Lime pulling out of 12 markets around the world, laying off staff

Submitted by paula on Fri, 01/10/2020 - 3:40pm

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - It was announced Thursday that Lime, the world's largest scooter sharing company and part of the South Lake Tahoe landscape, is pulling out of 12 markets and laying off staff as it struggles to become profitable.

At this time there are no plans to leave South Lake Tahoe, one of their very first markets when they rolled out rideshare bicycles.

"Tahoe is not affected by the Lime issues at this time," said the City's Communication Manager Chris Fiore.

"Part of realizing our vision to transform urban mobility is achieving financial independence; that is why we have shifted our primary focus to profitability," said CEO Brad Bao in a statement on Lime's website. "While the vast majority of our 120+ markets have adopted micromobility transportation solutions quickly and are profitable, there are select communities throughout the world where micromobility has evolved more slowly.

Lime is leaving about 10 percent of its markets including Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego and San Antonio in the United States; Linz, Austria in Europe; and Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Latin America.

Along with the market closures comes a reduction of 14 percent of staff.

In a call to corporate offices and the City of South Lake Tahoe, no information is available at this time if Tahoe is affected in the decision at Lime.

Even though in South Lake Tahoe just a few months a year, representatives have said they have been pleased with usage and the number of times people, both locals and visitors, use them.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting the Council is scheduled to vote on a share mobility ordinance that would be in place no matter the company bringing shared devices to South Lake Tahoe.

Lime brought only their scooters to South Lake Tahoe in 2019 after two years of bicycles. There has been no shortage of controversy around the shared mobility bike and scooters since their arrival, which brought the matter to City Council for an ordinance around their usage.