Civic News
Transportation

Lime glides past the million mark for escooter rides in Baltimore

After a year in Baltimore, the company is providing some data on local operations and rides.

Lime escooters in action. (Photo courtesy of Kris Krug/Lime)

With a permit in hand from the city to make its escooters officially approved for business, Lime is providing some info on its Baltimore operations as a dockless transportation provider.

Lime arrived in Baltimore about this time last year, becoming the second escooter provider to launch in the city.

At the time, it entered as the city was launching a pilot for dockless transportation, which describes the two-wheeled transportation options that are unlocked via app and don’t need to be returned to a fixed station. The pilot was designed provide space for the ebikes and escooters, and came at the same time that the city nixed its bikeshare program with fixed stations. Following the city’s review of the options and new rules and regulations, four companies were awarded yearlong permits by the city.

As of Monday, the company said it has crossed the 1 million ride mark in the city, and added that those trips were spread over more than 151,000 riders who opted to zoom around on the bright green scooters. The company said those rides replaced more than 330,000 car trips.

“This milestone reinforces how we are fulfilling a need in the community for more affordable and equitable transportation options,” said Stephen Deline, Baltimore operations manager for Lime. “With the new permit for more scooters and ebikes, Lime should only grow as a core part of the transportation ecosystem in Baltimore.”

That permit allows the dockless companies — which also include Spin, JUMP and Bolt — to each operate 1,000 escooters and another 1,000 dockless vehicles such as ebikes (which Lime also provides) in Baltimore.

As far as a team on the ground, Lime’s operations team includes 15 full-time employees, according to the company. It also deploys street teams that are tasked with making sure scooters are out of the path of pedestrians and people with disabilities on sidewalks, as well as maintenance and inspections.

Here’s a few more data points from the company:

  • Along with hitting the nine-figure mark for rides, the escooters have also collectively traversed nearly 1 million miles.
  • A survey of Lime users showed 40% of rides were occurring during morning and evening rush hours, indicating that the escooters are being used for commutes.
  • Lime has an initiative called Lime Access, which is helping individuals who qualify for city, state or federal low-income programs receive half-off of scooter rides.
Engagement

Join the conversation!

Find news, events, jobs and people who share your interests on Technical.ly's open community Slack

Trending

How venture capital is changing, and why it matters

What company leaders need to know about the CTA and required reporting

Why the DOJ chose New Jersey for the Apple antitrust lawsuit

A veteran ship's officer describes how captains work with harbor pilots to avoid deadly collisions

Technically Media