The trial, which began on 5 July 2021, moved into its second phase as of Monday 25 September 2023.
In Phase 2, the rental e-scooters are provided by two different operators: Lime and Voi.
All scooters chosen to take part in the trial have been fully approved by the Department for Transport to ensure they are safe.
The trial area
Lambeth has installed a large network of parking locations meaning that there are now more than 340 designated bays borough-wide where you can begin or end your journey.
These bays are shared with both rental e-scooters and e-bikes. E-scooters were previously only permitted in the north of the borough, but this area was expanded in January 2024 to cover the whole of Lambeth.
Trial e-scooters can only be parked within a designated bay to ensure that footways are clear for all users.
E-scooters rented from the scheme will be permitted to ride on London's public roads and cycle infrastructure in participating boroughs. Within Lambeth and other boroughs that are participating, there are 'no-go areas' where e-scooters cannot be ridden and will come to a safe stop, as well as 'go-slow areas', where the speed of e-scooters will be reduced to 8mph.
You can view a map of where the shared e-scooter and e-bike parking bays are located.
Safety tips
Guidance and tips on how to ride rental e-scooters safely and avoid serious injury to any road users are available on TfL's website.
Share your views with Transport for London
The trial scheme is run in partnership with Transport for London and London Councils.
You can find out where you will be able to ride a scooter across London and which boroughs are taking part in the trail on the Transport for London website.
You can also share feedback on the scheme.
Share feedback with us
If you would like to share your views on an e-scooter bay design or location please contact e-scootertrial@lambeth.gov.uk - for all other enquiries or reporting issues please contact the operating companies, further contact information can be found below.
Report a problem
The quickest way to report a rental e-scooter that is causing an obstruction or is damaged is to contact the relevant operator directly. Issues can be reported as follows:
Lime
- Through the Lime mobile app:
- In the menu, choose Help
- Select Improper or illegal parking
- Take a photo of the vehicle and provide any relevant information in the comment field.
- For those who do not have access to the mobile app, you can complete Lime’s contact form. To enable a faster response, please provide the vehicle number (located under the QR code), attach an image of the vehicle and the address in which it is located
- By phone: 0800 808 5223 and select option 2
- By email: london-ops@li.me with vehicle ID, the location and an image
Voi
- Through the Voi mobile app:
- In the menu, choose Help
- Select Chat with us
- Select option to Report a wrongly parked vehicle and follow instructions.
- For those who do not have access to the mobile app, you can complete Voi’s contact form
- By phone: 0808 164 9486
- By email: support@voi.com with vehicle ID, the location and an image
The law on rental e-scooters
- Riders of the trial e-scooters must be 18 or over and have a full or provisional driving licence to rent an e-scooter.
- It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle including rental e-scooters on the pavement. You can generally use the same space as bicycles. Breaching this law can result in a £50 fine.
The law on privately owned e-scooters
- It is still illegal to use privately owned e-scooters or other powered transporters on public roads, parks and open spaces. We will continue to work with our residents to ensure that their concerns about safety on roads and pavements are addressed.
- If a privately owned e-scooter is used on a public road, park or open space it is likely to be committing at least one of a number of offences such as driving a motor vehicle with no insurance. You could be liable for a fixed penalty of £300 and six points on your driving licence, for example.
- E-scooters and powered transporters which are privately owned can only be used on private land with permission from the landowner or occupier.