair of Transport pointed out it wasn’t their fault:

Cllr Alexander Ehmann wrote:

‘To be fair Dara. Richmond had little say in this. Until some weeks back, Hounslow used Lime – same as Richmond. Hounslow then changed providers & we’ll consider that decision in our own review later this year. Regardless, bikes don’t stop at boundary – just parking prohibited’.

To which Dara responded:

‘Oh, I don’t believe Richmond, or Ealing, are to blame for this, it’s entirely on Hounslow. I can’t imagine you’ll thrilled with the bikes stacking up on the boundaries. But yes, the bikes/scooters do stop functioning at the boundary, as indicated by the website:

‘That explains the stack of Lime bikes over Chiswick Bridge!’ wrote Steve Price.

Hounslow Cycling campaing added:

‘It was a competitive tender. Forest and Voi bid more than Lime. Each council will make their own decision until TfL can regulate a London-wide scheme (which depends on powers in English Devolution Bill going through parliament).

Forest put their price up

As a result of having to pay more to win the tender, forest have now said they are putting their prices up:

‘At forest we have one main goal; to be the most sustainable way to get around London (besides your own two feet), whilst not compromising on affordability.

‘The sustainability part we’re nailing: Running on 100% renewable energy since day one, B Corp and Verra Certified, offsetting production emissions via local & responsible tree planting.

‘The affordability part is a little more tricky. You may not know this, but each London borough operates separately when it comes to shared ebikes. That’s why you can park in some but can’t in others, and why there’s different parking rules in each.

‘It’s a little confusing, we know. In order to operate in each borough, we also have to pay a fee to them. These fees vary borough to borough (just like the parking rules), but one thing that is consistent is that these fees have doubled in the past year.

‘Pay As You Go’ riders. Our daily service fee is increasing.

‘As a result of these rising borough fees, we’ve made the decision to raise our daily service fee to £1.50. For our average ride of 10 minutes, we’re still 36% cheaper – that is £1.40 less -than our main competitor’.

Augustin Guilisasti.

Lime has urged councils to collaborate so riders can “travel seamlessly across boroughs” rather than face a “patchwork of boundaries”.

Dara’s post has had 631.3k views at time of writing.

Lime bikes abandoned on the Richmond side of Chiswick Bridge

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