#scootershare — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

Tom Fucoloro @[email protected] · 2026-05-08 · 20:45 UTC

Lime’s new ‘LimeBike’ model is shaped like the Glider, but with adjustable seat and pedals – UPDATED: It’s really good

Giving the new LimeBike the downtown Seattle extreme hills test.

Lime has launched 500 new “LimeBikes” in Seattle, a new model with smaller wheels and a lower center of gravity compared to the company’s existing “Gen 4 E-Bike,” resulting in a bike that looks a lot like the company’s sit-down scooter they call the LimeGlider.

The new LimeBike, with a name harkening back to the company’s pre-scooter days, should be more stable when carrying weight in the basket. The bike hopefully will also be less likely to fall over and block sidewalks due to its lower center of mass. Like the Gen 4 E-bike, the LimeBike motor will activate via pedal-assist and throttle, whichever the user chooses. The form factor may also draw wider appeal since it may be less intimidating to some users than a bike with full-size wheels. The LimeGliders have seen lots of use since they launched, for example, and may be attracting users over the Gen 4 E-Bikes that look more like traditional bikes. The Glider has been able to bridge the gap between a bike and a stand-up scooter, and it will be very interesting to see if the new LimeBike can appeal to scooter users in a way the existing bikes do not.

UPDATE 5/11: I finally tracked one down, and oh boy it is very good (no, this post is NOT sponsored). My biggest fear was that it would be a scooter with worthless pedals attached so that it would count as a bicycle like the Veo “bikes” from a few years ago, and I am very happy to report that this is not at all the case. The new LimeBike is the best bike share bike I’ve ever tried, and it’s not even close. I took it on the same extreme test loop I have taken nearly every other micromobility device: Up Spring Street from 2nd to 4th Avenues downtown for a worst case climbing test, then down Madison from 4th to 2nd for a worst case braking test. If a bike can handle this loop, then it can handle anything. Not only did the new LimeBike perform flawlessly, I was able to pedal up these ridiculously steep hills at 12 mph without significant effort. It also easily passed the hardest test of all: Getting started on a steep uphill (many devices have failed this one). Perhaps due to the smaller wheels the bike seemed to have a lot more torque than any other micromobility device I’ve ever tried, which helps with climbing and getting started from a stop. The bike’s pedal assist feels more responsive and natural than the Gen 4 E-Bike it is replacing, so I didn’t feel compelled to even touch the throttle. But beyond power, it was just so comfortable.

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The new seat post adjustment latch seems unnecessarily large at first glance, but it’s so intuitive and easy to use to get the saddle at the right height. For a bike where you’ll probably want to adjust this every time you ride, this design is brilliant (assuming it holds up well with time and wear). The lower stepover height makes the thing even more approachable. The lower cargo area is also great, though it is not a cycletruck-style design as I had initially thought it was. I thought the basket was attached to the frame, but it does move with the fork when turning. However, it didn’t feel like the handlebars wanted to flop to the side when there was stuff in it. Thanks to the pedals, the LimeBike is much more zippy than its similar-looking cousin, the LimeGlider sit-down scooter, and on flat ground I was comfortably able to pedal beyond 15 mph, the point that the electric motor stops providing assistance. The bike felt good to ride even without the motor whirring, which is not something I can say about any other shared e-bike I’ve tried. Honestly, I think if they sold this thing in stores people would buy it. You could happily and comfortably ride it for hours around town (buy a LimePass minute bundle or subscribe to LimePrime rather than paying by the minute if you’re going to do this). I had high hopes for this design, and it blew my expectations away.

They are a bit difficult to track down. As of now, only 500 of Lime’s 4,000 bikes in Seattle will be the new model. In the Lime app, the LimeBike does have a slightly different icon from the Gen 4 E-Bike and the Glider if you are determined to track one down yourself (if you’re doing so today, downtown might be your best bet as I saw several down there this morning).

Back to the original story:

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At least on paper, the LimeBike addresses my biggest issues with the LimeGlider. Perhaps because I am so used to biking, I do not like the lack of an adjustable-height seat on the Glider and the fact that it feels kind of awkward to stand while riding it. It feel much more comfortable and in-control when I am seated higher, though this is likely a matter of personal preference. The Glider can also struggle a bit going up the steepest hills. The new LimeBike has pedals, so you should be able to help it up hills, and it has an adjustable-height seat. I have not yet had a chance to test ride the new LimeBike, but I will attempt to hunt one down and will update when I do.

As someone who rides bikes every day, I really like the Gen 4 E-Bike. The company is only replacing 500 of their 4,000 Seattle e-bikes with the new model at this time, so the company will keep the Gen 4 bikes in operation for a while longer. However, the new bike fits better into their operations, so if it is a success they will likely phase out the old bikes eventually. The Gen 4 bike was based heavily on the JUMP bike design that the company inherited when it acquired its competitor in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. It’s a solid tank of a bike with good brakes and zippy acceleration. But ridership is consistently higher on the scooters than the bikes, so I am open to the idea that what I am personally seeking is not in step with the average person.

The bike industry seems to be leaning toward bikes with 20-inch wheels, which have a lot of practical advantages over larger wheel sizes even if they take bumps a tiny bit harder. They can more easily fit shorter riders, for example. It is also easier to mount cargo to the frame rather than the fork. It is also easier to get high torque/low gearing, a high-demand bike spec in hilly Seattle. Our family cargo bike is a Tern GSD, which has two 20-inch wheels and is fantastic at hauling anything and anyone I put on it. This isn’t to say 20-inch wheels are always better, but mini velos are having a moment. Rodriguez makes a pretty cool one here in Seattle called the Pony Keg. They also have one called the 6-Pack covered in couplings so it can fit inside a 20″ x 20″ suitcase. (No, they do not sponsor me, I just think these are really cool).

Lime’s Seattle ridership continues to climb to levels few would have predicted even five years ago. Their bikes and scooters carried 57,000 people on the day of the Seahawks parade in February, which is on par with the number of cars that drive across the Aurora Bridge. Data that Lime reports to SDOT shows that the company carried 943,200 trips in April, a 43% increase over April 2025, which itself was a 115% increase over April 2024. To date (through May 7), Seattle is at 3,218,800 trips in 2026, and Bike Month just began. The summer months are when Lime ridership usually balloons. These are astounding numbers, showing that Lime is a serious part of our city’s year-round transportation system now.

With competitor Bird no longer operating in Seattle as of this month, Lime seems to have officially won Seattle’s 9-year shared micromobility cage match. It may be time to revisit our city’s relationship with Lime since our existing permit system is written to encourage competition, yet it’s not clear who else is in a position to compete with Lime at this time. It is a great thing for micromobility that Lime seems to have figured out how to make this work, but it’s also not usually good for users when one company has a monopoly. Seattle may want to figure out how it can ensure Lime’s success also benefits Seattle residents into the future.

The Lime Glider seems to have not cannibalized ridership from the standing scooters or bikes. Instead, it just added more trips on top, helping to explain Lime’s surging trip counts. Chart from SDOT’s Shared Micromobility Data Dashboard.Image from Lime.

#SEAbikes #Seattle

#bikeshare #lime #limebike #scootershare

Tom Fucoloro @[email protected] · 2026-02-20 · 20:50 UTC

Lime carried record 57,000 trips the day of the Seahawks parade, on par with daily traffic over the Aurora Bridge

Marshawn Lynch rode a Lime to the NFC Championship game at Lumen Field. From Jordan Schultz.

Lime riders took more than 57,000 trips February 11, the day of the Seahawks parade downtown. After adding Bird’s 2,100 rides, the 59,300 total of shared bike and scooter rides was on par with the average daily traffic across the Aurora Bridge.

The only pieces of roadway infrastructure in Seattle that carry more than 60,000 trips per day are I-5 (250,000), I-90 (137,000), the West Seattle Bridge (73,000), the Aurora Bridge (61,000), and Mercer Street (61,000). Link Light Rail carried more than 200,000 trips, and Washington State Ferries carried 46,000. It’s amazing that shared bikes and scooters are carrying trip counts comparable to such massive pieces of transportation infrastructure, especially when you consider that these companies actually pay the city for the privilege. The shared bikes and scooters are also complimentary to our transit services, often helping people access transit stops that would require too long of a walk otherwise. They help further actualize the public transit investments we are already making, expanding their reach to more homes and destinations.

There’s no comprehensive way to measure how many people rode their personal bikes and scooters to the parade, but the number was far above normal. Fremont Bridge bike and scooter trips were up about 40% over other days the same week. We have even less data about the number of people who simply walked to the parade.

The parade gave Seattle a rare opportunity to stress test our transportation network, and it’s clear that walking, biking and transit are the resilient options to keep our city moving under unusual circumstances. The parade was a celebration, but you could also imagine it as a disaster simulation in which we need to move a lot of people amid a significant disruption to our city’s infrastructure (in this case, 4th Avenue through downtown became impassible). Whether we are planning for major events, future increases in daily commuting or responding to a disaster, it’s important to prioritize our resilient modes of transportation.

Lime is the big winner from the parade, aside from the Seahawks of course. The company showed that its service thrives in the most difficult transportation conditions. The numbers, which are also impressive on non-parade days, further support expanding the availability of designated bike and scooter parking areas such as SDOT’s bike corral plan for Pioneer Square. On-street corrals fit perfectly near street corners where car parking is already illegal, improving crosswalk safety by keeping sight lines clear while also providing space for parking bikes and scooters away from crowded sidewalks. SDOT plans to use the special Pioneer Square Preservation Board-approved bike rack design in the corrals, but the board is still pushing back on the plan.

Bike and scooter share is a serious part of Seattle’s transportation system, and it will play a significant role in getting people to and from World Cup events.

Despite all the attention and investments, Uber, Lyft and robo taxis collapse under the same conditions that snarl roadways for personal cars. Robo taxis, which get so much attention and investment, actually block roadways during disaster scenarios. If a Lime fails to unlock, then the user needs to walk or take transit instead. If a robo taxi stops working, it becomes a giant roadblock. If the robo taxi network stops working, they become a fleet of roadblocks across the city. Imagine that happening after a major earthquake, blocking buses, emergency vehicles and people driving private cars. Even outside a disaster scenario, robo taxis also snarl roadways near venues following major events as many people all call them to the same area at the same time. It’s not a solution that scales well in a dense city.

It’s so odd to watch so much attention and money pour into concepts that keep failing to address our transportation issues while we have this other solution that is succeeding beyond anyone’s imagination but keeps getting ignored. Pronto bike share carried 278,000 rides during its two and a half years of operation a decade ago, and Lime just carried 20% of that total in a single day. This is worth celebrating.

#SEAbikes #Seattle

#seahawks #scootershare #marshawnlynch #limebike #lime #bird

Tom Fucoloro @[email protected] · 2025-12-23 · 01:08 UTC

After pricing overhaul, 20-minute bike and scooter rides now cost the same as transit fare for LimePrime subscribers

Screenshot from the Lime App.

Lime’s newest pricing scheme makes it far more cost-effective for regular users to use their bikes and scooters for short trips, making the service much more useful as an everyday mode of transportation. The new scheme puts the cost of a 20-minute ride on par with a full-price adult transit single-ride fare of $3 while lowering the cost of rides under 5 minutes to $1.50. The pricing change comes as the number of bike and scooter rides in Seattle in the past year topped 10 million and continue to rise, according to data the company submits to SDOT.

Subscribers to the $6 per month LimePrime membership now pay a flat rate of $2.85 plus tax for rides up to 20 minutes with no unlock fee. That’s about the price of a 4-minute ride under their regular pricing ($1 to unlock plus 47¢ per minute). LimePrime rides up to 5 minutes will be $1.50, and rides longer than 20 minutes are charged a reduced rate of 28¢ per minute. Under the default rate, a 20-minute ride would cost $10.40, 3.7 times higher than the LimePrime rate.

Let’s say someone lives a 20-minute bike or scooter ride from a light rail station, the most favorable condition for the new pricing scheme. They could now spend $120 per month to take Lime to and from the station five days a week. That’s not exactly cheap, but under the previous per-minute pricing scheme the same use would have cost $416.

The default per-minute rate is rarely the cheapest option anymore because the 47¢ per minute rate and $1 unlock fees add up very fast whether you’re taking one longer ride or many shorter rides. At 17 minutes under the standard rate, a user has paid the equivalent of one month of LimePrime plus the $2.85 fee for the trip.

Trips under 5 minutes will cost $1.50 instead of $3.35 under regular pricing, which opens up some interesting use cases. I used to love taking the old $1 bike share bikes short little distances around the neighborhood, like going from north Broadway businesses to Pike/Pine businesses or from the Rainier Valley light rail stations on MLK Way to destinations along Rainier Ave. These aren’t the longest walks, but it’s a small joy to just hop on a bike to shrink the neighborhood. I wouldn’t pay $3.35 to bike a half mile, but I might pay $1.50.

The math gets a little more complicated when comparing to the LimePass minute bundles. For example, a single 30-minute ride would cost $5.25 with LimePrime pricing but $7 with a 30-minute LimePass bundle. However, three 10-minute rides in one day would cost $8.55 with LimePrime compared to $7 with a LimePass bundle. So if you rarely take Lime, then the minute bundles are still probably the better option (and the 30-minute bundle is nearly always better than paying the default rate). Someone visiting town for a week who is planning to rely largely on biking to get around may also be better off buying the $34 bundle to get 3 hours of riding time and have no worries about forgetting to cancel the monthly subscription. If you really want to pay as little as possible on a long ride, I guess you could stop every 20 minutes to end your ride and then start it again since the effective rate on a 20-minute LimePrime ride is about 14¢ per minute.

Note that people who qualify for a reduced cost ORCA Lift card also qualify for Lime Access, which at 75¢ to unlock plus 1¢ per minute is much more affordable than any of these other pricing options. If transportation costs are a burden on your budget, definitely check to see if you qualify. The threshold is 200% of the federal poverty level, which is higher than many other assistance programs.

The monthly LimePrime subscription is another potential downside of the new pricing scheme. If you end up not really using Lime often, then that’s $6 down the drain every month until you cancel it. The business model for gyms is for people to pay for memberships that they rarely use, and that’s a risk for LimePrime, too. More people committing financially to a single provider could also further erode competition in the market. Currently, Bird is the only other company operating in Seattle, but that could feasibly change in the future. If enough of the user base has a monthly financial commitment with a single company, that could make it harder for another provider to enter the Seattle market. It’s not usually a good thing for consumers when a single company has too much market share because they can then start hiking prices and reducing the quality of service if they no longer need to worry about losing customers. The situation is a little different with Lime since they are also competing with some heavy-hitting and well-established competitors like the bus and walking.

If Seattle gets to the point where Lime is the only viable provider (they are arguably already there considering they have reported carrying about 97% of bike and scooter share trips in Seattle in 2025), then perhaps an open permit system would no longer make the most sense for the city. Lime carries a massive number of trips around Seattle, and it is an important part of city’s transportation system. If Lime were instead granted a contract or license as the sole provider, the change could open up options for the city to negotiate more public benefits such as investing in a public-private roadmap for shifting to corral-only parking. This could finally deal with the problem of bikes and scooters blocking walkways and curb ramps by only allowing users to end trips within designated parking areas. Such a concept would only work with a massive expansion of bike and scooter parking. I don’t know the exact density required to make it work without significantly degrading the bike and scooter experience, but I imagine it could be on the scale of creating a bike and scooter parking corral at every single intersection in every business district. Residential parking is maybe even trickier due to the sheer scale of how many residential intersections there are in the city. However, there is an added safety benefit to physically restricting parking 20 feet before every street corner (30 if there’s a stop light or sign) as is already state law (with very few exceptions, street corners are crosswalks whether marked with stripes or not). I know in my neighborhood this law is never followed, and cars parked too close to the intersection can create safety hazards by blocking sight lines (“They darted out from behind a parked car!”).

To deal with the overwhelming scale of the task, perhaps the city and Lime could partner on a progressive roll-out concept to go neighborhood-by-neighborhood implementing new parking areas and intersection daylighting improvements along with new scooter and bike share parking restrictions. It might take a while to get the whole city, but work could be phased according to the need and resources available.

#SEAbikes #Seattle

#bikeshare #lime #limebike #limeprime #scootershare

Tom Fucoloro @[email protected] · 2024-08-09 · 21:04 UTC

I rode Lime’s new sit-down scooter

I took the new Lime Glider sit-down scooter for a test ride a few days before the company rolls 280 of them out in the U District starting for a trial. People can ride them anywhere they want within the Lime service area for the same price as their bikes and scooters, but Lime staff will eventually rebalance them back to the U District during the trial period.

Seattle is the only market getting the Gliders for now, and Lime staff pointed to strong ridership here as well as SDOT’s role as “a well-grounded regulator,” according to Director of Government Relations Hayden Harvey. “They keep up honest, but they are also collaborative in innovating in this industry,” he said.

Lime is positioning the Glider as a more approachable and comfortable device. The step-over height is even lower than on their bikes, and riders can easily keep their feet on the ground before they start moving. Like with a bicycle, the center of balance is further back than on a foot scooter, making it far less likely for a rider to fall forward. But it’s also not a bicycle, which could appeal to people who find bicycling intimidating. Or at least that’s their hope.

Legally speaking, the device is not a bicycle and must follow scooter rules. In Seattle, that means no sidewalk riding “unless there is no alternative for a motorized foot scooter to travel over a sidewalk that is part of a bicycle or pedestrian path.” They can be ridden on roads, bike lanes and paved multi-use trails. Only one person is allowed to ride at a time, though I suspect we’ll be seeing folks trying to squeeze together on the longer seat.

It can climb hills, but it struggles up the really steep ones. My go-to test for all these bikes and scooters has been to climb the absurdly-steep block of Cherry Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. The Glider barely passed, slowing all the way to 4 mph using motor power alone. I ended up using my foot to give it a boost. On flats and more typical hills, it was zippy and easy to ride.

As someone who has ridden every type of device from all the different bike and scooter share companies who have come to Seattle (and some who haven’t), it is most similar to the Veo Cosmo pseudo-bike. Like the Cosmo, the seat height on the Glider is not adjustable, so the experience will vary widely depending on your height. The taller you are, the more reclined you will feel. The main differences are that the Cosmo had pedals (they were mostly useless, but they existed) and front suspension. I also felt comfortable standing on the pedals while riding the Cosmo, but the Glider clearly intends for riders to sit while riding.

Whether these design choices are good or bad thing is entirely subjective. I personally prefer the more upright posture of a bicycle, but I’m someone who rides a bike every day and writes a blog about bicycling so I may not be representative of the wider population. I also have low back issues (I was born with some fused vertebrae) and found the reclined position to be uncomfortable when going over bumps. But again, not everyone has my particular back issues.

Others may find it perfectly comfortable, and being able to ride without worrying about adjusting the saddle height could have its own appeal since it’s one less thing to do before starting a ride. People with certain kinds of joint pain may also find it more comfortable to not need to pedal. Though it’s worth noting that the newest model of Lime e-bikes also have a throttle and can be ridden without pedaling if desired.

Lime has been on an absolute tear in Seattle this year, obliterating their previous ridership records while introducing new and improved devices and lowering prices through their new LimePass pricing scheme. We’ll see if the Glider is able to reach even more people who do not find the foot scooters and bikes appealing. They are already carrying a serious number of trips in Seattle, bringing Lime into the consideration alongside major road and transit investments. As we noted recently, Lime moved about half as many trips in July as the $2 billion SR-99 tunnel in downtown Seattle. These are numbers that seemed like a dream just a few years ago. But as Seattle continues to build out protected bike lanes, especially in and near the city center, more people are using them to get around.

What’s truly wild is that these increases are happening even before the downtown waterfront bike path is open. Once that happens, still scheduled for late this year, it will immediately become one of the most popular bike paths in the whole city. And Lime is going to carry a lot of those trips.

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#SEAbikes #Seattle

#sitdownscooters #scootershare #limebike #limeglider #bikeshare

Tom Fucoloro @[email protected] · 2024-08-09 · 21:04 UTC

I rode Lime’s new sit-down scooter

I took the new Lime Glider sit-down scooter for a test ride a few days before the company rolls 280 of them out in the U District starting for a trial. People can ride them anywhere they want within the Lime service area for the same price as their bikes and scooters, but Lime staff will eventually rebalance them back to the U District during the trial period.

Seattle is the only market getting the Gliders for now, and Lime staff pointed to strong ridership here as well as SDOT’s role as “a well-grounded regulator,” according to Director of Government Relations Hayden Harvey. “They keep up honest, but they are also collaborative in innovating in this industry,” he said.

Lime is positioning the Glider as a more approachable and comfortable device. The step-over height is even lower than on their bikes, and riders can easily keep their feet on the ground before they start moving. Like with a bicycle, the center of balance is further back than on a foot scooter, making it far less likely for a rider to fall forward. But it’s also not a bicycle, which could appeal to people who find bicycling intimidating. Or at least that’s their hope.

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Legally speaking, the device is not a bicycle and must follow scooter rules. In Seattle, that means no sidewalk riding “unless there is no alternative for a motorized foot scooter to travel over a sidewalk that is part of a bicycle or pedestrian path.” They can be ridden on roads, bike lanes and paved multi-use trails. Only one person is allowed to ride at a time, though I suspect we’ll be seeing folks trying to squeeze together on the longer seat.

It can climb hills, but it struggles up the really steep ones. My go-to test for all these bikes and scooters has been to climb the absurdly-steep block of Cherry Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. The Glider barely passed, slowing all the way to 4 mph using motor power alone. I ended up using my foot to give it a boost. On flats and more typical hills, it was zippy and easy to ride.

As someone who has ridden every type of device from all the different bike and scooter share companies who have come to Seattle (and some who haven’t), it is most similar to the Veo Cosmo pseudo-bike. Like the Cosmo, the seat height on the Glider is not adjustable, so the experience will vary widely depending on your height. The taller you are, the more reclined you will feel. The main differences are that the Cosmo had pedals (they were mostly useless, but they existed) and front suspension. I also felt comfortable standing on the pedals while riding the Cosmo, but the Glider clearly intends for riders to sit while riding.

Whether these design choices are good or bad thing is entirely subjective. I personally prefer the more upright posture of a bicycle, but I’m someone who rides a bike every day and writes a blog about bicycling so I may not be representative of the wider population. I also have low back issues (I was born with some fused vertebrae) and found the reclined position to be uncomfortable when going over bumps. But again, not everyone has my particular back issues.

Others may find it perfectly comfortable, and being able to ride without worrying about adjusting the saddle height could have its own appeal since it’s one less thing to do before starting a ride. People with certain kinds of joint pain may also find it more comfortable to not need to pedal. Though it’s worth noting that the newest model of Lime e-bikes also have a throttle and can be ridden without pedaling if desired.

Lime has been on an absolute tear in Seattle this year, obliterating their previous ridership records while introducing new and improved devices and lowering prices through their new LimePass pricing scheme. We’ll see if the Glider is able to reach even more people who do not find the foot scooters and bikes appealing. They are already carrying a serious number of trips in Seattle, bringing Lime into the consideration alongside major road and transit investments. As we noted recently, Lime moved about half as many trips in July as the $2 billion SR-99 tunnel in downtown Seattle. These are numbers that seemed like a dream just a few years ago. But as Seattle continues to build out protected bike lanes, especially in and near the city center, more people are using them to get around.

What’s truly wild is that these increases are happening even before the downtown waterfront bike path is open. Once that happens, still scheduled for late this year, it will immediately become one of the most popular bike paths in the whole city. And Lime is going to carry a lot of those trips.

#SEAbikes #Seattle

#bikeshare #limeglider #limebike #scootershare #sitdownscooters