Lime fleets are largely free-floating, which Has attracted the wrathShared electric bikes and scooters that aren’t docked in parking have long been under scrutiny, as they’ve inevitably cluttered sidewalks and even ended up in rivers. Lime says it’s “agnostic” about parking and free-floating areas and does both based on what cities require. Some markets have “corrals” where riders park their scooters and bikes, and there are penalties if riders don’t park in these areas. Critics say fines for bad behavior They are not tough enough.
Many of the components of the new models are common to other Lime products. For example, the brake levers are the same as those on Lime’s scooters, as the company has found they work well. The batteries are the same as those on the Gen4 e-bike, allowing for faster and cheaper changes. Lime also says all of the bike’s screw heads are the same size, so operators don’t need to change bits when making repairs. Parrish says these changes increase the availability of these vehicles and reduce Lime’s operating costs.
That’s important, as many other ride-sharing micromobility companies are floundering. Bird filed for bankruptcy last year and Lyft is Exploring a sale Citi Bike in New York City (the city comptroller found Decreased service reliability In a blow to Lime and its peers in the run-up to the 2024 Summer Olympics, Paris banned shared scooters last year after a series of injuries and deaths. The company says no other city has taken a similar measure to Paris, which Lime’s global communications director Russell Murphy said “further underscores that the referendum was a blip in the rearview mirror.”
“Lime currently has 15,000 electric bikes available in Paris and the surrounding suburbs to help get visitors to places in a convenient and sustainable way,” Murphy said. “We’re proud of the support we’ve received from the city to make this possible.”
LimeGlider and LimeBike aren’t going to change any of these problems. They’ll either continue to float freely and untethered, or they’ll get cornered into markets that require them. Plus, I can’t imagine throttle-powered e-bikes will ever be a thing. Safer than throttle-less e-bikes, especially since you don’t have to kick to get the throttle working like you do on electric scooters. (Lime says the kickstands on the new models disable the throttle when deployed.) But at the very least, a broader range of people may feel more comfortable using these shared e-bikes.
The pilot program has already begun in Atlanta and Zurich, where users will have the option to reserve the LimeBike. The LimeGlider will be fully launched in Seattle in mid-August and then in Zurich in late summer. After two to three months, if the reception is positive, they will go into production and join Lime’s global fleets in 2025.