The LIME Disability Advisory Board, which is a national board, was attended by Acting Chair Ashley Pearce, Secretary Keegan Hillier, and Steering Group member for Healthwatch Kingston, Karen Dempster.
We heard about the design of new and improved bikes. These will be an improvement thanks to:
- A lighter and smaller design, developed with women, older people, and disabled people in mind, making them easier to use.
- Greater GPS precision – meaning LIME can identify when bikes are parked on pavements or in other obstructive spaces.
- Clearer improvements to the app, to explain to cyclists where they can and can’t walk.
We asked about the steps being taken to improve cycling safety. They are, currently, as follows:
- LIME do pop-ups with the police, educating cyclists on the dangers of unsafe cycling. They also assure us they ban thousands of offending cyclists a year, but know they need to do more.
- LIME are able to track down LIME bike cyclists who are cycling on pavements or unsafely, even when the person reporting is visually impaired and cannot track down specific details. To do this, you need to note the date, time and location of the incident, and report this to LIME, who can then use their tracking to identify the offender.
- Whilst LIME are yet to take a firm stance against ‘floating bus stops’, our contact Leanne shares her own struggles as a non-disabled cyclist with these set-ups. We will be sharing the National Federation of the Blind’s campaign with LIME for them to look into.
LIME let us know some details about their ‘share the joy’ fund, in collaboration with the National Cycling Campaign.
- This provides grants to increase cycling in underrepresented groups – improving health and wellbeing, accessibility and inclusion, or skills and connectivity. They have supported groups like those who help disabled people learn to cycle and helping people cycle with trikes.
- The fund opens twice a year. The next opening will be in September-October time. If you know of any groups that would be interested, please direct them to the LIME team for more detail.
LIME plans to put access at the forefront for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which falls on the 21st May:
- The app will display a banner for all users reminding them to keep accessibility in mind when cycling and leaving bicycles.
- They will hold an in-person event in Hackney, one of the boroughs with the highest LIME bike usage. We have been invited to attend, so one of the Executive Committee will attend and report back.
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