Santa Monica will allow Lime Bird Lyft and JUMP to operate e-scooters

The city can permit Bird and Lime to every manage 750 scooters. Lyft and JUMP were granted permission to unharness 250 scooters every, likewise as five hundred bikes. In metropolis, that is equally launching a scooter pilot program this fall, town leaders selected Skip and speed as their official scooter suppliers.

Earlier this month, the committee had formally counsel ed to David Martin, the city’s director of designing and community development, that solely Lyft and JUMP receive permits. Lime and Bird, however, followed up in real time with a protest, asking their riders to talk out against the recommendations in hopes of reversing course. seems like that strategy was booming.

“Bird is honoured to own known as Santa Monica our home since we tend to 1st launched shared electrical scooters but twelve months past,” Bird founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden same during a statement. “We have a shared mission of reducing congestion and emissions, and appearance forward to continued partnering with the town and to serve our community. Bird is committed to providing Santa Monica residents and guests the accessible, equitable, and accountable transportation choice that they merit.”

“We’re excited to bring scooters and bikes to Santa Monica shortly,” a representative from JUMP Bikes same. “Our final goal is to scale back reliance on personal cars, and that we believe the simplest thanks to try this is to supply multiple modes of transportation — scooters, bikes, cars, transportation system and a lot of — in one app. We’ll still partner with cities within the right thanks to bring a lot of choices to a lot of individuals.”

And here’s what Lyft had to say: “We square measure excited to own been awarded permits for each bikes and scooters by the town of Santa Monica,” Lyft’s bike and scooter policy lead Carolingian Samponaro told TechCrunch. “The city’s call to collaborate with Lyft deepens a partnership which will scale back vehicle congestion, increase public transportation visits and supply just transportation solutions to any or all residents of Santa Monica.”

Lime failed to in real time reply to missive of invitation for comment. we'll update the story once we hear back. the opposite contenders for a Santa Monica shared-mobility permit: Hopr, Razor, Scoot, Skip, Spin, Cloud, Drop and Goin’ failed to receive permits and can not lawfully be able to operate scooters in Santa Monica.

Martin’s call to face by the committee’s recommendation is nice news for Lyft and Uber, that square measure already the dominant players within the ride-hailing area and square measure currently poised to dominate the scooter market likewise. It’s additionally price noting that Uber and Lime stricken a deal this summer which will involve Uber pasting its emblem on Lime scooters and finance $355 million within the company.

The city’s call was supported many factors, together with every company’s expertise operational shared quality devices, the company’s planned operations set up and therefore the company’s ability to launch operations during a timely manner. in addition, the committee took into consideration the company’s history with compliance with native law.

Bird has been a contentious company among Santa Monica town leaders thanks to the character of its entry. Taking a cue from Uber, Bird erupted onto the scene while not official permission. Granted, at the time, the town didn’t have a politician method for control bike-share and e-scooter startups.