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Bicycle

How we're fixing hire bike parking and other issues

What we are doing about hire bike parking and other issues including behaviour, crime and noise

By the end of 2025, there will have been around 10 million trips by hire bike, helping make travel around Islington more sustainable. But when bikes are parked badly, they can block pavements, create hazards, and affect people with mobility needs and visual impairment.

Installing hire bike parking 

We’re installing at least 250 hire bike bays across the borough, with 147 ready to use now. We are installing them in areas where parking is needed and will help to keep them away from places people walk. We don't expect this will increase the number of bikes in Islington.

  • February 2024: 10 pilot bays
  • January 2025: 78 bays (57 in south Islington)
  • August 2025: 59 bays in central Islington and busy spots 
  • October 2025: 63 bays in north Islington and busy spots
  • January 2026: Number to be confirmed

We are building hire bike bays across Islington to make our streets safer and easier for everyone to get around. This supports our commitment to active travel and is a key part of our Transport Strategy, Active Together Strategy and Vision 2030 for a greener, healthier borough.

Managing bike parking

We are managing bike parking with two steps.

  1. Exclusion zones: While we are installing parking bays, each bay has a 100 metre zone around them. Riders in these zones, must park in the bay or face warnings, fines, or bans from the operator. 
  2. Bikes must be parked from 2026: Once we have built all of the bays, from early 2026 hire bikes must only be parked in designated bays. 

We have signed agreements with both Lime and Forest that set standards for safety, parking enforcement and response times for removing bikes that block paths. 

Other hire bike issues

We are also working with the operators and other boroughs to tackle other issues from hire bikes like:

  • anti-social behaviour and crime
  • underage riding
  • bike hacking and misuse

We meet regularly with other London boroughs, Transport for London (TfL), and London Councils to share ideas and push for stronger regulation and powers to do more. 

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