Lime Bikes arrived in Manly virtually overnight. Within a fortnight, the neon green fleet had already pushed north to Freshwater and Curl Curl, and Australian and Asia Pacific Lime boss Will Peters was already talking up Dee Why and beyond. So, who approved all this, how does it work, and who really benefits?
It wasn’t Northern Beaches Council, who have gone to great lengths to distance themselves from the launch and any responsibility, while gesturing towards general support for sustainable transport options. But surely, they were consulted? Had to approve the use of Council land?
There’s no denying they were notified, but, it turns out, the rules governing Council approval processes for these schemes haven’t gone through state parliament yet.
In short, shared mobility schemes operate in a new, relatively lawless territory where approvals aren’t required and restrictions and fleet management standards are voluntary. That’s set to change under Road Transport and Other Legislation Amendment (Micromobility Vehicles and Smartcards) Bill 2025 and associated regulations that are planned for mid 2026; Lime may have seen their opportunity and sprinted.
So, who approved it? Lime’s good business sense approved it, and Council won’t have much of a say until the legislation and regulations catch up. What they can control will, however, still be limited as the State Government takes a pro-micromobility and share-scheme stance. It sees these emission-free options as a critical answer to connecting people to public transport and “making short journeys easier and more enjoyable”.
And a perusal through the proposed regulations reveals it shouldn’t cost the authorities a penny. While not yet enshrined in law, draft regulations documents show plans for 80 cents of every ride will go to the government – 60 cents for the state and 20 to council.
So, are locals loving or loathing them?
When Manly Observer put a call out on our social media channels for feedback on their arrival, the response was genuinely mixed. There was some celebration they had “finally” arrived and numerous requests for the bikes to launch in Dee Why and north. There has been immediate and widespread uptake, which is some of the clearest feedback – current downpour excluded – but there is also significant concern over how many there are, as well as anxiety over the visual clutter and literal pollution of damaged and graffitied bikes on the streets.
Data harvesting was raised too.
Peters concedes the negative reaction isn’t entirely surprising. “Fair enough though, some of those people have dealt with these Chinese companies who came in (to Sydney CBD et al) overnight, dumped bikes all over the streets with no insurance, no third party, no care, no operations team and no community engagement.”
But yours popped up overnight without the community being aware?
Peters admits they always soft launch into a new area, but stressed the key difference with their arrival was that they had done significant research and mapping with a local team (Peters also happens to live in the Manly area), the bikes are fully insured unlike regular e-bikes, and they have a responsive operations team ready to tidy up bikes at a moment’s notice. (You can reach out to the Sydney ops team directly here).
“We know what speed you’re reaching; we even know when you touch on the brakes.”
The bikes, Peters explains, are meticulously tracked. “We know what speed you’re reaching; we even know when you touch on the brakes,” he says, pointing to the constant monitoring of every bike and the requirement for a rider to submit a photo of the bike when parked to prove it is not obstructing a pathway.
Are you harvesting data? “No, we are not. We are a US Company with stringent controls,” Peters says emphatically, adding that an exception may include being compelled by police to hand over information regarding a particular ride.
The main function of the data, he says, is to properly manage the inventory. They know when bikes are tipped over, can detect when one has been ditched in the harbour and deploy contracted divers to remove it. Riders have payment methods and ID linked to their account and can incur penalties for misuse or poorly positioned bikes.
The target market, insists Peters, is locals not tourists, which is also why he doesn’t see Lime as direct competition to established local businesses like Manly Bikes.
“The lifeblood of the business is the local community, regular commuters,” he explains, segueing smoothly into the benefits of a LimePrime membership, which makes trips more affordable than a casual pay-as-you-go model. But this also means not being a member has its penalties – riders pay about a dollar to unlock the bike then about 60 cents per minute of riding. To be a member and unlock a reasonable $2.75 per 20 minute ride you need to add yet more subscriptions to your bill burden, albeit only about $4.95 a month.
The share-mobility schemes will, in essence, represent an era of micromobility public-private partnerships, with the operators taking on both risk and reward.
Lime is currently privately owned, though at the time of writing in May it had filed to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, with Uber its largest shareholder among a roster of major investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures and Bain Capital.
As Peters details the exhaustive processes and local staff time involved in keeping bikes and their users in check, it leads us to the next obvious question.
Is it really worth it?
“Yes, and the reason I say yes so emphatically is because I want to see culture change. We are not looking at six months’ time here, not looking at two years. Maybe in ten years we are going to look back and say that fundamentally you now move around your community more efficiently, more affordably and it’s more fun.”
Peters reveals he is a lifelong cyclist who once had his sights set on the Tour de France.
“I’ve grown up riding and think from mental health benefits to the commuter benefits, they are huge. And from that you can grow a fundamentally good business in transport.”
But what about from a business perspective? Is that really worth it?
Yes, if they operate at scale.
The new proposed legislations won’t allow local governments to put a hard cap on numbers, which is what some councils have done in other states. This has a mixed rationale – it doesn’t work for private enterprise if it can’t scale, but also schemes can be stymied by reduced availability and accessibility. If people can’t come to rely on bikes being nearby and available, they won’t be depended on.
If people can’t come to rely on bikes being nearby and available, they won’t be depended on.
But do we have the infrastructure for it?
“Infrastructure is important, absolutely. As you get mature as a cycling culture… you don’t build the bike lanes unless you have people riding. Well, people don’t ride because they don’t have the lanes. This is the chicken and the egg.”
The fees proposed in the new regulations may also go into bike infrastructure once the general regulatory expenses are covered.
“I think we are moving in the right direction. I’ve seen the biggest cultural change in Sydney probably in the last 12 months. We are getting people who have never ridden before riding and they love it.”
At the approach of winter, just a month after their first arrival, the Lime Bike had become as common a sight as the seagull, its popularity as equally mixed.
We remark to Peters their sudden arrival has given a large number of our readers a reason to squawk.
‘A neon green invasion’ was how one commenter put it.
He points to the uproar and fear campaigns when Uber first arrived in Sydney, now a standard part of the city’s transport culture. That’s where he sees the future of e-bikes heading. What seems strange now will be the new norm.
Don’t like it? We suspect you’ll be told to, uh, get on your bike…
