Lyft wins major shared bike win in San Francisco court



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Lyft won a major victory in court for its bike rental service last week.

A San Francisco judge said Thursday that Motivate, the self-service bicycle operator Lyft had bought a year ago, had the exclusive right to rent bikes at berth and without a dock in town.

The preliminary ruling in the case, originally filed by Lyft in June when the city began soliciting bids for bike rentals without a dock, also indicates that Lyft has the "first offer" on e-bikes.

And although the decision does not necessarily mean that Lyft's newly reintroduced electric bicycles will be the only electric bikes in San Francisco, this decision could prove to be a big wind-down for the company.

"It's a great thing for Lyft because they put a bigger barrier around their SF backyard," said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, at Business Insider.

"This is the last mile and this decision was a major step in the right direction for Lyft's ecosystem to further penetrate this market opportunity." outcome of this decision and Lyft emerged victorious, "Ives said.

Read more: One of the biggest scooter companies that invades cities around the world would have lost $ 100 million in three months – and wants to raise even more money

Lyft does not disclose individual metrics for its bike and scooter business, but Wall Street analysts believe this could be beneficial in the long run as the company seeks to increase the total number of bikes and scooters. 39 users and travel, especially since the company's contracts in other major cities. are likewise exclusive.

"We believe that increasing the number of use cases on Lyft, including via options such as shared routes and bikes and scooters, can drive more active cyclists," JPMorgan said in a statement. research note earlier this summer.

A spokesman for Lyft said the company was planning to expand its electric bike program, which also swept the streets of East Bay, about 20 kilometers from San Francisco, last week.

"We are pleased that the judge agrees with our position and looks forward to going forward," the spokesman said. "We are ready to deploy our new hybrid electric bikes immediately in San Francisco and are waiting for the green light from SFMTA."

A San Francisco City lawyer told Courthouse News that the city hoped that the presence of several operators would avoid another situation similar to that occurred in April, when a brake problem forced Lyft to remove his electric bicycles from San Francisco. New York.

"We want to make sure that the system is not entirely composed of a type of bicycles provided by Lyft," said Deputy Attorney Kenneth Walczak at Courthouse News. "We want to make sure residents have access to options."

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