"not the best look to designate politicians by their first name"
Jeremy, it's 2025. Let's dispense with needless formality and cut to the chase. People, the ones in charge, should and need to be held to account. And if they can't tolerate robust scrutiny they have no place in today's democratic machine.
Katherine could have easily helped plug any hole if she chose to collect Lime bikes and fine them accordingly as other councils have done. She chose not to. She imploded a system that worked and provided no tenable solution.
As for Andrew's comment on parking, perhaps he should open his eyes. Marking up bays to park e-bikes has already been done. That system doesn't work because it fails to take into consideration human behavior. There is also, to my knowledge, no way for Hounslow to determine just how many fines any vendor has issued to offenders. So, again, without accountability from anyone, the system is destined to fail. If a vendor doesn't have to pay the price, why would they? Why risk losing customers if the vendor doesn't have to report anything? They are given a free pass.
Snapshot this morning in my corner of W4 shows about 20 Lime devices. All are supposed to be reported to Hounslow Highways to be collected. How dumb is this? That means on a daily/weekly./monthly basis HH will charge the council for this service. Across the entire borough. This was foisted upon HH mid-contract so the cost will be above and beyond and that ultimately comes back to all of us. People think they can always call HH to fix everything. HH is on a fixed contract. Deviation from those terms have a cost. Poor decision. Poor management. And we pay for this? No. This poor performance in any commercial sector would be met with expulsion. Truly penny wise and pound foolish and destroying a network in the process. Utterly avoidable. Katherine could easily check the app herself — or have a minion do it — and report it back to any vendor or she could liaise with HH to resolve. But she simply washes her hands of it all. She is incapable of managing the situation. Inept.
And new vendors continue to arrive:
