As it continues to expand around the globe amid reports of a potential acquisition by Uber, transportation startup Lime today touted new metrics that reflect the company’s growing footprint.
Lime is now active in 100 markets as it recently eclipsed more than 26 million trips across its fleet of pedal bikes, electric-assist bikes, electric scooters, and “transit pods” that are being tested in Seattle. That’s up from 1 million trips at this time last year.
In Seattle, Lime said that users have taken two million trips on e-assist and pedal bikes over the past 17 months, the first time a U.S. market has reached that milestone. Lime beat out former bike-share competitors Spin and Ofo and has more than 5,000 bikes on Seattle streets today, with more coming online soon.
The company also recently launched a pilot program for its new car-sharing program in Seattle that would compete with similar services from Daimler’s car2go and BMW’s ReachNow. Seattle lawmakers have yet to give the green light to Lime’s scooter offering. The company is facing a similar political battle in San Francisco.
In its report, Lime said that someone using its scooters and bikes with public transit would pay, on average, 74 percent less per day versus owning a car. It also noted that 40 percent of riders reported commuting to/from work or school during their most recent trip, with 32 percent saying the same for trips to/from dining or entertainment.
The Information reported last month that Uber is in acquisition talks with both Lime and its main scooter rival in the U.S., Bird, as the company aims to become an on-demand mobility app across various transportation options. Uber owns a minority stake in Lime and agreed to add Lime’s scooters to its app this summer. Uber also acquired electric bike-share company JUMP in April and launched it in Seattle last month.
Lime is valued at more than $1 billion and raised a $335 million round in July from investors such as Uber and Alphabet.
Earlier this week, Google announced it would display nearby Lime pedal bikes, e-bikes and scooters from inside Google Maps.
