Why the council voted to terminate its trial with Lime
An inner-city council has struck a deal with Melbourne’s largest e-bike operator and is set to take them off the streets while the company “takes the mickey” from taxpayers.
Yarra City Council on Tuesday night ended an almost six-year trial of Lime e-bikes, condemning the operator’s refusal to penalize drivers who abandon bikes, ride drunk or travel on footpaths.
Lime was the only company to apply to continue the scheme on a permanent basis through a tender process which the council closed, choosing not to make any plans.
Since Lime’s e-bikes hit the streets in late 2020, the company has made nearly $2.5 million from local rides, but Mayor Stephen Jolly said the city hasn’t seen a dime. While the company relied on concerns about climate change as a smokescreen for its lax behavior, e-bikes were “everywhere in the partnership.”
“We’re a progressive council, so they think they can get away with it,” Jolly said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“With all their money they can say, ‘we’re going to give you a second-rate product, we’re not going to police our customers.’
“They actually take the mickey.”
Residents argued that the environmental impacts and transit benefits (especially for those under 35, the average age of the local Lime bike rider) outweighed the plan’s pitfalls, which could be offset by more bike-friendly streets.
Streets Alive Yarra chairman Jeremy Lawrence suggested that if the issue were bike parking on local footpaths, on-street bike corrals could be added to every street in the Yarra “just like there’s a car park on every street”. He said the council was already supporting multinational oil companies by encouraging people to drive and use fuel.
“Currently the city offers three-quarters of its on-street parking for free,” Lawrence told the meeting.
“Instead, the city should charge people a reasonable fee to park all day long, such as the same fee for a daily public transport ticket, and use a small portion of that revenue to build an on-street parking area on every street, whether for private bikes or shared bikes.”
Council officials say Lime has recorded more than 425,000 local trips since e-bike trials began in the region. This equated to approximately 201 trips each day, with an average distance traveled of 1.6 km.
Councilor Evangeline Aston said figures showed more than 99 per cent of the local population of 100,000 in the Yarra did not use e-bikes and the average ride saved “733 quintillion per cent of our emissions”.
“Two hundred and one trips a day will not save the planet and never will,” Aston said.
Council officials opposed awarding the contract to Lime, claiming the company was plagued by existing problems as well as weaknesses or non-compliances in “core operational, data security and financial areas”.
The council did not rule out a joint e-bike plan in the future should another operator be interested. A spokesperson for Lime said the company was disappointed by the decision, which was “a completely unnecessary disruption to the e-bike network across Melbourne”.
“Shared, affordable and active transport is now more important than ever, and investments are being made every day to improve access in other cities across Australia,” a Lime spokesperson said. Age.
Nearby councils are taking different approaches to technology. Darebin Council will consider the Lime e-bike trial in August, while Port Phillip Council is set to launch its own plan in March. The City of Melbourne will consider making shared e-bikes permanent this year.
Merri-bek suspended plans for permanent shared e-bikes in April, saying the lack of a co-ordinated cross-council plan exposed it to greater risk.
Be the first to know when important news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts Turn on notifications in email or in the app.
