Scoot(er) Over!
When I returned back to Emory at the start of the spring semester just a couple weeks ago, one of the first things I noticed was the conspicuous absence of the lime green and black and white electric scooters parked on practically every street corner throughout campus. At first I figured this absence was temporary — I could recall previous instances in which Limes and Birds had become scarce throughout campus before, only to reappear in even greater numbers within a couple of days.
Pretty soon, however, it became evident that this disappearance was permanent. According to a recent article published by Curbed Atlanta, earlier this month Lime (legally known as Neutron Holdings Inc.) made the decision to pull its operations from the city of Atlanta, in response to increasingly stringent rules and regulations imposed by the city regarding electronic scooter usage.
In August of this past year, for instance, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms enacted a nighttime ban on electric scooter use in the city from the hours of 9:00PM-4:00AM. This regulation was in response to four deaths involving electric scooter riders and collisions with motor vehicles throughout the city. Additionally, this past November the city’s Department of Public Works announced that they would be retroactively collecting impound fees for scooters that had been illegally parked on sidewalks or public rights of way — $75 per vehicle impounded and $25 per night of storage.
All in all, it appears these additional regulations posed too much of a burden on Lime in order for their operations to remain profitable. And it’s not just in Atlanta. The company also announced that they would stop operating in 11 of its other markets throughout the globe, including U.S. cities such as Phoenix and San Diego. According to the company’s co-founder and CEO Brad Bao, this large-scale exodus is part of a move towards profitability.
Started in 2017 as a way to offer users a cheap and easy transportation method for shorter trips, Lime has had to grapple with fierce competition from companies like Bird, Uber, and Lyft. They have also been faced with countless instances of scooter vandalism and varying levels of resistance from regulators throughout the country.
The case of Lime is a highly interesting case study, particularly regarding the importance of the logistical and financial planning required when starting your own business. Although it probably seemed like a genius idea at its conception — providing a cheap and fun alternative mode of transportation to commuters in congested cities — the company has had to encounter serious legal and competitive hurdles pretty much from Day 1.
As to whether Lime will succeed in their efforts to eventually turn a profit, I have no idea. However, I can’t say I’m not a little sad to see them go from Atlanta; though I would never have called myself a die-hard fan of e-scooters, I did enjoy the occasional zoom across campus, propelled by a sense of weightlessness.
Written By: Rurie Yi | IQ Associate
