INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Just in time for Christmas, Lyft has brought back to San Francisco its pedal-assist e-bikes
The plan is to roll out hundreds of bikes each week until it hits 4,000 by the end of April 2020
This comes after Lyft had to pull its e-bikes in light of battery-related fires in July.
&After identifying the root cause of the battery
issues, we made the decision to work with a different battery supplier,& Lyft wrote in a blog post last month
&We&re now receiving new batteries, testing them and reassembling ebikes.&
That announcement came along with Lyft reaching a four-year
agreement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to deploy 4,000 of its e-bikes
The resolution was the result of Lyft suing the city of San Francisco, which led to the court ordering Lyft and the SFMTA to negotiate under
the &Right of First Offer& provision.
As part of the agreement, Lyft must provide reliable and redundant services, utilize modular design
and pay $300,000 in fees to fund the installation of additional bike racks
If Lyft fails to do this, the SFMTA has the right to permit a second operator
For now, JUMP is still permitted to operate its 500 e-bikes, at least until March 1, 2020, as Lyft rolls out its full fleet.
Until March,
Lyft will allow Bay Wheels members to access the e-bikes at no additional cost
Additional pricing will go into effect starting March 1, but Lyft says it &engaging our community partners and members to inform the best
approach to pricing ebike rides so we can provide the best service possible, since ebikes have higher operational costs per ride than pedal
