Lyft Adds Electric Bikes To Santa Monica Breeze Stations

The Metropolis of Santa Monica’s five-year lengthy bike-share program, Breeze, comes to shut in November, and Lyft
LYFT
is stepping in to fill that void. Right this moment the transportation community introduced that it has added ebikes to its fleet of sharable micromobility choices within the coastal neighborhood.

Ebikes are bicycles that use a small electrical motor to assist propel the rider as they pedal, making journeys simpler and sooner than conventional two-wheelers. A not too long ago printed study conducted by the Institute of Transport Economics in Norway discovered that ebike house owners traveled additional and used their ebikes extra incessantly than standard bicylce customers.

Whereas these findings needs to be excellent news for bikeshare operators, the enterprise mannequin has been tough to function profitably. Many cities are cautious of the dockless system that end in improperly parked free-floating bikes and have reduced permits, and firms, corresponding to Spin and Lime, have withdrawn from unprofitable markets. Final 12 months Lyft transformed its bike-share program to all-electric ebikes, however needed to pull them from the micromobility fleet resulting from braking points. The corporate not too long ago started re-introducing a brand new electrical pedal-assist mannequin into some markets earlier this 12 months, together with San Francisco, New York, Portland, and most not too long ago, Santa Monica.

Lyft’s motor-driven bikes can be found in current Breeze stations, and will be rented by the mile utilizing the Lyft app for $.34 per minute or $.05 per minute utilizing a Group Cross that’s accessible for $5 monthly for qualifying people. Lyft’s electrical scooters are nonetheless accessible in six markets within the U.S., together with Santa Monica, Los Angeles and UCLA.