Public launch party for LimeBike in South Lake Tahoe

LimeBike, the bike sharing service that was in South Lake Tahoe in 2017, is officially back for the summer, and to mark the occasion there will be a public launch party on Sunday, May 27 from noon to 3:00 p.m. on Ski Run Boulevard. Enjoy free rides trying out LimeBike's dockless bike share system. Meet at Ski Run Marina or Over the Edge Sports.

All launch party participants can enjoy discounts at Blue Angle Cafe.

In July, 2017, LimeBike brought 200 of the lime green colored single speed bikes to town, but it wasn't without controversy. Many found the dockless bikes in the way or bothersome, and easy to vandalize by tossing into the lake or hang them from a tree. But many found them to be a benefit to a vacation in South Lake Tahoe. In 2017, there were over 12,000 trips made on a LimeBike by over 6,000 users last summer in South Lake Tahoe. The average trip was 10 minutes long and covered 1.1 miles.

Sam Dreiman, Manager of Strategic Development for LimeBike, recently told City Council that 300,000 calories were burned on the bikes locally last summer, or the equivalent of 530 Big Macs. Better yet were the vehicle miles saved. With over 6,600 fewer miles made by car, over 5,300 pounds of carbon dioxide was kept out of the atmosphere.

The concept is easy. One downloads their smart phone app, and when they come across one of the brightly colored bicycles they can scan the bar code on the bike and ride off with for a cost of $1 for 30 minutes. If there isn't a bike right in front of the user they can use the app to find the closest one.

This year they will be adding Lime-S, a scooters powered by electric battery that will go up to 15 mph and have a range of 37 miles. They will cost $1 to unlock and 15 cents per minute of riding time.

South Lake Tahoe was the first city in California to carry the LimeBike, and it has now spread across the country, including Reno and Sparks, Nevada.

Find your way around Lake Tahoe using the Lake Tahoe Bicycle Coalition’s online bike map, and stop by any of Tahoe’s visitor centers or bike shops to pick up their printed bike maps.