SPOKANE, Wash. — Earlier this week Spokane City Council agreed to a two-year extension of the Lime e-bikes and scooters.
Lime initially launched a fleet of 1,500 scooters and 100 e-bikes in the city in May 2019. According to the city, the launch was successful with over 581,000 rides in 2019 alone.
Lime’s Director of Strategic Development for the Pacific Northwest Jonathon Hopkins said in a press release that Lime is very excited to continue the partnership with Spokane.
"Partnership has been the operative word as we've worked with SRHD and the Downtown Spokane Partnership on COVID safety and economic recovery, with Visit Spokane on Scoot Spokane, and with Spokane Parks and Rec with First Ride training monthly before Movies in the Park. This collaboration with the City of Spokane to provide additional safe ways to explore and experience Spokane and many of these efforts have represented global firsts. This extension promises bikeshare and scootershare in Spokane for the long term—enabling Spokane to be one just a handful of cities of its size in North America to have an e-assist bikeshare program running at no cost to the city," Hopkins said.
This also comes after a 50 percent decrease in ridership in 2020, which Lime said was mainly due to the pandemic.
The city has rules posted on their website regarding the use of the bikeshare and scootershare program. They caution to watch the speed, know the route being traveled and to know when to ride on the sidewalk and when to ride in the bike lane.
To use a lime bike or scooter, riders can download the Lime app from the Apple App Store and Google Play.
According to the press release, Lime said they have has powered more than 200 million rides in more than 150 cities across five continents, spurring a new generation of clean alternatives to car ownership.
