Lime Bikes have changed the appearance of the city in a matter of years, and it is crazy to imagine a time without them. Despite their faults, they are an amazing addition to the transport system in London. Have you ridden one before?
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00:00 Intro
0:26 What are Lime Bikes?
0:47 What is the purpose of Lime Bikes?
1:35 How does it work?
2:21 Controversies surrounding Lime Bikes
3:42 My opinion of Lime Bikes
4:20 Conclusion
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ah the lion bike the infamous green bike that has taken over the streets of london some see it as the essential way of getting around the city while others see as that annoying bit of mold on the corner of your bathroom that you can’t seem to get off join me as we explore how this intriguing mode of transport has shaped the city of london forever [Music] so what are lime bikes well they’re an electrically powered cycle hire service founded in san francisco back in 2017 the business grew into having many operations across the world but one of their biggest allocations with over 30,000 bikes is right here in london but what is lime’s purpose well it was to create a healthy clean and easy to use mode of transport and with it being electrically powered and not needing to be docked it’s everywhere being the most readily available cycle higher system in the city but it’s more than that being a sort of lifeline for some people providing an affordable mode of transport late at night when there are no other options in addition it has cultural significance being a cultural landmark of some sort which was helped by their memeability with things such as the iconic click click sound people riding on the back of them lime graveyards the lime bag and that laughable late night driving test all these things help solidified its cultural significance how do limes actually work well it’s quite simple really all you need is your phone and the app once you’ve downloaded the lime app and set up all your details you scan the qr code on the bike with your phone and then you’re pretty much ready to go so once you reach your destination you just park the bike up press end ride and then take a picture of the parked vehicle and then you’re done one thing i do advise when getting a lime bike is getting a lime pass because you get more bang for your buck and there are a variety of lime passes you can get ranging from about £3.99 for 30 minutes of lime use all the way up to £36.99 for 400 minutes of lime use [Applause] this may sound good and all but there are many issues and controversies related to line bikes with the main issue with line bikes is that they can be parked pretty much anywhere blocking pavements now as much as this may seem harmless it’s actually kind of a big issue for people that can’t just easily move around the bikes some borrowers kind of solve this issue by implementing dedicated parking zones where you’re prevented from parking the bike unless it’s in the bay area and for the borrowers that don’t have this you have to park your bike in a specific way on the side of the pavement and you’re always required to take a photo of the parked bike and if you don’t do this and park the bike in an unsafe manner you could be fined by lime i quite like this though it means you’re held accountable for the bike you previously rode however this issue became so widespread that it required burrowwide intervention with the most recent issue being in the london burough of brent which actually threatened line with banning the use of line bikes in their burough completely however this got solved with the introduction of slow zones in hotspot areas such as wembley stadium in addition they have increased no parking zones and imposed a 2-hour maximum time limit from when it has been reported for lime to remove a bike that has been parked incorrectly so what do i think of limes well i think they’re a great addition to the public transport system in london and in other cities in the world but especially london and i like the cultural significance that it’s kind of curated it’s just great and it’s interesting to see how it’s kind of become the uber of cycle hires as once upon a time people used to just say “oh let’s get a cab.” but now they say “let’s get an uber.” and it’s kind of become the same thing with limes as before it used to be let’s just cycle there but now it’s let’s get a lime so it seems like the future is bright for lime or should i say bright green what do you think of lime bikes and do you use them often anyways thanks for watching and i’ll see you in the next one [Music]
38 Comments
I love using lime bikes. Great video!
:thumbs_up:
Great idea but not implemented well, I prefer dedicated docks in a safe manner
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Great video mate 🤟🏽
Lime finished what Barclay Bikes (Santander Cycles) started
Thanks for another interesting video but, I'm afraid, I disagree; they are a nuisance. For example, I counted 18 at the bottom of the stairs of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel last week. This isn't uncommon. I rarely see the Boris bikes dumped
They have taken over London, its roads and footpaths. Riders don’t care a jot about people with disabilities or mothers with prams as bikes are left in the middle of pavements. On occasions so many are parked on pavements that pedestrians forced into the road. Don’t forget the people who have absolutely no idea how to ride on roads or just couldn’t care less about the rules of the road.
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I absolutely love your videos. Thank you for covering this. I take them to work on my commute prefer it to the tube because I get to experience some great scenery like riding along the regents canal
Enjoyable video but I honestly never rode a bike in my life.
Lime bikes are the best thing to be brought into London!!!!
The most important thing to happen to London cycling culture despite their problems
There's a reason the supermarkets introduced coin deposits for their trolleys. If you remember they used to get left all over, or chucked into the local canal. That's where we are with the Lime Banks where users leave then anywhere they like and often in the most inconvenient places.
That's a situation that cannot continue.
i really gotta learn how to ride a bike, i started some free lessons last year but i didn't finish before uni started up again
I would like to hire one but I often see them dumped or knocked over so not sure how often they are serviced. Great vid thanks Nathan 🙏👌
2:12 When I did the 1st day of the SCS and SL4, I used a lime bike and paided more (I think it was almost £25) because I didn't know about the lime pass. That pestered me. Anyways, nice video.
I've never used one of these, or any of the new hire scooter brands popping up, I used a similar city bike program in Lyon in 2017 called "Velo'v" which charged me a £200(!) deposit for checking one out. You get it back when you return it, but still! I'd like to imagine that's not a thing anymore. I wish there were more consequences for dumping these things so haphazardly. I still go out of my way to properly stand up every fallen scooter I see tipped over on the pavement, while everyone else just walks past or steps over them. Who in their right mind wants their town to be a scooter graveyard?
I cycle around London most days on my beat up old mountain bike … and Lime bike riders are consistently the worst cyclists (after delivery riders) … probably because Lime bikes are so expensive that riders constantly cycle through zebra crossings and don't give way to pedestrians
sadly too many Lime riders give all cyclists a bad name
shoulda been done by tfl, they are super useful but are lowkey part of the slow privatization of london transport, plus not having them included in a travelcard makes me 70-80% less willing to use them, specially when a bus ride costs less than most trips and u can get a return or second bus for free within an hour of the first with the new(ish) bus hopper system
Ultimately an app pushes its accessibility back a lot. Lime bikes are pretty much a disease of privatization, and should be wrangled by TFL into proper regulation. Likewise, Boroughs need to stop treating e-bikes and scooters as a boogeyman and actually let people use them with proper gear and basic (and easy to get) road licensing (ala scooters/125cc bikes).
I also fear that much like other lime types of other cities around the world; companies ditch them as they go bust or leave the city. At that point (and at any point to be honest) they should be able to be jailbroken for people to use. Rather that than dumped like the "e-bikes of wrath".
F***ing hate these things. Legalised pollution.
Wow, these lime bikes are pretty interesting, especially after watching your review. I pretty much see them everywhere i go. Personally i dont have a problem with these bikes being arounfd – infact i actually quite like them, except for where they're parked sometimes. It can be annoying at times to have to get past them or even step over them. Other than that, i think theyre pretty cool.
I also remember seeing similar bikes operated by Santander too, i wonder where those went.
Anywho, that was a great review that you did, my friend @networknathan.
I think they're a pest.
Tough one, I'm a big cycling advocate. They've itroduced loads of people to cycling, thus increasing pressure for better infrastructure, but they get dumped absolutely everywhere. I use the santander cycles myself, but I can appreciate e-bikes
What's so special about Lime compared to the other hire bikes?
refreshing
Good evening
Great video man!
Hopefully Londoners will slowly realize how much bikes and cycling infrastructure is important for the city, and more streets will be resigned to be more bike friendly and less car friendly
I much prefer the electric Boris Bikes. They are cheaper, better maintained and more convenient because I can ride directly to the docking station and plan my journey onwards from there, whereas with the Lime bikes I have to mess about with the phone app to unlock them and end the ride, and also to find the nearest parking zone. I can unlock the Boris eBikes with a key fob bought from TfL without having to get my phone out to use a fiddly, slow app that often doesn't work, and can lock them by docking too. IMO they should expand the Boris Bikes scheme, make all of them electric and then ban Lime/other commercial ebike providers.
i like that northie jumper
Private Eye have an annual investigative journalism award, and this year a story in London Centric by was nominated for the prestigious Paul Foot Award – titled "Lime bikes keep breaking Londoners' legs" published on 23rd Jan 2025 – about Lime bikes being responsible for breaking riders legs – due to their extreme weight, higher centre of gravity and unwieldly nature. It's important to spread awareness of how dangerous they are if there is a braking failure or they happen to fall on you.
Yeah I think Limes are great. Once they sort the parking out. They fill a really important gap I think. People that like like a 25 minute walk from the tube. If you're up for the walk, great. If not, you have a cheap and easy way of zipping there in 5 minutes. So important for the less well-connected parts of London.
Love the concept.
Loathe the riders' inability to not leave them strewn across streets blocking paths and stairways for everyone else in London
Lime~bikes some users park not safe place i have poor sign &i use walking aids
I use a different service because its cheaper but its reallt hard to argue with hiring a e bike on short to medium trips
But is E-Bikes are just as dangerous as E-Scooters that you see young people using E-Scooters and going too fast. Whilst E-Bikes are lot more effective and safer for the environment.
After trying one recently, I think they’re a good idea. It’s much easier to ride an e-bike or e-scooter over a normal bike, especially when going up hills and riding for long distances, but the price of them is already very high, which makes me wonder what they’re purpose is apart from sightseeing, or maybe there’s a lot of traffic making a cab unsuitable for getting somewhere in a hurry.
I like your videos, but you had an opportunity to call out theft and poor behaviour, rather than making a joke out of it/normalising it. The sound of clicking/bleeping just reminds you that you’re surrounded by casual lawbreakers.