This year, two ride-hailing companies, Uber and Lyft, each acquired bikeshare companies in North America – the first time that we’ve seen such a move in the industry.

In July 2018, Lyft announced its intention to acquire Motivate, which operates many of the largest bikeshare systems in North America, including Citi Bike (New York), Ford GoBike (San Francisco Bay area), Divvy (Chicago), Blue Bikes (Boston metro area), Capital Bikeshare (Washington, D.C. metro area), BIKETOWN (Portland metro area), CoGo (Columbus, Ohio), and Nice Ride (Minneapolis).In April 2018, Uber acquired Jump Bikes, a dockless electric bikeshare system that operates 12,000 bikes in 40 cities around the world.

To shed light on these new developments, NABSA hosted a members-only webinar on July 24, facilitating a conversation between Lyft, Uber and bikeshare industry leaders to discuss visions that these ride-hailing companies have for bikeshare incorporation into their service platforms.

Here are your top three things to know about this new development for the industry.

What do these acquisitions mean for the bikeshare industry?

• NABSA sees the Uber and Lyft acquisitions as positive developments that represent an increased investment in the bikeshare industry. The data shown in NACTO’s 2017 report, which present a 19 percent increase in bikeshare ridership each year since 2015, prove that Americans want and need the affordable and accessible transportation option that bikeshare provides.
• The Uber and Lyft acquisitions allow for bikeshare to become more tightly woven into the shared mobility landscape. By increasing access to mobility options, NABSA and its members can reach more people in communities across North America. Bikeshare and ride-sharing services can also work simultaneously to reduce car ownership and traffic.
• As bikeshare users are multimodal, the Uber and Lyft acquisitions offer a seamless opportunity for transportation integration. Providing access to both bikeshare and ride-sharing services in a single app allows for a seamless user experience. It also accommodates for a wide array of trips from long to short. With an easier, bundled user experience, we expect to see an increase in bikeshare ridership.

Be sure to check out the members-only Knowledge Share database for a recording of the webinar and more opportunities to learn about other new developments in the bikeshare industry. (Want access, but not a member? Consider joining NABSA!)