Over 156,000 trips completed on Lime e-bike share on the North Shore

156,000 trips completed on Lime e-bike share on the North Shore after two years

Lime e-bike share at Lonsdale in North Vancouver (City of North Vancouver)

After two full years of operations, Lime’s e-bike public share service on the North Shore of Metro Vancouver has recorded a total of over 156,000 trips.

That figure is based on the new data shared by Lime with the City of North Vancouver upon the conclusion of the two-year pilot project in August 2023.

City staff are recommending Lime’s contract, which is currently slated to expire at the end of December 2023, be extended for up to another 12 months beginning at the very start of 2024.

This extension will enable the continuity of an e-bike public share service and the transition to a future permanent operation, with the procurement process potentially reopened based on the learnings gained from the pilot project and to consider alternative or additional operators.

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Lime launched in the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver in July 2021, and it further expanded into the jurisdiction of the District of West Vancouver in July 2022. The City of North Vancouver managed the contract and led oversight on behalf of the two other North Shore municipalities.

The selected bike share fleet of 100% electric-assist bikes strategically makes it an easier and more comfortable experience for traversing the North Shore’s steep inclines.

According to the data, 70% of the e-bike share trips were made within North Vancouver City, 19% within North Vancouver District, and 11% within West Vancouver.

As can be expected, the most popular areas for the service entail The Shipyards on the Lonsdale waterfront, Lower Lonsdale, Central Lonsdale, and the Ambleside waterfront.

Currently, the North Shore has 96 Lime “groves” — marked areas where users can start and end their e-bike device. This includes 60 groves within North Vancouver City, 23 groves within North Vancouver District, and 13 groves within West Vancouver.

The third quarter of 2022 saw the most ridership on a quarterly basis, with 31,000 trips recorded between July and September 2022. This was up from 21,000 trips over the same period in 2021 after launch.

Strong use was also recorded in the most recent quarters, with 28,000 trips made in the second quarter of 2023 and 29,000 trips within the third quarter of 2023.

Lime e-bike share grove. (City of North Vancouver)

While Lime makes a seasonal full retreat in Canadian markets that see prolonged sub-zero, snowy, and icy conditions, its services on the North Shore are year-round, albeit the company reduces the size of its deployed fleet due to the weather-induced seasonal change in demand.

Wintertime ridership in the first quarters of 2021 and 2022 each hovered at 13,000 to 14,000 trips. Roughly between 100 and 200 e-bikes were deployed at any given time during these winter quarters.

For the fall seasons, when roughly over 100 e-bikes were deployed, the ridership volumes hovered between 13,000 and 14,000 for each of the fourth quarters of 2021 and 2022.

In August 2023, Lime made a record deployment of 435 e-bikes — up from 151 e-bikes at the start of Spring 2023. The deployed fleet size ebbed and flowed with the changing seasons.

The median trip distance was two km per trip, and the median trip duration was 12 minutes per trip. About 33% of trips occurred over weekends, with the majority of 66% over weekdays.

Based on user surveys, social outings were the top reason for the trips (32%), followed by recreational (20%), personal business (17%), commute to/from work (13%), and shopping (10%).

About 33% of the e-bike share trips replaced car trips, but the activities only accounted for 3% of trips being new trips that would not have been taken otherwise. As well, 63% of user survey respondents said they used Lime’s devices to connect to TransLink’s public transit services, and 72% indicated they are more likely to use public transit when e-bike public share services are available.

Respondents also said the top barriers to using Lime’s e-bike share services were its “expensive” rates and “not enough” e-bikes and groves.

After two years of operations, Lime has seen over 35,000 unique users on its North Shore service, including over 3,400 frequent users who made 10 trips or more. Frequent users accounted for 60% of the total trips.

Within Metro Vancouver, the San Francisco-based multinational micro-mobility giant also operates e-bike and e-scooter public shares services in Richmond and more recently in Coquitlam.

Daily Hive Urbanized recently conducted a one-on-one, sit-down interview with Lime CEO Wayne Ting on the potential of Canada’s micro-mobility landscape. Click here for the full interview.

Lime CEO Wayne Ting in Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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