Seattle Shared Micromobility Trips Up 88% in Q1 2025
Lime Reports Record E-Scooter Trips in NYC, Prague bans e-scooter and e-bike parking in public spaces, Lyft to Acquire FREENOW and much more…
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What You Need to Know Today
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Seattle Shared Micromobility Trips Up 88%
In Q1 2025, shared micromobility trips in Seattle reached 1.45 million - an 88% increase compared to 770k trips in Q1 2024. For the full year of 2024, total trips rose to 6.28m, marking a 29% increase from 4.88m in 2023. Of these 2024 trips, 85% (approximately 5.33m) were completed on scooters, while the remaining 950k were bike trips. Lime emerged as the dominant operator, accounting for 93% of total trips and maintaining 79% of the micromobility fleet in the city.
Throwback Episode of Ride Review: Niu KQI-100F E-Scooter
Northern Trains to Upgrade Cycle Storage Facilities
In the UK, Northern Trains Limited is upgrading bike storage at seven stations across Lancashire, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire, replacing outdated facilities with free racks, short-term lockers, and long-term rentals. Northern has partnered with Voi to offer a 25% rail discount for e-bike/scooter users travelling to Liverpool Lime Street.
Lime Reports Record E-Scooter Trips in NYC
Lime recorded a record-breaking 169,800 e-scooter trips in Queens and the Bronx in March 2025, more than double the ridership from March 2024 and a 105% increase over February. Year-to-date, riders have taken over 380k trips, already surpassing the total 200k trips recorded in all of 2024. The city's e-scooter program, which launched at Bronx in 2021, expanded to Queens in 2024. Although parking concerns led to calls for a pause last year, the DOT responded by pledging to install more designated scooter corrals.
Prague Bans E-Scooter and E-Bike Parking in Public Spaces
Prague has banned e-scooter/e-bike parking in public spaces. Operators with a contract can use designated spots at €1/vehicle/month. Fines for violations range from €4 to €40 per vehicle. Privately owned vehicles can also be parked in these spots. The city will manually monitor compliance initially, transitioning to automated GPS tracking.
Lyft to Acquire FREENOW, Expanding into Europe
Lyft is acquiring German mobility app FREENOW from BMW and Mercedes-Benz for $197m, marking its entry into the European market and expanding beyond the U.S. and Canada. Set to close in late 2025, the deal will nearly double Lyft’s addressable market to over 300 billion annual trips and add $1.14B in gross bookings. FREENOW operates in nine European countries and 150 cities.
Here is a tweet thread on FREENOW’s 2023 financials.
New Operators in Faro for Shared E-Bikes
In Faro, Lime and Bolt won the tender to provide shared micromobility services, valid for two years. Lime will operate 350 e-scooters and 100 e-bikes, whereas Bolt will operate 350 e-scooters only. After 2 years, the license can be renewed annually for up to 4 years.
Cleveland City Promotes Micromobility with Infrastructure Boost
Over the next three years, 50 miles of protected bike lanes will be built in Cleveland. The city already has about 60 miles, and the plan is to build a network of over 250 miles. More than 150 parking meter poles will be converted into bike racks. The city is also installing over 70 shared mobility hubs for e-bikes and e-scooters.
Cogo Launches Cogo Pulse
Cogo has rolled out Cogo Pulse, a new feature that lets users schedule real-time notifications for specific vehicle types at chosen times and locations. The feature displays the nearest available ride on the lock screen, aiming to simplify trip planning. As part of its continued expansion, Cogo has also added Zeus Mobility to its list of integrated operators.
E-Bikes will be Introduced in Belfast
Belfast City Council has chosen Beryl Bikes as the bike operator for the city. Beryl will introduce 300 bikes and 100 e-bikes starting this summer. The Department of Infrastructure awarded £500k to the council specifically to add e-bikes to the fleet. The ongoing bike scheme will stay in place until Beryl takes over. The 60 docking stations will be gradually updated to fit 400 new bikes.
ValleyBike Relaunches with State Funding
The City of Northampton received a $990k grant from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to relaunch and expand the ValleyBike sharing program. The funding will cover two years of operations and help add new bikes and stations. ValleyBike is a municipally-owned bike-sharing system that currently includes 350 pedal-assist electric bikes across 79 stations. Drop Mobility handles day-to-day operations.
MME 2024 Recap: Retail Revolution: The Role of Big Box Stores in America’s Micromobility Market
At Micromobility Europe 2024, experts from the fields of law, insurance, distribution, and manufacturing discuss the road to retail for micromobility brands in the US.
On the Panel
Brandon Schuh, SVP & Head of Specialty Insurance, Christensen Group
Christy Mennen, Shareholder, Nilan Johnson Lewis
John Wackman, Shareholder, Nilan Johnson Lewis
Greg Appelhof, CEO, TradeHubb
Sieghart Michielsen, Director of International, NIU Technologies
California E-Bike Rebate Program Returns
The e-bike rebate program returns to California. In December, the program received huge interest and closed after receiving 1.5k applications. Eligible residents will receive a $2k voucher to buy an e-bike and its accessories. The application portal reopens on April 29, offering only 1k vouchers. The California Legislature allocated $7.5m to the e-bike incentive project.
Beryl Streamlines E-Bike Service in Plymouth
Beryl is refining its Plymouth e-bike service. 51 of 100 underused stations will be removed, although the number of bikes will remain at 450. The out-of-station parking fines may cost up to 105. Since the launch in 2023, 27.7k riders have made 213k trips.
NOWOS Raises €6m to Scale Battery Repair Across Europe
Dutch battery repair specialist NOWOS has secured €6m in equity funding, led by Shift4Good, with support from Fair Capital Impact Fund and Goeie Grutten Impact Fund. The company is also raising an additional €3m in debt financing. NOWOS will expand its repair network with new hubs in Poland (2025) and Germany (2026), adding to existing sites in the Netherlands, France, and the UK. The funding also supports development of a Battery Passport and scaling repair protocols to enable a Europe-wide battery reuse system.
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