2017 was a wild year of expansion and change for the global bike share industry, and 2018 is already shaping up to continue the trend of innovation and competition within the industry. And Seattle is positioned to remain at the forefront among U.S. cities as city staff work on a permanent permit and regulation scheme for the private bike share services.
ofo, the Beijing-based giant that reported more than $1.1 billion in investments in 2017 alone, has kicked off the year with a serious challenge to competitors Spin and LimeBike: Free rides for the entire month of January. LimeBike launched a “bonus bike” feature, where rides on certain bikes specially marked in this app are free indefinitely. The company also announced that all rides through January 14 are free. Spin, meanwhile, announced that it has an electric-assist bike it is preparing to launch in some markets (not Seattle yet).
It’s only week two of 2018.
“We have large plans ahead for Seattle,” said the new ofo US Head of Communications Taylor Bennett. Bennett previously worked for Uber and, most recently, Pandora. Seattle Bike Blog spoke with Bennett recently to get caught up on what’s happening at the company behind all those yellow bikes around town.
“We’ve seen a really strong reception for dockless bike share across the country, but especially in Seattle,” he said. The company is currently at its permit-restricted limit of 4,000 bikes. “We look forward to working with Council to expand that.” (more…)