Lime, formerly LimeBike, is an American transportation rental company that runs bicycle and scooter sharing systems in various cities. The systems use dockless vehicles and a mobile app to unlock vehicles. Lime's service typically starts at $1/1EUR for a 30-minute ride on the traditional bikes, while its fleet of electric bicycles charge $1 to unlock, and 15 cents per minute.
Video Lime (transportation company)
History
LimeBike was founded in January 2017 and raised $12 million in venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz in March 2017. The company's first location, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, launched in June 2017 with 125 bicycles. LimeBike expanded in July 2017 to the cities of Key Biscayne, Florida, South Bend, Indiana, and South Lake Tahoe, California. On July 27, 2017, LimeBike launched with 500 bicycles in Seattle, Washington, becoming the city's second bikeshare operator. The company closed a Series B round of venture funding in October 2017, announcing that it was valued at $225 million.
In November, LimeBike announced NFL running back Marshawn Lynch as one of its brand promoters, partnering with his company Beast Mode Apparel.
In May 2018, the company announced that it would rebrand as "Lime" and partner with Segway to produce new scooters.
Maps Lime (transportation company)
Equipment and usage
Lime uses green-colored commuter bikes equipped with GPS units and 3G connectivity. The bicycles also feature a front basket, a solar panel, and a smart lock. A mobile app is used to locate nearby bicycles and scan a QR code to unlock bicycles, which play a short chime. Rides cost $1 for every 30 minutes of use.
As of October 2017, Lime has 150,000 users.
At CES 2018, Lime announced that they would begin a trial of electric bikes in San Francisco.
Shortly after the release of Lime-E (electric bikes), Lime-S electric scooters were also announced. In April 2018, these scooters were the subject of controversy after Lime left several hundred of them on the streets of US cities without the permission of municipal authorities: public criticism of the project increased in June when it emerged that the scooters were programmed to play a recording of the message "Unlock me to ride me, or I'll call the police" repeatedly, at high volume, when their controls were touched.
In May 2018, the company announced plans to begin development of transit pods, small self-driving electric vehicles.
Locations
As of 21 May 2018, Lime operates in the following cities:
Lime also operates on the following college campuses:
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia