I’ve had Lime on my mind this week, and I’m not talking about the fruit but rather the little electric scooters that I’m seeing all over my town this summer. And let me preface this blog by saying that I’m writing about Lime specifically for no other reason than because this is the company with which I am most familiar and also my husband is enamored with their little electric scooters. From what I’ve heard there are similar offerings from other companies in other locations, but Lime is what’s familiar to me. If you’re not familiar with the concept, electric scooters are placed all over a town in popular public areas and anyone (meeting some basic requirements) can unlock a scooter using an app, ride it to their destination and leave it there for the next person who comes along to do the same.
The scooters seem to be exceedingly popular where I live in South Lake Tahoe, where it is not uncommon to see up to 50 people at a time riding along the main boulevard through town at any given time. The scooters provide a fun way to navigate the city for locals and tourists alike. As a part time Lyft driver people often initiate conversations with me about the scooters and will often tell me they rode one to or were planning to ride one back from their destination. While this might make me weary of a business that is in competition to a service I’m offering, I actually think it’s a really great environmentally friendly option for people to get around.
So, I was curious if there was any data on the environmental impact of this form of transportation. According to research by Lime, one out of every three trips on a Lime has been in lieu of a trip by car. They estimate that some 6,220 metric tons of carbon emissions have been prevented due to the 15 million miles of estimated car miles saved. This is a pretty amazing environmental contribution. It is also not the only way Lime is contributing to sustainability in my town. The Lime Hero program prompts users to make a voluntary donation to a leading local environmental organization, and a post ride survey allows the company to partner with our city government in collecting customer demographic information.
For a hotelier, another exciting opportunity that has been made available by this company is the Lime Hub. It allows businesses the opportunity to host Lime scooters at their location. This drives foot traffic to the location, and for a hotel is a great opportunity to provide an amenity to guests with no upfront investment required, and no ongoing maintenance concerns.
Lime has come a long way in the three seasons it has been in my area. From initially offering only conventional bikes, to now offering only electric scooters Lime has made transportation fun, taken vehicles off our busy roadways and at the same time supports a local environmental non-profit, and provides opportunities for local businesses to benefit as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what other eco-friendly “disruptive” forms of transportation might be in the pipeline from the Lime company.
What do you think? Would you ride an electric scooter, or host them at your business? I look forward to your comments.
Sabrina Siino's Sustainable Travel Blog 