A ?once-in-a-generation opportunity ... to make our cities designed for people not cars.? Lyft made a big move yesterday to not only live up to its founders? lofty ideals, but to stake a claim as a more multimodal, sustainable transportation company that supports transit equity and safer streets.
In a Medium post, cofounders John Zimmer and Logan Green outlined Lyft?s new approach to integrating bikes and scooters into its suite of services, filling in details after announcing plans to purchase Motivate, the nation?s largest bikeshare operator, for $250 million earlier this month.
Lyft?s announcement offers the latest escalation in the battle of urban mobility, as companies jockey to become an ?Amazon of transportation? that can offer a variety of transit modes, and investors continue to sink millions into new car-free mobility options, such as dockless electric scooters. The overall goal, according to the founders, is to ?decouple people?s right to mobility from car ownership.? As part of its effort to reduce individual car ownership while raising the percentage of shared rides taken on the platform, Lyft plans to make scooters and bikes more accessible and complementary parts of its users? daily transportation plans.
To accomplish this, Lyft is making changes in the app and on the ground. Soon, updates to the app will allow users to access real-time transit information, find Lyft Scooters and Bikes, and plan multimodal trips. Ideally, this would mean helping us...