At UberAcquired the bike-sharing service Jump, to connect the short-distance shuttle needs within the city, relevant news also pointed out that Uber's competitor Lyft intends to launch a shared electric scooter business in downtown San Francisco to meet different short-distance shuttle needs.
The Information websiteAccording to sources, Lyft has contacted relevant departments of the San Francisco Municipal Government through an agency and is expected to obtain an operating license for the shared electric scooter business. At the same time, Lyft has also built its own electric scooter prototype design, but the overall development is still in a very early stage, so it is not yet certain when it will be put into commercial use.
However, Lyft did not respond to this.
Since Uber has acquired Jump and started promoting shared bicycle services in downtown San Francisco, in order to further compete in the short-distance shuttle demand market, Lyft seems to be planning to compete with Uber's services through shared electric scooters.
Compared to bicycles, electric scooter cabins are easier to deploy and maintain, but they are also relatively more susceptible to theft, and users may have problems adapting to riding them. Therefore, Lyft's hope to compete with Uber's shared bicycle service through shared electric scooters may face some challenges.
Judging from the current operations of Lime, which provides shared bicycle and electric scooter services in California and other parts of the United States, providing users with a more flexible short-distance shuttle experience through electric scooter services seems to be a viable development model. However, how Lyft will leverage its own platform resources to connect with such shared vehicle services, and whether it will choose to cooperate with Lime or similar services such as Spin and Bird, may still require further confirmation from Lyft.
