Lime launches free-floating car-share service in Seattle

Bike-share and electric scooter company Lime has launched a ‘free-floating’ car-share service in Seattle and intends to make 1,500 vehicles available in early 2019. Bloomberg says the company has deployed 50 Lime-branded vehicles and intends to increase this number to 500 by the end of the year. Users can unlock a LimePod vehicle, a customised two-door Fiat 500, via the company’s app for $1 and are charged 40 cents per minute while driving. Toby Sun, Lime’s chief executive officer, says the company is a
November 22, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Bike-share and electric scooter company Lime has launched a ‘free-floating’ car-share service in Seattle and intends to make 1,500 vehicles available in early 2019.
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external <br />Bloomberg false https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-13/lime-wants-to-spread-1-500-shared-cars-around-seattle true false%> says the company has deployed 50 Lime-branded vehicles and intends to increase this number to 500 by the end of the year.

Users can unlock a LimePod vehicle, a customised two-door 1674 Fiat 500, via the company’s app for $1 and are charged 40 cents per minute while driving.

Toby Sun, Lime’s chief executive officer, says the company is also hoping to deploy the service in an unnamed city in California.

Lime is not the only company moving into the US ‘free-floating’ car-share space. In %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external October false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/groupe-psa-trials-car-sharing-service-in-washington-dc/ false false%>, French car manufacturer Groupe PSA confirmed its intention to deploy a fleet 600 vehicles in Washington, DC.  
This pilot coincided with Maven’s%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external announcement false http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/transmart/news/maven-expands-peer-to-peer-car-share-service/ false false%> to expand its peer-to-peer car-share service in Washington, DC – and other US cities - by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Communauto also received a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external permit false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/communauto-receives-permit-for-car-share-project-in-toronto/ false false%> to deploy a car-share service of 200 vehicles.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Nobina adds special services to bus operations in Denmark
    February 19, 2019
    Bus operator Nobina is to acquire parts of public transport company Örslev Holding to offer special public transport services in Denmark. The scope of the DKr.15.5 million (£1.8m) deal includes 16 buses which offer regular services in South Zealand coastal area and 21 buses for special needs transportation. Nobina has also taken steps to transition in the electric mobility space. In 2018, the company deployed 13 electric buses from Volvo Buses in the Swedish city of Malmö. The Volvo 7900 Electric buses
    Read More
  • Uber’s autonomous taxi kills pedestrian, North American trials suspended
    March 20, 2018
    An autonomous car operated by Uber has killed a pedestrian in what is believed to be the first death of its kind, in a report by The Independent. The vehicle, according to Tempe Police, was driving in autonomous mode as part of the company’s North America tests that included an operator behind the wheel that was not in control at the time of the incident. Uber Technologies has suspended all of its driverless car tests in Phoenix and Arizona as well as Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.
    Read More
  • Car2Go to halt carsharing operations in Toronto
    May 29, 2018
    Car-sharing group Car2Go is suspending operations in Toronto, Canada, because of what it sees as restrictive regulations introduced by the city’s authorities. Toronto City Council is introducing its own free-floating carshare pilot on June 1 which Car2Go says makes its service ‘inoperable’. In a letter to users, Car2Go’s North America CEO Paul DeLong says that companies taking part in Toronto’s new pilot will be charged $1,499.02 per vehicle and that many streets which operate a residents’ parking permit
    Read More
  • TISPOL welcomes EC measures to reduce road deaths
    May 23, 2018
    TISPOL has welcomed a package of measures announced by the European Commission (EC) to help reduce the 25,000 deaths that occur on EU roads annually. Ruth Purdie, general secretary of TISPOL, says: “Today’s announcements could represent the biggest step forward in road safety in Europe since the introduction of the seat belt." Antonio Avenoso of the European Transport Safety Council said the EC’s announcements require backing from EU member states and the European Parliament. They should not give in to
    Read More

Highlighted Content