I have been in London since 2021, a newbie, I know! In that time the hire bike scene has exploded, and Lime is the name everyone knows. So how much does a Lime bike actually cost in London, is a LimePass or LimePrime worth it, and how do you use one without picking up a parking fee? I ride hire bikes most days, so here is everything I’d want to know, with the prices first.
How Much Does a Lime Bike Cost in London?
These are the prices from the Lime app, last checked in September 2026. Prices can vary slightly by borough, so always check the app on your own phone before you ride.
Standard cost (pay as you go)
- E-Bike cost: £1 to unlock then 33 pence per minute
- E-Scooter cost: £1 to unlock then 17 pence per minute
To give you a feel for it, a 15 minute e-bike ride costs £5.95, and a 30 minute ride costs £10.90. The same 15 minutes on a Lime scooter is £3.55.
LimePass (For e-scooters and e-bikes)
- Use within 1 day: 30 minutes for £4.59 (15.30 pence per minute)
- Use within 3 days: 60 minutes for £7.69 (12.82 pence per minute)
- Use within 7 days: 200 minutes for £19.94 (9.97 pence per minute)
- Use within 30 days 400 minutes for £36.99 (9.25 pence per minute)
LimePrime
- £6.99 per month for £1.70 flat rate rides up to 20 minutes (just £1 for rides up to 5 minutes), plus free unlocks and free 30 minute reservations on every ride
Cycle2Work
- There are various options for Lime (bikes only) on the Cycle2Work scheme (your workplace typically chooses the options offered to employees). Based on the variety of options, and the salary sacrifice tax implications, I have opted to link this.
LimePass vs LimePrime: Which Saves You Money?
This is the question I get asked most, and the answer depends on how long your rides are.
LimePrime suits lots of short rides: a 20 minute e-bike ride on pay as you go costs £7.60. On LimePrime it’s £1.70, so you save £5.90 on a single ride. That means the £6.99 a month pays for itself by your second ride. If you use Lime to get to the station or nip across town, this is the one.
LimePass suits longer rides: LimePrime’s flat rate only covers rides up to 20 minutes, so if your commute is longer, a pass works out better. The 30 day pass gives you 400 minutes at 9.25 pence a minute, which is under a third of the pay as you go rate.
When does a plan start paying for itself? Here’s the minimum riding you’d need to do before each one beats pay as you go on an e-bike:
- 1 day LimePass (£4.59): one ride of about 11 minutes or more
- 3 day LimePass (£7.69): one ride of about 21 minutes or more
- 7 day LimePass (£19.94): about 55 minutes in the week
- 30 day LimePass (£36.99): about 100 minutes in the month
- LimePrime (£6.99 a month): two 20 minute rides, three 10 minute rides, or five 5 minute rides in the month
The 7 and 30 day figures assume 20 minute rides, each with a £1 unlock on pay as you go. Ride less than that and pay as you go is the cheapest way.
How Do Lime Bikes Work?
Lime is a micromobility company based in the USA which specialises in fleets of e-bikes and e-scooters. The company started in 2017, and in 2018 began working with Uber. They do not own Lime, and you may still see the Uber name on some older Lime Bikes. You used to be able to unlock Lime bikes in the Uber app too, but as of October 2026 they no longer show up there, so you’ll need the Lime app.
Yes, every Lime bike in London is electric. They are pedal assist, so the motor only helps while you are pedalling, and like every legal e-bike in the UK the assistance cuts out at 15.5mph. There is no throttle, so you can’t just sit there and twist.
You never charge a Lime bike yourself. Lime’s teams swap or charge the batteries, and the app shows you how much charge each bike has before you unlock it, so pick one with plenty of battery for longer trips.
They are heavy, at around 35kg, so take a bit of care getting on and off, and don’t try to lift one up a kerb on your own. Doctors have even given one injury a name, ‘Lime bike leg’: it’s when the bike tips over onto the rider’s leg, often while getting on or off, and it can mean ankle or shin fractures. Keep both feet planted and the bike upright until you are ready to go.
How to Use a Lime Bike
- Download the Lime app: add a payment method. You need to be 18 or over.
- Find a bike on the map: check the battery level, and reserve it if you’re a few minutes away.
- Unlock it: scan the QR code on the handlebars, or select the bike in the app. Just check the bike’s number matches the one in front of you first. I have unlocked one across the road before, oh the panic!
- Ride: the clock is running the whole time, including at red lights, so it pays to plan your route first.
- Park in a marked bay: take the photo the app asks for, and end your ride.
Where to Park a Lime Bike (and Parking Fees)
This is where most people come unstuck. In more and more of London you have to finish your ride in a marked parking bay. The bays show up on the map in the app, and in many areas the app simply won’t let you end the ride anywhere else, so the clock keeps ticking while you go looking for one.
My tip: check the map for a bay near where you are going before you set off. Hunting for one at the other end is exactly where the minutes add up.
Councils are serious about this too. Kensington and Chelsea alone has removed thousands of badly parked hire bikes and fined the operators over £210,000, with Lime paying the most.
And Lime doesn’t just take that on the chin. It can charge you a parking penalty if you leave a bike in a no parking zone (red on the map), away from a designated parking spot where one is required (blue pins), or blocking a pavement. Back in 2023 Lime raised its penalty in Soho and Covent Garden from £2 to £10, and amounts vary by area, so the cheapest move is simply to park in a bay. If you’re charged and think it’s wrong, you can appeal through the help section of the app.
Lime Scooters in London
Lime also runs e-scooters in London, and they are cheaper per minute than the bikes at 17 pence. Lime were back in Milton Keynes in August 2020 to trial their e-scooters, came to London in June 2021, and were the only e-scooters in London until 25th September 2023, when Swedish company Voi brought their fleet along.
To ride one you need a full or provisional driving licence, and you can only use them in the boroughs taking part in the trial. You also don’t have to wear a helmet, which I think could be very dangerous, so I’d still bring one.
How Lime Compares to the Others
Lime isn’t the only option. Here’s the short version of what the others charge on pay as you go:
- Forest: £1 to unlock then 33 pence per minute, with 1 to 30 free minutes on some bikes.
- Santander Cycles: £1.65 per 30 minutes on a standard bike, or £3 per 30 minutes on an e-bike, all docked.
- Voi: free to unlock then 27 pence per minute.
- Bolt: £1 to unlock then 22 pence per minute, or 43 pence per mile if you’d rather pay by distance.
- Brompton Hire: £5 a day from a locker, not electric.
- Swapfiets: a monthly subscription where the bike stays with you, from £16.90 a month, or from £54.90 a month for an e-bike.
Every one of them has bundles, passes or subscriptions that can bring the cost right down. For all of those side by side, and who each service is best for, see my full comparison of London’s hire bikes and scooters.
Is Lime Worth It?
Best for: The individual who requires a bike to be somewhere when they need it. I have a plan with Forest that is amazing value so I usually choose them, but I often have to walk past hundreds of Lime Bikes, and a few Lime Scooters, in order to find my bike! That’s Lime’s big strength: there is nearly always one nearby.
A lot of people love Lime, but I am using this as an opportunity to be a bit tongue in cheek. All you have to do is search Lime Bikes London into Google and you will see article after article, some new, some old, from the perspectives of both individuals, and councils raising their concerns around Lime e-bikes and e-scooters. This is not just a Lime issue, but as they own the biggest e-bike and e-scooter fleets, they are often the ones targeted, just how many people refer to a vacuum cleaner as a Hoover.
Many of the complaints are about parking, see this BBC article where individuals are claiming that Lime bikes are making their life impossible to live, or that maintenance vans are disruptive. I can fully empathise with all of these commentators, however, I love fleet bikes and scooters for the convenience they offer.
Lime Bike Safety and Helmets
As much as I love to see the ‘little man’ succeed I also need to be frank, many users of Lime, and other fleet bikes do not wear reflective clothing or helmets. It’s fair to say that other cyclists don’t either, but this article is about fleet bikes. When I am riding a Forest bike on the way to work I wear a helmet, but I am leaving my home knowing that I am going to be cycling from South-West to Central London, and that my journey will be for over an hour.
I would hazard a guess that it’s those quick trips where people were planning to get a bus but decided not to when they saw people pressed up against the glass that people are not using helmets. Whilst all of the fleet bike brands are in line with regulations, many people also mention inexperienced, or unsafe riders causing issues. There are things being done to fix these issues, such as new dedicated parking bays for bikes, although it goes without saying that you cannot please everyone, as car users likely do not want ‘their’ bays being repurposed.
Do Lime Bikes Come With Helmets?
No. Lime, Forest and the other fleet operators don’t supply a helmet with the bike, so if you want one you’ll need to bring your own. A helmet that folds down small enough to carry isn’t far-fetched either. See our guide to folding bicycle helmets for options that pack down small enough to carry around the city, or our budget helmet guide if you just want something solid and inexpensive for occasional rides.
Lime’s Story in London, and What’s Next
In Q4 of 2018, the lovely now city of Milton Keynes in the South East of England, where I personally have spent much time driving around their roundabouts got the first UK fleet. Following this, Lime set their sights on my now home London, specifically Brent and Ealing. At launch they were mostly lime green, much different to the current mostly white model that you will recognise. Back then they cost £1 to unlock, then 15 pence per minute, less than half of today’s rate.
Since then, Lime as a company has come leaps and bounds, and runs in several UK cities beyond London and Milton Keynes, including Bristol, Manchester, Nottingham & Oxford. This is great for those who travel between them for work, as it means one app for all light travel needs. We are now onto the v4 Lime bike and whilst Lime do not note their exact number, it is estimated that there are around 50,000 of them just in London.
The future looks bright for Lime in London! Whilst they have amassed criticism from the masses, they have responded by working with the city in order to fix these issues. It is important to note that with each new technology or scheme you will find hundreds of news articles highlighting the risks and issues with said company, and Lime Bikes are no different. Personally, I have seen these bikes encourage city folk to become more active, and spend commuting time away from congested roads, buses, trains and tubes.
I would like to see Lime, and all of the other companies in this space continue to be responsible for infrastructure changes, and to make sure that their user base is as safe as possible. I think that rather than ask for such companies to be shut down, we should always be opting for positive changes to be made within the areas they serve. With continued cost strain on TFL, and environmental expectations on the UK government, I feel that fleet bike and scooter schemes are here to stay.
Lime Bike FAQs
How much is a Lime bike for 30 minutes?
£10.90 on pay as you go (£1 to unlock plus 30 minutes at 33 pence). With the 1 day LimePass it’s £4.59.
Are Lime bikes electric?
Yes. Every Lime bike in London is a pedal assist e-bike, with the motor helping up to 15.5mph.
Do you need a licence to ride a Lime bike?
Not for the bikes, but you must be 18 or over. You do need a driving licence for Lime scooters.
Can I use the Uber app for Lime?
Not any more. Lime bikes used to be available in the Uber app, but as of October 2026 they’ve gone, so you’ll need the Lime app.
What happens if I park a Lime bike outside a bay?
In many parts of London the app won’t let you end your ride, so you keep paying until you find a bay, and Lime can add a parking penalty if you leave it in a no parking zone or blocking a pavement. Check the parking map before you set off.
5 Comments