Commentary: Lime Scooters is focused on data-gathering
Updated: May 8, 2019
Lime has been sharing its mobility data with the city of Atlanta and city of Decatur for more than a month now and both our data and third-party findings demonstrate scooters are providing many benefits to riders and cities.
Data is a valuable tool that can be tremendously useful in understanding and improving transportation ecosystems, which is why we share our mobility data with the more than 100 cities and college campuses we serve in some 21 countries around the globe.
Combining the quantitative data around scooter movement, distance, routes and times with the qualitative data collected during rider surveys, we begin to really see the true and powerful narrative about micro-mobility.
For instance, 40 percent of our Atlanta riders surveyed reported using Lime to get to or from work or school during their most recent trip, and 37 percent of Atlanta Lime riders most recent scooter trip displaced what would have been a car trip.
This shows Lime is shifting people away from cars and providing them with greener, more affordable transportation alternatives when they need it most.
And that’s not just true for Atlanta. In North America’s largest city, Mexico City, Mexico, a whopping 64.2 percent of Lime riders used our scooters to connect to or from public transportation, giving them a reliable first- and last-mile solution.
But as with all things, there are some externalities and, the onus is on us to address, innovate and educate.
We know scooter parking and keeping them off sidewalks is a serious issue for many cities. That’s why each and every day Lime’s 30-plus person local operations team in the Atlanta-Decatur region oversees a fleet of more than 2,000 scooters in neighborhoods as far reaching as Buckhead, Druid Hills, Downtown and Old Fourth Ward, ensuring our scooters are effectively meeting demand, are in safe, working order, and are properly parked at all times.
The safety of our riders and the community is our number one priority. That’s why every day we’re innovating on technology, infrastructure and education to set the standard for micro-mobility safety. We’re dedicated to working with local governments around the world to support infrastructure for shared scooters and bikes.
It’s clear consumers want micro-mobility infrastructure, too–52.2 percent of Lime riders ranked a protected bike lane as their number one choice for riding. We believe continued government investment in protected bike lanes and paths is critical.
Given the safety threat cars present to vulnerable road users, this shift away from cars may help improve road safety. It’s vital that today’s new micro-mobility options can coexist safely with cars and Lime remains committed to advancing safety by partnering with communities to help make our streets safer for all people.
Lastly, when it comes to parking, scooters are in fact properly parked the majority of the time. In fact, last month, right here at home, Lime received a less than 1 percent complaint rate (complaints vs. trips) in Atlanta across all reported complaints — not just parking.
We’re proud of the partnerships we’ve built with Atlanta and Decatur and of the more than 30 fulltime employees and hundreds of Juicers here who effectively rebalance and manage our fleet, maintain and repair our scooters, and charge and deploy them each day.
The entire shared scooter industry is less than 18 months old, and Lime’s Atlanta-Decatur service has only been operating for nearly half that time, but the positive changes we’ve experienced in cities across the US and throughout the world are exciting and tangible.
We can’t wait to see what the data has to show in the coming months and years, and so far, the findings are very promising.
By Nima Daivari
Posted March 31, 2019
Nima Daivari is community affairs manager in Atlanta for Lime, one of several companies providing rental scooters in metro Atlanta.