‘Please don’t hit me!’ The battle between ebikers and other cyclists
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Ebike rentals are thought to have reduced car use – but caused consternation among some pedestrians and other road users. How can everyone get along?. I love Lime bikes because I live next to a secondary school, and I see those tearaways in every mood. Coming in, grumpy; going home, cranky; yelling at each other, kicking bins for no reason. Ah, the sweet hell of teenagehood. But when they get on the Limes, you can see in them both the playful, primary school kids of the past, and the adults, with agency and a place to be, of the future. Let’s not trouble ourselves over whether or not they’ve hacked them and that’s what the funny clacking noise is.
![[Zoe Williams]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Zoe-Williams,-L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But the relationship overall, between the pedal cyclist, the ebiker and the pedestrian – well, it’s mixed. Some are happy to welcome rented ebikers as allies against the greater enemy (the car). Others say they have been actively put off cycling because of them. Pedestrians have other complaints still, and drivers – well, I left drivers out of this. Some other time for their nonsense (our nonsense – I also drive).
![[One man pedals a rental bike while the other sits in the front carrier]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b12c83268aa9fe3564fb6c0d0598019dbd929010/0_0_5012_3573/master/5012.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Lime has been operating in the UK for six years, joined in London by other ebike providers such as Human Forest. Lime has ebikes and scooters in some London boroughs and Milton Keynes, a bike scheme in Nottingham and a smaller one in Castlebar and Westport, Ireland, along with a presence in Derby and Salford. Plymouth, Leeds, Brighton and Cornwall, among other places, are served by Beryl, which has a wider range of vehicles (they also do regular bikes). If you’re a cyclist in the capital, you’ll doubtless have seen the signs of Lime’s market penetration – people who do not look like they expected to get on a bike when they got dressed that morning whizzing down busy roads: women in chiffon; men in top-end tailoring; women with fancy hair; men who smell nice.
![[Rental bikes are parked on a pathway in LondonLime rental bikes are parked on a pathway at Eel Brook Common in Fulham, London,]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9026cfafb8b68dae4db67c30e7a1f5979bad82ff/0_200_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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