Forum Topic

Katherine Dunne's ridiculously expensive e-bike policy

We all know Katherine Dunne misrepresented the truth. Some call it lying but that word tends to offend. So let's keep it user friendly.There is no choice for e-bikes in Hounslow. You go in one direction, you must use only the one service. Period.Now Katherine Dunne's policy is costing users ridiculous sums of money.As of the next billing period (depending on when you're monthly debit is) Lime has REDUCED it's fee from £8.99 to £6.99 for UNLIMITED rides shorter than 20 minutes. My personal routine is an 8 minute ride to work and then another 8 minute ride to the gym. My weekly total is 176 minutes or thereabouts for normal routine and traffic.Were I able to use Lime for all those rides, my monthly cost would be £6.99.The equivalent cost using just Forest would be £18.99. That gets you 250 minutes. If you use more than that, the cost increases to £36.99 for 500 minutes or £70 for 1200 minutes. Of course that also means you must rely on Forest being dependable which it is not.With Lime 1200 minutes could cost you £6.99.With Forest 1200 minutes will cost you £70.Quick simple, easy math (pay attention here, Katherine) means to use Forest it will cost you £63 more per month or £756 more per year.I'm not allowed to say I think Katherine Dunne is a failure. It hurts her feelings and she is a sensitive councillor. But c'mon folks, she's costing cyclists £756 more than should be paid for the same exact service. There is nothing preventing her from allowing Lime to return to Hounslow. Others have unearthed and published this fact.Why are Hounslow residents being gouged to use e-bikes?

David Lesniak ● 32d25 Comments

Julian, just going by what LBH has said about the minute bundles.A gal by the name of Katherine.Awaiting clarification on this very thing from Hammersmith.

David Lesniak ● 21d

No,you just purchase mins. You dont need to join lime prime as has allways been the caseMin bundles still are available in the tab i mentioned,i get them mysled. But yes you cant mix the two together

Julian Pavey ● 22d

Sorry, Julian.I don't think you can have unlimited rides AND buy bundles. As mentioned, direct from LBH we're being told minute bundles are no more.

David Lesniak ● 22d

The issue is with the new Lime pricing these trips are now going to be 50% more. So cycling isn't cheaper as we're being told, it is now competitive with the bus.Surely if bus/tube fares went up by 50% people would be questioning.

David Lesniak ● 22d

This is just bonkers. As to lime bundles. Open the app and click on join lime. Then on the join lime page, next to "LIMEPRIME New" is the limepass tab to buy min bundles.

Julian Pavey ● 23d

And now it seems that Richmond council may give a sole contract to Forest. Beyond parody.

David Turner ● 23d

If cost is the issue, get the bus. £1.75 flat fare. Then walk at either end to get your exercise. Simple.

Simon Hayes ● 23d

>If each ride is less than 20 minutes, what will it cost, Paul?£1.70 each ride.Lime Prime. Unlimted £1.70 rides (20 minutes or less) for £6.99 a month.Unless it's just five minutes or less and then they charge you £1.00

Paul James ● 23d

Bring back Mobikes? £12 a month, unlimited rides, park anywhere.

Mark Evans ● 23d

I yearn for the days when I could simply check my Lime Bike app, jump on a Lime Bike and go wherever I want, safe in the knowledge that I would be able to get one home as well.This is how the system should be ... it wasn't perfect but was a damn sight better than it is now. It's been over a year since I last rented an eBike.

Chris Blackwell ● 23d

Info coming from LBH is that Voi bikes are soon to expand into Hammersmith. Personally I would then ditch Forest altogether as I find them too expensive, too inconsistent, too faffy a user interface. Crappy equipment. How they continue to win contracts is beyond me. Unfortunately, Paul, it seems Lime is getting rid of minute bundles in favor of the unlimited £1.70 rides: "Lime seem to have got rid of their minute bundles - the only option I have on their app at the moment is the £6.99 per month subscription, which gets you unlimited 20-minute rides for £1.70 per ride (not for no additional cost as you imply) and no option for longer rides other than pay-as-you-go."Given my own pattern, this translates to an increase of 50% to use Lime with the new pricing scheme."Voi's prices are considerably cheaper for rides up to 30 minutes, with their pay-as-you-go rate being 25p per minute with no unlock fee, and Hounslow residents able to purchase 30-minute bundles for £1.75 following a one-time registration." So again, given we were all sold on "choice" which does not yet exist, at least the cheapest alternative is soon to be able to service a wider area and, get this, connect town centers! If I recall, a key component of the millions invested in cycle lanes.

David Lesniak ● 23d

You can still cycle from Chiswick (Hounslow) into Ealing (including Acton Green and Bedford Park) if you can find a Voi bike.The interesting thing about the ejection of Forest is that it was kept very quiet. I tried to hire a bike about ten days ago  on The Avenue where I could normally pick one up but there was none available. Finding a free bike was always a bit hit and miss and I don't use the service very often so didn't think much of it. There was no message from Forest that I could find so it wasn't until the article in the newsletter that I realised that they were no longer available in Ealing.The rationale from Ealing is not unsound at first glance - there are only so many designated parking spaces and bays for bikes so they need to limit the number of bikes available for hire in the borough. Otherwise they proliferate and cause a hazard. However they didn't really think this through as all that has happened is that it has concentrated the parking of these bikes at borough boundaries leading to the blocking of pavements around Acton Green Common and St. Michael's Church and I presume there are similar issues at other border points.It took a week for this story to be picked up so obviously Forest, unlike Lime, didn't want to make a big deal of it, in the hope of getting back into Ealing when the existing MOU expires. In the meantime the sensible thing for Ealing to do would be to extend the operating area of Forest to the whole W4 post code. Voi doesn't have the machines to meet the demand that the current monopoly they have has delivered to them.

Mark Evans ● 23d

Agreed, Samantha.Except for the part where Katherine is so inept she neglects to earn more money by allowing Lime to operate within LBH as is perfectly allowable. I've never been able to square that circle of hers.Astonishing to learn Katherine gave a contract to a company who's safety reputation on was poorly rated. this for public transport "being marked down on parking management, safe vehicle design, and affordability."So she sold us on a choice that doesn't exist and gave us the least safe most expensive option.

David Lesniak ● 25d

Could you imagine a bus operating on the same issues? Take bus No 65 from Ealing to Kingston. You would have to change buses 3 times or tap your Oyster card 3 times when it entered another council boundary if the stupidity of geo-fencing were put in place on bus operators. Thats the stupidity we have with councils and cycling on hire bikes.

Julian Pavey ● 25d

Am assuming she signed up for Forest and Voi as they offered her more money than Lime for the contracts for Hounslow. I see now that Ealing are getting rid of Forest bikes, so now residents in Chiswick will no longer be able to cycle into Ealing. Where Katherine Dunne is concerned it’s all about the money and how much she can fleece from residents. When will residents learn that she really doesn’t care about us, only what is in her own self-interest and how much money she can make from us.

Samantha Rabin ● 25d

If each ride is less than 20 minutes, what will it cost, Paul?

David Lesniak ● 25d

Yes it seems Katherine Dunne has been a total disaster for transport in Hounslow Borough.

Steve Taylor ● 25d

>With Lime I could have unlimited rides for a month for £6.99.Unlimited, up to 20 min rides, for a month, that cost £1.70 each (then standard rate after that) with LimePrime (upfront cost £6.99)...Or 400 mins for £36.99 (expires in 30 days)

Paul James ● 26d

No you can't.

John Hall ● 26d

Yes. Katherine can tell people to eff off, but when she's the target of robust scrutiny, her skin gets pretty thin and sensitive. Poor thing.This morning a one way cycle trip from Chiswick to Hammersmith cost me £3.31 with Forest.With Lime I could have unlimited rides for a month for £6.99.

David Lesniak ● 28d

“Tonight is the Budget Setting meeting of the full Hounslow Borough Council at 730 pmThis is a reminder of what happened at a recent Hounslow Council meeting.“West London councillor ‘told another to f***off’ at meeting. Katherine Dunne has said she doesn’t recall making the comment”Tonight’s meeting should be live streamed on Hounslow Council’s U-tube channel “https://www.youtube.com/user/LBHounslow

Steve Taylor ● 29d

I hardly see people using them. But plenty of people on Lime bikes are crossing the borough or parking outside TG station on the Ealing side. Well chiswick that is. I never venture into Hounslow itself, so no idea how Voi and Forest are doing on that front. But pretty low usage in Chiswick from the naked eye.

Julian Pavey ● 31d

Agreed, Andrew. I think Katherine "nogotiated" a horrific deal and cornered herself in.Per Michael's post, the logic would be more vendors earns a council more money. Where is the harm?Now cyclists are being gouged and Hounslow is trying to sell them on "competition" and "choice."Meanwhile the current vendors haven't resolved bikes being left here, there and everywhere.

David Lesniak ● 31d

The question is, why would Hounslow choose to not invite Lime back in now that the contracts with Forest and the other provider have bedded in?According to what David has written previously there is nothing to stop them, and Hounslow would end up with more money.Methinks it’s because they wouldn’t be able to do so without having to accept less money from the people they’ve signed contracts with and/or the contracts signed must have had some sort of exclusivity clause.Is there any other plausible reason?

Andrew Jones ● 31d

Why are Hounslow residents being gouged to use e-bikes?quote:Thursday 31 July 2025 Hounslow Council awarded one of its two e-bike contracts to the operator which offered them the highest fees despite scoring demonstrably lower than rivals on other metrics, City AM can reveal.The move, which has attracted fury from rival operators, lays bare the competing interests of cash-strapped local authorities as they weigh which criteria to prioritise in awarding lucrative e-bike contracts to operators. According to documents seen by City AM, Forest garnered just 45 per cent out of a potential 60 per cent in the crucial ‘quality’ section of its bid, in marked contrast to competitors, one of which reportedly achieved a significantly higher score on quality.But Forest scored 40 out of 40 in the ‘fees’ section of the report – a figure believed to be approximately five times the council’s initial financial expectations.:unquotehttps://www.cityam.com/forests-hounslow-e-bike-contract-win-sparks-concerns-over-cash-first-tender-model/So that while Forest score relatively well on costin London generally as compared with Lime this clearly doesn't apply when they're having to recoup the cost of the an exorbitant upront "fee" in particular locations. Basically just like parking and moving traffic fines, ebikes are seen simply as another source of revenue  michael adams 

Michael Adams ● 31d