Environmentally friendly e-bikes 'a hazard for pedestrians'

For the past five months, you might have seen Lime's bright green e-bikes zipping through Wolverhampton city centre.

The shared e-bike firm launched in the city in June, with Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal saying approximately 1,100 to 2,600 trips take place in Wolverhampton every week.

But the form of transport has proved controversial nationwide.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan described the approach to dockless e-bikes as a "wild west", saying it could no longer continue.

Ministers have claimed that a patchwork of rules across the country often leaves the streets unsafe for pedestrians.

While some areas enforce rules that mean shared bikes can only be left in specific areas, others have a looser approach.

It comes as the Department for Transport launched a consultation on Thursday in a bid to establish national standards for e-bike hire to make journeys safer for everyone and keep pavements clear, particularly for wheelchair users and families with prams.

In Wolverhampton city centre, people have mixed feelings about the mode of transport.

Mia Chol, a mother who lives in the city with her young daughter, told the BBC that as a pedestrian, e-bikes could be "a bit daunting".

"You can be doing your general shopping and you don't know whether they're coming from the front, the back, left or right... I think it's a bit difficult," she said.

"They don't have their own lanes within the town centre and I think a lot of their food services are within the town centre which makes things a bit complicated.

"I feel like a designated area for e-bikes for where they can pick up and drop off orders in one part of town would be great instead of them being able to access the whole community."

She was supportive of the plans in the consultation to crackdown on antisocial behaviour, saying it would create a safer environment, particularly for elderly people and children.

Another mother in Wolverhampton, who was with her toddler, also said that she had faced problems with people riding e-bikes who could sometimes brake too quickly.

However, other people in the city centre said they had not witnessed any problems, including parents with pushchairs.

One person working for a food delivery company, who was riding an e-bike, said he had not seen much bad behaviour from other riders while out on the road.

Warinder Juss, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton West, said he had seen antisocial behaviour on e-bikes at first-hand, including one passing close to him on the pavement at high speed while he was walking to his constituency office.

"I have seen problems, I've seen e-cycles ridden recklessly on pavements and at large speeds which have created a risk of colliding into pedestrians, and I have had constituents complain about antisocial use," he said.

"The general complaint is people are afraid of being in collision with these e-cycles."

However, Juss also thinks that e-bikes have benefits, saying, "they are easy to use, environmentally friendly and make people acted", but he concluded that they did need regulation.

The proposals would ensure national minimum standards but also give local leaders powers to impose extra restrictions.

They will also attempt to crackdown on antisocial behaviour on e-bikes, including people riding drunk or dangerously and jumping red lights, as well as underage users.

Those who flout the rules could face on-the-spot fines.

Bosses at Lime, Voi and Bolt have all welcomed the proposals, adding that consistent standards being applied across the country would provide clarity and certainty for operators, riders and the general public.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the e-bike clampdown was a "small but important everyday fix" that would make streets safer.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the government wanted e-bike schemes to "grow in popularity" but acknowledged they were "causing a little bit of nuisance at the moment".

Asked how punishments for dangerous cycling could be enforced, Alexander said licensing rules could allow for fines but added: "What you can't do is legislate for every eventuality, you can't legislate for idiots."

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