E-bike parking in London: where you can leave a Lime or Forest bike

It depends on the borough. In 17 London boroughs (Brent, Camden, City of London, Ealing, Enfield, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster) a shared e-bike must be left in a marked e-bike bay. In Greenwich, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton and Tower Hamlets a hire can end outside a bay, as long as the bike is upright and not blocking the pavement. Cyclemate ends every e-bike route at a legal place to park.

In a bay-only borough the operator app will not let you end the ride, so you keep paying until you reach a bay. Where a ride can be ended, Lime and Forest can charge a fee for bad parking and restrict riders who keep doing it, and councils can remove bikes that block the pavement.

Cyclemate maps more than 3,800 marked e-bike bays across 19 London boroughs, alongside more than 23,000 ordinary cycle parking racks and stands. The bays come from 20 borough council datasets: 10 are refreshed every week from council feeds, and the rest are council spreadsheets and Freedom of Information responses compiled by Colin Summers.

22 of London's 33 boroughs have Lime or Forest e-bikes. Hackney and Enfield are Lime only. Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton are Forest only. Eleven outer boroughs, including Barnet, Bromley, Croydon and Newham, have no shared e-bike scheme yet.

Cyclemate finishes the cycling directions at the nearest marked bay your operator can use, then walks you the rest of the way. Choose Lime or Forest in the planner and it checks the rule for the destination borough. If the operator does not serve that borough, the ride ends at a bay inside its area instead.

Yes. Santander Cycles are docked, so Cyclemate routes you to a docking station with free spaces near your destination.