‘15 per cent’: Missing helmets costing rideshare e-bike users

Rideshare e-bike providers are failing to properly replace stolen or missing helmets, with bare-headed Sydneysiders risking a $334 fine with every ride.

Just 15 per cent of shared e-bikes in central Sydney have a helmet attached to them for use, leaving riders at risk of hundreds of dollars in fines by police, a Sunday Telegraph investigation can reveal.

Spot checks conducted over three days at the Bourke St and Devonshire St intersection in Surry Hills found only 17 of 110 e-bikes had a helmet attached to them.

Two riders resorted to using their own personal gear; many more were seen riding shared e-bikes without helmets.

The three major providers of shared e-bikes – Lime, Hello Bike and Ario – all had few helmets available, with Lime the worst offender.

In contrast 95 per cent of riders of privately owned bikes were observed wearing properly fastened helmets during the same period.

People using lime bikes without helmets, in Surry Hills, on Wednesday. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The difference, according to avid Lime bike user Nadine Mansour, 23, was down to the availability of helmets for share bikes around Sydney.

“If it’s there, I’ll put it on, but quite often they’re not with the bikes,” she said.

“Obviously, it’s a lot safer to ride with a helmet, especially when you can go so fast.”

Ms Mansour said even when helmets are left with the e-bikes, their condition is often poor.

“They’re not the best, to be honest, they’re often really loose, missing padding, and have cracks in them,” she said.

“I don’t know how often the bikes are being checked for health and safety, but I don’t see them reaching the safety standard.”

Surry Hills on Wednesday. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Surry Hills on Wednesday. Picture: Justin Lloyd

With over $800,000 in fines dished out by police to almost 2000 riders of all types of bikes for failing to wear properly fastened helmets in just the last eight months, Bicycle NSW chief executive Peter McLean said e-bike providers should compensate users in cases where bikes aren’t properly maintained.

“Some type of compensation or consequences could be applied for e-bike providers who have been found to be negligent,” he said.

“If you have a bike sitting out for a week without a ­helmet, and the provider knows about it, I could certainly see that breaching their duty of care to the consumer.”

Nadine Mansour, 23, says often rideshare bikes are missing helmets. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Riders found in breach of helmet laws in NSW can expect an on-the-spot fine of up to $344 issued by police.

Business Sydney Executive Director, Paul Nicolaou said the onus had to be on e-bike operators to ensure that bikes were safe for community use.

“At the moment there’s lots of bikes out there but no helmets, because they’ve either been stolen or they’ve been thrown somewhere,” he said.

“The helmet has to stay with the bike and a mechanism has to be put in place … with technology nowadays that should be fairly doable.”

People using lime bikes without helmets, in Surry Hills, on Wednesday 12, March. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Nicolaou also called on the NSW government to impose statewide regulations on e-bikes and e-scooters.

“At the moment we have different councils with different rules … my view is we need statewide regulation,” he said.

Lime’s Senior Director, William Peters claimed that of the company’s 300,000 users in Sydney, “most of these riders correctly wear helmets”.

“Our local operations team work 24/7 to maintain vehicles and replace missing helmets, but we recognise the need to improve our overall approach,” he said.

Originally published as ‘15 per cent’: Missing helmets costing rideshare e-bike users