Lime and Bird, the two providers of dockless, rentable e-scooters in Austin, have reported significant ridership increases since May 23, when a fire wiped out the charging infrastructure that powers the Capital Metro Bikeshare service. The blaze forced the public transit agency to pull more than 400 e-bikes from 84 docking stations across Central and East Austin as it investigates the fire.
CapMetro has not yet provided a timeline for restoring the service, which is a joint venture with the city of Austin.
Representatives from Bird and Lime told the American-Statesman the companies are deploying more scooters near Bikeshare stations across the city in an effort to serve users left without bikes.
“Since the unfortunate fires and hiatus with CapMetro Bikeshare service, we’ve prioritized deployments near docked Bikeshare stations while also automatically discounting ride starts,” said Kylee Floodman, director of government and university partnerships at Bird.
Bird has seen a 67% uptick in new ridership following the fire, with overall ridership growing by 28% compared to the same period last year. Some of the increase in Bird’s ridership can be attributed to a new subscription plan the company rolled out before the fire, which offers flat-rate rides for $1.99 with a 99-cent monthly subscription, Floodman said.
Lime has seen ridership increase more than 20% year over year, with new user signups jumping nearly 30%, according to Lime government relations lead Lonny Stern.
“Our team in Austin has a great relationship with CapMetro, and we reached out immediately following the reports of the pending shutdown,” Stern said. “After weeks of collaborative discussion, we’ve found some key areas where Lime can support our transit partners.”
Stern said Lime is also increasing deployments near Bikeshare stations and other CapMetro facilities, such as Red Line rail stops, and is exploring a discount program for Austin Community College students.
Because some Bikeshare racks are located in areas where dockless scooters are not allowed to operate, Stern said, so Lime “will review the entire system to determine which racks are the right fit for scooters.”
Lime is licensed to operate up to 3,700 scooters and 180 e-bikes in the city of Austin. Bird is allotted up to 3,000 scooters. CapMetro said it is in talks with the providers to explore partnerships while service remains suspended.
Lime — formally known as Neutron Holdings Inc. — closed its initial public offering July 2, trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol LIME. Shares were initially priced at $25, raising $167 million; the stock closed at $24.16 per share Tuesday.