As with the bikes, their app is the key to getting a ride, but the prices are much higher! Up to half an hour on the bike costs $1 (or $0.50 if you’re a student) here in Alameda. The electric scooters cost $1 to unlock, and then $0.15 per minute. So, assuming you ride for the full 30 minutes, the scooter will cost you $5.50.
Daily Commute
A daily commute for me is 10 minutes here in Alameda each way. That would be $5/day. Allowing for some days off etc, that’s around $1,000/year. For that, I could buy a new Micro Kickboard electric scooter of my own.
Even the bikes work out pretty expensive for regular use (assuming I could find one for both directions of my commute each day, it would work out at around $500/year).
While I think the idea of these bikes and scooters is great, I suspect that the current pricing model only really works for occasional users. A regular commuter would be much better off buying a bike or scooter.
Maybe LimeBike will add some kind of commuter friendly credit pre-purchase system, but unless the pricing drops dramatically from where it currently is, I can’t see these being an economic option for regular use.
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