Report: Lyft could buy Capital Bikeshare operator

Bikeshare service could be the next front for the battle between Uber and Lyft, and the streets of D.C. will be one of the venues.

Lyft is reportedly in talks acquire Motivate, the company which operates the District’s Capital Bikeshare. Motivate is the little-known, but it’s behind bikeshare services in cities across the country.

CNET has more details:

The Information reports that Lyft has agreed to purchase Motivate for as much as $250 million, though a deal reportedly hasn’t been finalized yet. Beyond Ford GoBike and Citi Bike, other Motivate-operated bike brands include Capital BikeShare, CoGo, Divvy, Blue Bikes and Biketown.

The deal would give Lyft a big foothold into bikeshare, docked version. Its big rival Uber got into the two-wheeled front by acquiring dockless bikeshare service JUMP earlier this year. JUMP is one of the five companies that’s part of a trial run for dockless service in D.C., and would figure to have a foothold if District officials extend the service after the pilot ends this summer.

While Motivate hasn’t made a big dockless move yet, its established stations would give Lyft a leg up, Techcrunch writes:

This deal would put Lyft ahead of Uber in terms of bike sharing. Uber bought bike-share startup JUMP, a dockless, electric bike-share service, earlier this year, for about $250 million. JUMP’s footprint is currently much smaller than Motivate’s, but Uber is certainly working to grow JUMP’s presence.

Or, maybe we’ll all be riding electric scooters.