Lime's electric bike and scooter service in England saw its annual profits more than double to £4.7 million in 2025, with monthly users increasing by 31% to nearly 700,000. The company added over 4,500 new vehicles to its fleet of almost 38,000 ebikes and scooters across multiple cities including London, Oxford, Nottingham, Milton Keynes, and Salford. Despite this growth, Lime's UK operations employed only 54 people in 2025, relying heavily on self-employed contractors for vehicle maintenance and movement.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-27,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Lime, a popular electric bike and scooter service in England, saw its profits more than double to £4.7m from £1.7m in the latest financial year, as reported by The Guardian. Sales increased by one-third to £148m, reflecting a 31% rise in monthly users who approached 700,000. Lime added over 4,500 new ebikes and scooters to its fleet, bringing the total number of vehicles to almost 38,000. This growth followed expansions into cities like Oxford (2024) and Nottingham (2023), alongside established bases in London, Milton Keynes, and Salford. Despite this significant business expansion, Lime employed only 54 people full-time at the end of 2025, with many operational roles filled by self-employed contractors. Founded in San Francisco in 2017, Lime now operates in approximately 230 cities across 29 countries, primarily in Europe.
Written for “Lime Bike Profits Growth” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Love them or hate them, Lime ebikes are an increasingly common sight on England’s roads with new figures showing annual profits more than doubling thanks to a surge in riders.
asserted
profits → love → riders
Lime’s average number of monthly users jumped 31% to approaching 700,000 as it added more than 4,500 ebikes and scooters to its fleet, taking the total to almost 38,000, the company’s UK arm said in accounts filed at Companies House.
Sales rose by a third to £148m in 2025 and profits more than doubled to £4.7m from £1.7m, as first reported by the Sunday Times.
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profits → jump → Times
The progress followed expansion into new cities, including Oxford in 2024 and Nottingham in 2023, adding to its presence in London, Milton Keynes and Salford.
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progress → follow → London
Despite the surge in trade, Lime’s UK accounts show it employed just 54 people in 2025, up from 39 a year before, largely because it relies on self-employed contractors to shift and service its ebikes and scooters.
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contractors → show → ebikes
The company, whose parent Neutron Holdings listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange last year valued at $1.7bn (£1.3bn), is part-owned by US ride-hailing app Uber.
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Holdings → list → Uber
Lime was founded in 2017 in San Francisco, California, and now operates in about 230 cities across 29 countries, mostly in Europe.
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Lime → found → Europe
At the time of the listing, Wayne Ting, the chief executive of Lime, said the company was having “conversations with lots of other [UK] municipalities”.
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company → say → municipalities
The English devolution bill, passed in April, gives local authorities in England fresh powers to license rental ebike operators and set requirements around parking, safety and accessibility standards.
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bill → pass → standards
London’s transport body estimated in 2024 that one in 10 of the 1.5m daily cycle journeys in the capital are made on dockless ebikes such as Lime, Forest and Voi.
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10 → estimate → Lime
The schemes have fuelled a surge in cycling in London, helped by the patronage of celebrities such as Timothée Chalamet and most recently Kim Kardashian.
However, there have been mounting concerns about safety for riders and pedestrians.
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schemes → fuel → riders
Rented bikes were reportedly responsible for almost a third of cyclist collisions with pedestrians that required police intervention.
uncertain
that → rent → intervention
Meanwhile, riders have been injured by defective bikes while cycling or suffered fractures caused by the weight of the bicycle falling on them, a phenomenon known as “Lime bike leg”.
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weight → injure → leg
Lime recently began introducing on the UK a new, smaller version of its electric bikes, with batteries repositioned towards the back wheel,after safety criticism.
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Lime → begin → criticism
The company has said that more than 99.99% of Lime trips in London last year ended without a reported incident.
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% → say → incident
Charities representing blind residents and people with limited mobility have also raised concerns about the difficulty in navigating parts of London amid chaotic parking of rental bikes on pavements.
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Charities → represent → pavements
London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, 2,000 of which were Lime bikes, a Guardian investigation found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements.
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bicycles → seize → pavements
The Aporia
