Uber looked at Motivate before Lyft – here's why he left

Lyft announced Monday the purchase of the bike sharing company behind New York Citi Bikes and San Francisco GoBikes for $ 250 million. But Uber had previously envisioned Motivate to expand its booming bicycle offering, but dropped out for the sake of Motivate's unionized workforce and city contracts, the person said. . A Uber-Motivate contract could have offered a significant advantage in bike sharing over Lyft, a rival sharing service.

Uber announced in April the purchase of the electric bike company Jump Bikes and Uber and Lyft They said that they want to be the main transportation platform of the future. Both companies have each increased their offerings in tandem while they are turning to IPOs. (Uber is still worth about four times the value of Lyft, however.)

Axios reported in June that Uber was eyeing Motivate, but the details of why the case collapsed – and why this could be a problematic business for Lyft – have not been previously reported.

Contracts. Motivate operates bunk bike sharing programs in eight US markets including New York, San Francisco and Chicago. Motivate's contracts with partner cities include a clause that allows cities to unilaterally terminate the program if the company is purchased, depending on the person, which would pose a threat to the company. risk too high for Uber. According to a Lyft-Motivate spokesperson, "The cities believe in our vision of growth and are delighted that Motivate's outstanding operations team remain in place. "

Unionized Workers. Motivate operates separate maintenance and servicing operations – which will remain stand-alone operations under the new ownership – some motivated workers who perform these tasks are unionized, which poses another problem for Uber, according to the person.

The structure of the workforce "opens a door to unions to organize Lyft much more aggressively," said the person.

Uber, for his part, a particularly heated past in terms of workers' rights The cabinet has already asked states and independent associations to provide benefits and forums for so-called workers in the labor economy.

But it is also repeatedly argued that his drivers are independent contractors rather than Uber employees, to unionize.