Melbourne council pulls the plug on its Lime e-bike and e-scooter trial

Darebin City Council has ended its shared e-bike and e-scooter trial with Lime, voting to conclude the six month scheme at its late August 2026 meeting. The trial ran across Northcote, Fairfield and Alphington with 180 e-bikes and 60 e-scooters available for hire, and recorded 14,725 trips, an average of 98 a day.

Why the trial was scrapped

A council report found 93 percent of feedback on the scheme was negative. Untidy parking, including toppled or non-compliant devices, was observed at 30 percent of the 279 designated bays officers inspected, and residents repeatedly complained about bikes and scooters blocking footpaths, driveways and train station entrances. The scheme also ran over budget: Lime paid Darebin $18,000, but the council spent $50,000 setting the trial up and more again administering it.

A network problem, not just a Darebin one

Lime says the issue was geography rather than a failure of council oversight. When the neighbouring City of Yarra ended its own Lime scheme in July, the corridor linking Darebin to the city closed, leaving Darebin's remaining bikes and scooters stranded in a network that could not connect anywhere useful. It is the second Melbourne inner north council to abandon a shared e-bike scheme in two months, though Lime still runs about 500 shared e-bikes in the City of Melbourne.

What it means for buyers

Shared e-bike and e-scooter schemes keep struggling in Melbourne's inner north on parking and complaint volume, which is a reminder that a dockless share bike and an e-bike you own are very different propositions. If you commute regularly in an area where share schemes have come and gone, owning a compliant e-bike removes that uncertainty. Compare commuter and hybrid e-bike options on BikeFinder rather than betting on a share scheme still being there next month.