Are We Still Doing Scooters?

Lime says people are scooting more than ever, but providing urban transit is a hard way to make unicorn-level profits

- By Ira Boudway

When Covid-19 first struck in early 2020, it hit Lime hard. The electric scooter-sharing startup was forced to pause service in most of the more than 100 cities where it operated worldwide. At one point it was within a few months of running out of cash.

But for a company trying to get people to rethink the way they get around each day, the massive disruption may have been a blessing in disguise, according to Chief Executive Officer Wayne Ting. “When people change their transportation routines, usually it’s because they move homes or change jobs,” he says. “With Covid, it’s almost as if the whole world changed homes or moved jobs.”