Lyft to enter bike sharing market with Motivate acquisition
Ride hailing firm Lyft has announced that it has agreed to acquire Motivate, the parent company of Citi Bike, in the aim of gaining a significant share in the fast-growing bike sharing market.
Motivate stands as the largest bike sharing operator across North America, with over 1.8mn trips having been completed on the company’s bikes in New York alone during May 2018.
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Further, the acquisition will serve to aid Lyft’s ongoing Green Cities Initiative and carbon neutrality pledge.
“Lyft and Motivate have both been committed for years to the same goal of reducing the need for personal car ownership by providing reliable and affordable ways to move around our cities,” said John Zimmer, Lyft Co-Founder and President. “Bringing together Lyft and Motivate will accelerate our collaboration with cities and deliver even better experiences to our passengers and riders.”
“How we get around cities is changing rapidly, and the combination of Lyft and Motivate will bring tremendous new resources and energy to making sure that bikeshare plays a fundamental role in the new urban mobility,” said Motivate Executive Chairman Steve Koch.
The news comes shortly after Lyft rival Uber’s acquisition of electric bike sharing company Jump for $200mn in April.
According to media reports, the deal between Lyft and Motivate could be valued at as much as $250mn.
