Will Lyft Ditch Bikes and Scooters?

Photo Credit: Lyft.com

 

On Monday, July 24, Lyft announced they were exploring “options” for their bike and scooter division. Most importantly, they hinted at a possible sale or new strategic partnership for their Bike and scooter business. Lyft currently owns the largest bikeshare networks in North America including New York City and Washington, D.C.’s systems.

In a short blog post, Lyft stated that is has “received strong inbound interest” in their bikes and scooters business. Lyft continued the post describing their successful program, “Last week alone, riders took over 1.4 million bike rides across our US network. As a leading bikeshare provider, supplying solutions to over 53 markets across 15 countries, it’s only logical for Lyft to listen to credible proposals and explore strategic partners and options in several forms to serve more riders in more cities. We expect this part of the business to continue to be a meaningful part of Lyft’s offering now and into the future.”

Many are speculating that this latest move to sell their bikeshare network is to help turn around the company which has significantly fallen behind Uber in the North American ride-sharing market. Lyft appointed a new CEO, David Risher last year to try and reverse course. Risher enacted major layoffs and tried to lower the price of their Lyft car service to compete more with Uber. And, on an earnings call when asked about the bike business, Risher said that “when people ride e-bikes they like them a lot,” but from his perspective he thinks “we haven't done the job we need to do to make sure that every time a person rides the bike, they get welcomed into the Lyft ecosystem, and frankly, welcome into the rideshare side of things. So, we'll do some thinking on how to do that better.” After Lyft shared their intention to sell, their shares went up 1.3%!

While ridehailing and bikeshare systems may not mix for business, bikeshare programs are good for cities. They provide a substitute form of near-zero emissions transportation and can be a swift and fun way to get around places using mostly existing infrastructure all while reducing traffic.