INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Lyft is getting close to acquiring Motivate, the company responsible for Ford GoBike in the San Francisco Bay Area and Citi Bike in the New
York City area, The Information reports
The deal will reportedly be worth at least $250 million.
Lyft declined to comment and Motivate wasn&t available for comment at the time of
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 footprint is currently much smaller than Motivate&s, but Uber is certainly working to grow JUMP presence.
Photo by MRD/TC
In April,
Motivate deployed electric bikes in San Francisco
Once JUMP 18-month pilot program with the city is up next June, we can expect to see companies like Motivate, Lime and Scoot apply to deploy
their own dockless bikes in the city.
Just this month, for example, Scoot launched its take on dockless, lock-to electric bikes in Barcelona
Scoot CEO Michael Keating told me he wants to deploy in San Francisco, but currently can&t due to the exclusive permit the city has with
JUMP.
This comes shortly after news hit that Lyft is also looking to get into electric scooters.Lyft has reportedly been in talks with San
Francisco city officials to discuss applying for a permit, and has drafted some prototypes of scooter designs
Uber is also eyeing the electric scooter, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi previously told me.
What happening right now is that both Uber and Lyft
are aggressively trying to become multi-modal transportation companies
That means they no longer just want to offer ride-hailing services, but seek to become a one-stop shop for all your transportation needs
Uber, however, is a bit ahead of the game at this point, given its recent partnership with public transit company Masabi, car rental service
Getaround, active deployment of electric bikes and plans for uberAIR.
