Uber is about to jump into Dallas with a brand-new rent-a-ride for this market: rechargeable electric bikes.
Jump, which Uber bought in April for $200 million, has filed an application with Dallas City Hall to bring 2,000 stationless e-bikes to town. The company is waiting for city staff to review and approve the permit, which would also include 2,000 Jump-branded electric scooters.
Chris Miller, Uber’s public policy manager for Texas, said the roll-out is expected early next year.
“It just makes sense in a city with a large population, a desire for innovation — and a lot of ground to cover,” Miller said.
City transportation officials have long expected the arrival of electric-pedal-assisted bikes, referring to them as a sort of sweet spot between the bikes that flooded the streets in the summer of 2017 and the seemingly ubiquitous electric scooters that have mostly replaced them in recent months. Riders still have to move their feet, but the motor does the hard work — and allows the bikes to hit speeds up to 20 mph.
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Uber’s Miller said Jump’s e-bikes are a “real commuter option” because they do so much of the hard work for the rider. In San Francisco, he said, riders pedal up to 2 miles on their Jump bikes; in Austin, where Jump made its debut in the summer, even farther.
Uber hasn’t set prices for Dallas yet. But in Austin, the cost is $1 for the first 5 minutes and 15 cents for every additional minute.
The e-bikes will arrive with scooters having supplanted the buck-an-hour bike as Dallas’ preferred mode of rented transportation. The city, once filled with 20,000 of the older bikes, now has just 1,000 — 500 from Lime, 500 from Garland-based VBikes.
In a year that saw e-scooters take over the city – eventually multiplying to more than 8,000 vehicles – seated e-scooters have arrived, and about 2,000 dockless bicycles are set to enter the fray.
Razor USA quietly recently rolled out new scooters with a cushioned seat and front-mounted basket.
Meanwhile, Uber’s micro-mobility arm Jump is planning to launch 2,000 e-bikes this month, the City of San Antonio confirmed. On top of that, Jump is applying to bring 2,000 scooters to the city.
“People probably have more experience riding bikes than scooters,” said John Jacks, who heads the City’s Center City Development and Operations department. “To use an old cliché, it’s just like riding a bike. … That may increase opportunities for some that would be hesitant to try a scooter.”
Jacks added the new Razor scooter model provides an additional option for scooter-averse riders because it’s similar to a bike.
“We’ll see if they prove to be more popular,” he said.
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If and when Jump launches in San Antonio, the City’s dockless vehicle fleet would eclipse Austin’s total. With e-scooter company Spin’s impending arrival, the total number of operators would climb to six – including Bird, Lime, Razor, and Blue Duck – and its total fleet would rise to about 12,600 vehicles, according to data provided by the City.
Gotta figure these things will be coming to Houston sooner or later. I hope Dallas and San Antonio do us the favor of figuring out what the regulatory structure should look like for these things. They will add something beneficial, mostly in that they will help to keep people out of cars for short trips, but safety for riders and pedestrians needs to be a priority. Also, we should try to make sure that people don’t throw scooters into the bayou, because that would be bad. Anyway, we’ll see how this goes, and how long it takes to come to our streets. Would you ride on one of these things?
I’m wondering about the liability the renter has for these things. Say I can find one, want to rent it, leave it when I have gotten to my destination, then it gets stolen. I’m the last reported renter. Won’t I be on the hook for the stolen scooter or bike?
I mean, this IS Houston, and people will steal anything. Based on the shopping carts that litter neighborhoods and bayou bottoms, it seems like the companies would have a major expense replacing bikes or scooters that just go missing if there is no lockable ‘dock station.’
The other consideration is, what if I can find a bike, but there is no docking station near the location I want to go to? I wouldn’t hop on a bike or scooter without knowing where I could safely leave it, to end my liability. Also, what happens if I have a flat tire, mid ride? I’ll have to walk the bike or scooter to the closest docking station? That seems fun, and requires me to know where multiple docking stations are.
I see those damn scooters all over the place tossed like litter in the near downtown parts of Dallas. Not a fan.