In the discussion about carelessly parked e-scooters, the boss of the sharing provider Lime, Wayne Ting, also sees the cities and municipalities as having an obligation. “We’re doing a lot to make our platform better at this point and there’s still a lot to do,” Ting told the German Press Agency.
“But the second aspect is always infrastructure and regulation.” Lime has always advocated greater regulation by cities, he stressed. However, regulation in Germany must be targeted and non-discriminatory towards other shared modes of transport, but especially towards private cars.
problem of space in the cities
There is also a need for more parking spaces and more bike lanes on which rental bicycles and e-scooters have enough space next to cyclists. “I often get linked to photos on social media when someone is angry about an improperly parked e-bike,” Ting said.
“But no matter how the photo was taken: behind the e-bike you can always see one parked car behind the next.” The problem of space in the cities is not due to too many e-scooters or too many electric bikes, but to too many cars. A city like Berlin, for example, has around 1.2 million vehicles and significantly more parking spaces for them.
Lime itself is trying to use several measures to encourage users to use the vehicles correctly and, if necessary, to sanction them. The drivers would have to take photos of the parked scooters, and there would be fines if they were not parked properly. As a pilot, Lime is currently trying out sensors that determine whether someone is driving on the sidewalk. Then there could be a warning signal or the scooter could brake. Here one is still in the test phase, emphasized Ting.
Need for sharing vehicles not covered
Based in San Mateo, California, the company offers both electric bikes and e-scooters for hire on its platform. After the United States, Germany is the group’s second largest market, said Ting. In terms of sales, e-scooters are the more important business. The Lime boss sees the need for the sharing vehicles as far from being covered. “Demand is higher today than ever before, even considering the pre-pandemic years,” he said.
In Germany in particular, several providers have recently felt the intensified competitive conditions for the sharing and start-up market: The company Voi has now withdrawn its e-scooters from Germany. Berlin-based competitor Tier laid off hundreds of employees last year and switched its business strategy from growth to profitability. Lime boss Ting assumes that the market will continue to consolidate. “There are still a lot of vendors out there that are struggling,” he said.
Lime itself was profitable for the first time last year and was in the black at least before taxes, interest and depreciation on property, plant and equipment and intangible assets.
