E-BIKES are facing a huge crackdown over soaring parking complaints and anti-social behaviour.
Residents are often left fuming by the vehicles, operated by firms including Lime and Forest, regularly being left dumped at stations and strewn across pavements.
TfL is sizing up taking control in the next two years, while its authority provider is set to work on how a city-wide licensing scheme would run.
Riders of electric bikes such as Lime and Forest, have been accused of poor behaviour such as reckless and terrible parking.
Will Norman, TfL’s walking and cycling commissioner, said: “This is only going to work if there are sticks and carrots in this space.
“If we’re seeing repeated problems and challenges, I would want to understand what’s going on and what the company’s putting in place.
“And then if that’s not sufficient, then obviously, the terms of the licence would have to be looked at.”
Norman said he was confident that with clear rules and data-sharing, poor e-bike behaviour will decrease – especially if riders’ licenses depend on it.
Under the current scheme, many boroughs have little legal in holding operators accountable and depend on bystanders to report any disorder.
A Bexley and Bromley assembly member said his London borough had banned Lime bikes from being dumped at stations and on pavements.
Despite this attempt at control, the streets and railways are still littered with dockless e-bikes.
After a meeting on the issue, Turrell said: “There’s a ‘we know best’ mentality to it all.
“If a company is operating in a borough it doesn’t have an agreement to operate in, the solution can’t just be to let them operate in the borough. That’s quite an entitled way of looking at the problem.”
Other boroughs, such as Lewisham, have responded to the issue by using geofencing technology, that creates areas the bikes cannot operate, and any discarded ones are picked up.
Earlier last month, was forced to move after he reported being “f****ng sick” of them being dumped outside his mansion.
This was also among a Sun on Sunday, which found the pay-as-you-go rides are now being abused to advertise and courier.
Investigations by The Sun also revealed the proportion of serious injuries involving hired e-bikes has soared by 1,600 per cent in less than a decade, with flagrant breaches of traffic laws.
Lime admitted that there have been issues with parking, but insists it is a result of a huge increase in demand, and that they are working with TfL to tackle this.
Alex Berwin from Forest e-bikes said that rising fees paid to one borough were raised by 400 per cent over the last two years, while parking in that area only increased by 50 per cent.
In another, fees increased 277 per cent and parking increased just 6 per cent. Forest refused to specify which boroughs these were.
Berwin said: “[Parking] has not kept up with demand at all. We have paid quite a lot of to different boroughs now and invested a significant amount of money in 2,600 bays across London, but that hasn’t been equated with an increase in parking capacity unfortunately.
“We need to see more parking now. Otherwise we’re going to ultimately strangle the growth of the scheme.”
A Lime spokesperson said: “Growing rider demand has outpaced parking capacity across much of London, while parking rules vary between different boroughs.
“However, this doesn’t excuse e-bikes being left obstructively, and we are continually improving our systems to address this.
“We’ve invested more in parking than any other e-bike operator in London, funding more than 3,400 new bays, and our 400-strong on-street team moves incorrectly parked bikes every day.
“Last week, we announced we’ve committed around £1.5m to fund more e-bike parking across the capital through our London Parking Fund, with a further £1m open to all boroughs now.
A Forest spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with TfL, boroughs, and the Government on what a well-managed future service would look like.”
“Forest welcomes London-wide regulation under Transport for London. The current system is fragmented, with different rules and requirements across London boroughs.
“We work closely with TfL and the boroughs to run a safe, well-managed service for Londoners. Every day, our team of Forest Guardians are on the streets, responding to parking issues. We also share data with the boroughs, including the number of complaints we receive.”
“But more parking spaces are needed. Operators already pay considerable fees to boroughs to support their operations, including the provision of parking infrastructure, so it’s crucial any London-wide scheme delivers enough parking to match the growing demand for shared e-bikes.”
Voi have also been approached for comment.
