Dive Brief:
- Shared micromobility provider Lime said today that it achieved its highest-ever total number of rides and highest gross bookings in 2023, continuing the growth it experienced the previous year.
- Globally, Lime recorded 156 million trips in 2023 and added 9.2 million new riders, it said.
- Lime Chief Business Officer David Spielfogel attributed the growth to increasing the number of e-bikes and scooters in existing markets and adding vehicles to new markets.
Dive Insight:
The shared micromobility industry went through some tough times in 2023. Bird declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy after acquiring Spin; Superpedestrian exited the U.S. market; and Nasdaq delisted Micromobility.com, formerly Helbiz, for failing to maintain minimum share prices and equity requirements.
Lime was the outlier, with the investor-backed company reporting a 45% increase in gross bookings during the first half of 2023. For the full year, Lime reported $616 million in gross bookings, a 32% year-over-year increase.
“There is a real desire for shared micromobility,” Spielfogel told Smart Cities Dive. “And given that we were the only [micromobility] company that was able to achieve these financial milestones, it shows that we're doing something right to serve that very strong demand for cities across the world.”
More than 42 cities globally saw trips double from 2022 to 2023, Lime said in a press release. The U.S. market showed similar growth, Spielfogel said. “Cities like New York [and] Chicago that started very slowly, with small pilots, are now expanding them into much more geography and increasing fleet sizes,” he said.
The working relationship between Lime and the cities where it operates has matured, Spielfogel said. Although cities were once skeptical about shared bike and scooter systems, they now see micromobility as a partnership and are comfortable with longer permit periods and increased fleet sizes, he said. “The thing that makes a market successful is reliability,” Spielfogel said: There need to be enough vehicles to meet demand and bikes and scooters need to be where people need them, he explained.
“It feels like now, with two years of profitability under our belts, it's time to see what we're actually capable of achieving in cities,” Spielfogel said. In its press release, Lime said it plans to “explore new cities and business lines, expand AI-integrations into its business, launch a new vehicle type, and deepen its presence in existing cities.”
