Uber’s Jump bikes hit Sacramento with a bang. They’re going out with a ‘crunch’
Uber’s candy-red Jump rideshare bikes hit Sacramento streets two years ago with a bang, captivating thousands with their breezy style and motorized-oomph. Now, many of them are going out with a crunch.
Uber acknowledged this week it has been destroying a portion of its distinctive electric bike fleet as part of a company withdrawal from the app-based bike rental business in California. That industry, once booming, has been laid low by the coronavirus.
The bike dismantling, captured in social media videos and photos, has upset bike fans who say the devices should be donated to needy groups. But Uber, in an email, defended the scrapping as appropriate, given the complexities involved in maintaining and using the battery-charged electric bikes.
Uber removed its Jump e-bikes and e-scooters from Sacramento streets in mid-March, then announced it was essentially turning its business over to competitor Lime, which also dropped out of Sacramento in March but hopes to restart here soon.
“As part of our recent deal, Lime took possession of tens of thousands of new model Jump bikes and scooters,” Uber wrote. “We explored donating the remaining, older-model bikes, but given many significant issues — including maintenance, liability, safety concerns, and a lack of consumer-grade charging equipment — we decided the best approach was to responsibly recycle them.
“It’s our understanding that Lime has already begun deploying many of the bikes and scooters they’ve acquired from us, and will continue to do so in other markets.”
As part of the deal, San Francisco-based Uber said it and others invested $170 million in Lime.
A Lime spokesman said his company is in talks with the city of Sacramento about updating its permits to bring electric-motor assist bicycles and electric scooters back to local streets. That includes fees Lime must pay the city, and limitations on how many bikes and scooters can be introduced to city streets, as well as bike and scooter parking arrangements.
“Lime is committed to providing safe and affordable bike and scooter solutions for the communities we serve,” the company said in an email to The Bee on Thursday. “As part of the Jump acquisition, we took possession of tens of thousands of e-bikes — including the spare parts and tools to fix them — and have already begun to deploy them.
“We have not recycled any of the Jump e-bikes in our fleet and are committed to scaling and operating them during this critical time. Once the transaction officially closes, we plan to work with Uber to find sustainable ways to donate and re-use any remaining ebikes in their inventory.”
Another micro-mobility company, Berlin-based Tier Mobility, stepped in this week, saying it’s reconfirming a previous offer it made to Uber and Lime to take as many of the bikes as it can. In comments posted on Linkedin, CEO Lawrence Leuschner said his company would “repair them, and give them second life.”
“We believe that micro-mobility stands for sustainability and responsibility and not waste,” he wrote.
The move this spring by Uber to step away from bike rentals closed out a whirlwind two years in the fledgling business. Uber bought the innovative Jump brand in 2018 from its founding group, then last year announced a business plan to focus even more of its efforts on bike and scooter rentals, as well as the Uber Eats food delivery service, as supplements the company’s original app-based carshare franchise.
In the first quarter of this year, however, Uber lost $2.9 billion, according to an announcement to investors posted on its website. The company also announced it was laying off 3,700 employees, around 14 percent of its workforce. Uber’s move helps lower its operating costs and refocus the company on growing lines of revenue, such as its Uber Eats delivery service, officials said.
“While our rides business has been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, we have taken quick action to preserve the strength of our balance sheet, focus additional resources on Uber Eats, and prepare us for any recovery scenario,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said this month. “Along with the surge in food delivery, we are encouraged by the early signs we are seeing in markets that are beginning to open back up.”
Lime, the shareable bike and e-scooter company, has struggled as well during the pandemic. It suspended service in California, including Sacramento, in March. Lime also announced it is laying off 80 employees.
“Our company went from being on the eve of accomplishing an unprecedented milestone — the first next-generation micro-mobility company to reach profitability — to one where we had to pause operations in 99 percent of our markets worldwide to support cities’ efforts at social distancing,” outgoing CEO Brad Bao wrote at the time.
Uber, meanwhile, has been forced to publicly explain this week why it is destroying bikes instead of donating them to charities.
The company, in a press statement, said the bikes require “specialized technicians to maintain and charge these vehicles, which makes it difficult to donate en masse to organizations / individuals in need ... there is no consumer grade charging equipment for Jump bikes and scooters.”
Uber also said Lime “purchased a subset of Jump bikes and scooters, namely newer hardware versions,” and that Uber is responsible for recycling the older models via a process that shreds and separates the bike parts.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.