Lime has relaunched e-assist bike share in Seattle, about six weeks after pulling their newly-acquired red JUMP bikes from the streets following a major investment deal with Uber.
There are far fewer bikes hitting the streets than were available before. At its peak, there were nearly 10,000 shared bikes in operation in Seattle, and the city’s permit structure anticipated as many as 20,000 bikes back when multiple companies were competing for users just a couple years ago. Lime is only bringing 500 bikes to start with, but said that number could “grow based upon demand,” according to a press release. The price has also gone up substantially from $0 to unlock plus 25 cents per minute to $1 to unlock plus 36 cents per minute. So a 30-minute ride costs $10.80.
Though Lyft has applied for a permit to launch a competing bike share service in Seattle, there has been no indication that the company intends to follow through. So JUMP is unlikely to have competitors, at least until the city starts to permit scooters as it hopes to do soon. That permit has been tied up in litigation, though the Seattle Hearing Examiner ruled in the city’s favor May 28. It’s not yet known if there will be further appeals.
For now, the bikes are only available through the Uber app. The service area still includes the entire city limits.
Lime killed their own e-bike service at the end of 2019. Then in early May, Uber made a significant investment in Lime at a dramatically-reduced valuation. As part of the deal, Lime took on Uber’s JUMP bike share service, previously known as Social Bicycles. Lime immediately pulled the existing bikes from service and scrapped them. But they promised a fleet of new JUMP bikes were coming.
More details on the launch, from Lime:
Today, JUMP bikes are returning to Seattle to help residents and visitors travel more safely via an open-air, socially-distant option. Seattle is the 2nd city in the world where Lime is relaunching JUMP bikes.
In early May, Lime acquired JUMP, which then pulled its bikes from Seattle streets at the time as a result of the deal to integrate the systems operationally. Lime will now redeploy the bikes, and they will continue to be available through the Uber app. The fleet size will start at around 500 e-bikes and grow based upon demand. Pricing is $1 to unlock and 36 cents per minute thereafter. Starting today, JUMP rentals will only be available in the Uber app. JUMP bikes will be added to the Lime app at a later date as a result of ongoing systems integration.
We know the ongoing COVID crisis has made it difficult for folks to get around. Metro ridership has dropped 72%, with very limited capacity on buses due to social distancing protocols. But we know people still have a need for transportation. With the return of bike share service to Seattle, more residents will be able to make critical errands and get to work in a pollution-free and congestion-reducing manner as King County moves to Phase II of COVID recovery.
A NOTE ON PUBLIC HEALTH PROTECTIONS FOR RIDERS
As part of this relaunch, we’re taking a range of steps to keep our communities safe:
While the most recent guidance from the CDC is that “the primary mode of transmission for COVID-19 is through close contact from person-to-person,” and that surface transmission is “not thought to be the main way the virus spreads,” enhanced our cleaning methods and increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting our scooters. We are cleaning all parts of the scooter that are touched by people and we are only using products recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the Center for Biocide Chemistries list that have been approved by the EPA for use against the coronavirus.
In our offices and warehouses, we are distributing hand sanitizer, masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment (PPE). All of our mechanics and operators in the field are required to wear gloves and wash their hands regularly.
We’re following the CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), federal agencies, and other global health organizations to collect the most up-to-the-minute information to ensure the actions we’re taking are comprehensive and expedient. Based on this information, we will decide to continue, pause, or suspend operations in certain markets.
In addition, Lime will provide in-app reminders of our “THRIVE” health and safety best practices, including:
Take precautions — inspect the bike to make sure the wheels, brakes, throttle, lights, and frame are all in good working condition.
Hands — wash your hands or use hand sanitizer which is at least 60% alcohol-based when you arrive at your final destination. Wear gloves when you can.
Ride Solo for safety and social distancing; maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from others.
Identify bike lanes and be aware of traffic lights and signs.
Vigilance – remain alert of your surroundings and potential road and safety hazards.
Enjoy Responsibly – be respectful of other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and fellow scooter riders, and always wear a helmet.
Comments
10 responses to “Bike share is back. Lime relaunches 500 JUMP bikes”
I would like point out that most trips reachable within a 30-minute ride on a Jump bike cost under $15 in an Uber car. At one point, Car2Go was charging $0.35/min. to rent their smart cars, which is now *less* than what Uber is charging to rent their bikes.
Who is going to be willing to pay these prices is beyond me. Maybe they’re going after people who don’t know how to multiply and don’t realize how big their bill will be. Or, maybe bikeshare is just a fundamentally money losing proposition, and the only reason it’s offered at all is to look good to the city, so that the car service can keep operating, and going with a small fleet and high prices helps keep the financial losses oftof bikeshare to ama
Or, maybe bikeshare is just a fundamentally money losing proposition, and the only reason it’s offered at all is to look good to the city, so that the car service can keep operating, and going with a small fleet and high prices helps keep the financial losses oftof bikeshare to ama
Your comment doesn’t explain the voodoo economics that perpetuated the hundreds of millions of dollars sale of a billion dollar losing company to another billion dollar losing company. Uber’s taxi service has operated in complete defiance of local governments and regulations since it’s inception. Why would they start offering small tokens to placate governments now?
I have a hunch that their data harvesting and selling side hustle is still lucrative enough to draw investors despite the service hemorrhaging money. They’re jacking up the price to keep their little scam going as long as possible.
Disappointing, but not surprising, to see the ‘$1 to unlock’ fee return. It discourages shorter rides.
Not happy with the pricing, but at least they brought the right bike back. Much preferred the Jump bikes over the Lime bikes. With only 500 bikes deployed, I don’t have high hopes for finding one where I need one.
Without public $$ or large sponsorship’s (Citi Bike), bike share is a huge money loss and it gets pushed onto the customer. I want bike share in Seattle but not if it looks like this…
If the company were paying attention to the local market the rollout would saturate West Seattle. This is the part of the city crying out for transportation alternatives.
With only 500 bikes and prices like these, this seems like a bad joke. This doesn’t seem like a serious transportation alternative at any useful scale.
It is ironic that, 6 years later, we are back to the same # of bikes as the original Pronto.
This might only be useful if these were self-driving bikes that could actually come to you…kindof like an… Uber car?
“ Lime immediately pulled the existing bikes from service and scrapped them. But they promised a fleet of new JUMP bikes were coming.”
Does anyone have confirmation these are all brand new bicycles, not just 500 of the best condition examples reused and cleaned from the previous fleet? That would be especially egregious. A lot of them have green dot stickers on them which i assume were after passing a quality control inspection, either new from the factory. None have the SwedishLies stickers or any of the permanent graffiti that used to adorn Jump bikes.
Disappointing because it discourages shorter rides