| Topic: | Re:What was the selection process? | |
| Posted by: | Peter Millman | |
| Date/Time: | 02/09/25 18:37:00 |
| Much to my surprise, I received the e-mail below from Cllr Dunne’s account within an hour of my enquiry. Dear Peter, Thank you for your email. To clarify, despite the way the decision has been reported in the press, this was not about removing a particular provider from the borough. Following the trial of the e-bike scheme in Hounslow and the decision to make the associated parking bays permanent, an open, competitive tender was run to appoint e-bike providers with new contracts. This decision was driven by resident feedback and the opportunity to implement a contract-based model that allows for stronger accountability and service improvements as the previous arrangement with Lime was done via a voluntary memorandum of understanding. The competitive tender was run impartially by council officers under normal tender rules and government guidance and, therefore, councillors were not involved in selecting the winning providers. I was surprised that Lime's bid was not one of the strongest. However, this probably reflects my own bias as someone who uses Lime bikes and had not had experience of other e-bike providers. Foret and Voi bikes operate in a number of London boroughs, not just Hounslow, with Forest in particular operating in a similar number of boroughs to Lime. For more information about the operating areas, please see our e-bike webpages. However, I do appreciate the difficulties the decision has caused some riders, especially those travelling to and from Richmond. I am aware that Richmond is reviewing its e-bike providers and parking arrangements in the autumn so making a decision on this basis would not necessarily have been long-lasting. On this point, it has been clear for some time joined-up approach to e-bikes across London is needed and it is of considerable frustration to me that we have not yet been able to bring about a London-wide e-bike hire scheme with consistent providers and parking rules. Hounslow signified its intent to join such scheme over a year ago, as did many other boroughs. However, some boroughs were not on board and at least one e-bike operator indicated that it would not cooperate with such a scheme if it wasn't awarded a contract or didn't like the rules. Since then, the government has listened to our lobbying for e-bike hire scheme regulation by transport authorities such as TfL and has indicated that this will be included in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. In the meantime, councils are having to either accept uncontrolled e-bike schemes in their boroughs, put voluntary agreements in place, or run competitive tenders to influence service provision and earn revenue that can be put back into active travel and transport-related projects (especially important given the general financial position of local government). I have fought hard in Hounslow to persuade often sceptical councillors in a car-dominated borough to prioritise active travel and to keep the e-bike scheme in place. There are some who would prefer to see it go altogether. So whilst I understand some people's disappointment as the loss of Lime, I am determined to make things work with the operators that have been appointed. Kind regards, Katherine |