Well-funded mobility startup Lime has announced a new weekly subscription plan that gives users unlimited unlocks for electric scooters and bikes. LimePass, as the subscription is called, has been offered as part of a beta test in a handful of U.S. cities since March, but from today it’s rolling out across the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand, with more countries planned for early January.
The electric scooter market is hot, with VC-backed startups proliferating in cities around the world. In the past two months alone, Santa Monica-based Bird has raised $275 million at a $2.5 billion valuation, Berlin-based Tier Mobility raised $60 million, Sweden’s Voi nabbed $85 million, and Superpedestrian secured $20 million. Now Lime is launching LimePass to encourage riders to lock themselves into its service.
Priced at $4.99 per week in most U.S. cities, LimePass will save users the typical $1 unlock fee, meaning the weekly subscription will pay for itself after five rides. To activate LimePass, tap the menu icon in the top-left hand corner and follow the prompts. For now, LimePass doesn’t renew automatically, so users will have to manually pay through the app each week — and it’s worth noting that riders still have to pay the usage charge, which comes to around 15 cents per minute.
Above: LimePass weekly subscription
San Mateo-based Lime, which recently raised a whopping $310 million at a $2.4 billion valuation and claims big-name backers like Uber and Alphabet’s GV, is among the first of the micromobility companies to offer a weekly subscription service. But subscriptions in general are a growing trend across the urban mobility spectrum, with both Lyft and Uber now offering monthly passes. In fact, Uber is currently trialing an all-in-one subscription that covers car-hailing, food delivery, and bike and scooter rides.
Lime says nearly half of its riders use the service to commute to work or school. LimePass should help them save at least $5 each week, assuming they use a Lime scooter or bike to traverse both directions on weekdays — obviously the savings will be more if they use a Lime scooter or bike several times throughout a day and on weekends.
