An abrupt decision by Lime to put the brakes on its popular bike-sharing program in favor of replacing the ubiquitous green cycles with motorized scooters is sending unprepared local officials scrambling for solutions.
Lime notified San Mateo County officials late last week the company plans to immediately discontinue its bicycle rental service with hopes of placing scooters in the communities it serves.
But dissatisfied officials in San Mateo, South San Francisco and Burlingame suggested they were unenthusiastic about the company’s decision, and may instead look into finding another bike-sharing vendor.
Kathy Kleinbaum, San Mateo’s assistant city manager, said she was unpleasantly surprised by the company’s swift decision, which left officials insufficient time to react before bikes started getting swept up.
“We haven’t had time to fully process their decision, but we were very disappointed,” she said.
A portion of the frustration stems from San Mateo officials approaching a decision on issuing permits for bike sharing services just as Lime elected to discontinue its program, said Kleinbaum.
The initiative designed to offer short-distance rides for a nominal fee paid through a cellphone app was growing in popularity on the Peninsula, as Lime offered services in San Mateo, Burlingame, South San Francisco and Foster City while Belmont officials were considering allowing the program as well.
Meanwhile, spokesman Joe Arellano said the company believes the transition from bikes to scooters will allow Lime to better address the needs of its customers.
“This move makes sense for the company as Lime starts to deploy its new Gen3 scooter and transitions away from Lime bikes in certain markets. The change will allow Lime to provide a better all-around experience for users,” he said in an email.
Arellano said the company started collecting bikes over the weekend, and is hopeful to replace them with scooters in communities where such technology is embraced.
“The process will be completed over the next 30 days. We are continuing to work with the affected cities on appropriate scooter regulations and are hopeful we can serve the Peninsula again soon with scooters, once it is legal to do so,” he said.
Over the past year, Lime and its competitors focused investment on scooters rather than bikes as the industry transitioned toward alternative powered vehicles in the effort to connect commuters from their homes to jobs.
The enthusiasm for scooters was not matched by many local city officials, who expressed a reticence to adopt the motorized vehicles which have grown the darling of the industry.
“Needless to say, it is not for South San Francisco,” said South San Francisco Mayor Karyl Matsumoto of the proposal to accept scooters, citing the prevalent safety concerns held by officials.
Burlingame City Manager Lisa Goldman shared a similar sentiment, nodding to a recent discussion regarding Lime when councilmembers shared a collective disinterest in allowing scooters.
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“We are not interested in scooters right now,” said Goldman.
She balanced that perspective though by recognizing the transition which has been creeping across the industry over recent months.
“I’m disappointed but I can’t say I’m surprised,” she said.
Critics frequently cite fears that scooters are more dangerous than bikes, largely because riders frequently will take them on the sidewalk and potentially clash with pedestrians.
Kleinbaum, Goldman and Matsumoto all expressed a desire for identifying another vendor which would offer bike sharing services in their communities, and said such discussions will continue over the coming months.
Meanwhile in Foster City, Assistant City Manager Dante Hall suggested officials may be willing to consider embracing the scooters instead of bikes, while recognizing the infrastructure work finished recently designed to accommodate such uses.
“We want to get our bearings and figure out what this means for our community and have a discussion with Lime about how they might deploy scooters,” said Hall.
Acknowledging Lime’s intention to focus solely on scooters, Hall said Foster City officials may look to find another vendor who would offer a bike-rental service locally. A discussion will eventually rise before the Foster City Council addressing the issue.
In San Mateo, Kleinbaum suggested officials might resurrect discussions with JUMP Bikes, which previously offered similar services in the city previously before the rise of electric rental bikes proved challenging for the provider.
Noting the industry’s frequent shifts in direction, Kleinbaum detailed the difficulty for city officials trying to keep pace with trends while seeking to preserve a service popular with many residents.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” said Kleinbaum, who took time to note the popularity of the services among residents and workers who rely on the bikes or scooters to link with transit centers, jobs and homes.
Matsumoto too said the service is popular in South San Francisco, and expressed optimism another provider can fill the void left by Lime.
“I’m going to miss the bikes,” he said. “I hope we look for a replacement.”
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(7) comments
I'm actually glad that they decided to end the expensive bike sharing, I think the whole bike sharing program was terrible and flawed. The bikes were like littered on the streets, and the roads, especially in our neighborhood are too narrow for bikes to get around the town. Especially with the road construction have made the streets too bumpy to ride a bike as much.
Unfortunately, bike infrastructure isn't where it needs to be to support this bike share. It has thrived in Paris where protected bike lanes are everywhere. For 100 years, cities have put car infrastructure first on the Peninsula. It will take a long time and a change in mindset from elected officials before our streets are safe enough for bike adoption to skyrocket.
For those of you who couldn't handle the random bike left in the sidewalk, you got your short-sighted wish. Now all of these users, especially kids, will be driven to school in their 4,000 pound SUVs. More air pollution, less healthy kids, more traffic, more carnage on the roads.
Ideally Samtrans/Muni/VTA would run the program. So there is a consistent provider at all stations, and bikes could be free to use for those who purchase a monthly train/bus pass.
Really, I question how popular these so called shared mobility programs really are. What percent of the citizenship actually uses them?
Electric scooters are banned in many cities for good reasons. And this mode of operating by scooter companies without regulation and strict oversight and as Lime has done again here, not conferring with the cities they contend they want to serve, is flat out wrong.
….People fear walking down the sidewalk because they might crash into riders, their access to public rights of way is impaired or blocked because of the scooters left haphazardly with no docking stations and riders don’t obey the law.
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/ventura/2018/10/28/ventura-california-propose-ban-electric-scooters-shared-mobility-devices/1701859002/
And then talk to emergency room doctors about injuries, especially in the head areas, caused as a result of using motorized scooters.
As a frequent Lime user, this is incredibly disappointing, if not somewhat understandable. The Peninsula has a long way to go before biking and bike infrastructure is safe, reliable and convenient. We need to do better.
Lime is a very poorly run company.
The last two times I texted them to have one of their bikes removed from my Burlingame front yard I received an immediate auto response and then it required multiple follow ups for two days before the bikes were removed.
Burlingame should simply refuse to allow them to operate in the City.
To hear any City Official say "this is not South San Francisco" makes me laugh. What our city officials are doing to SSF is NOT SSF! Building 7 story building all ove tthe place is NOT SSF, closing SSF CAR WASH is NOT SSF. 89 units 39 parking places is definitely NOT SSF! But my goodness lets worry about scooters instead of bikes. What the heck are these people thinking?
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