Lyft doubles micromobility footprint with PBSC acquisition – TechCrunch

Lyft has signed an settlement to accumulate PBSC City Options, a Canadian provider for bikeshare tools in expertise, in a transfer that the corporate says will double its scale in micromobility.

The ride-hailing firm is on a mission to extend its micromobility footprint. Final month, Lyft partnered with Tier-owned Spin to deliver Spin’s electrical scooters to the Lyft app in 60 U.S. markets by the top of the 12 months. The PBSC acquisition, which Lyft introduced on Tuesday, will deliver to Lyft’s repertoire the corporate’s 7,500 stations and 95,000 bikes which are scattered all through 45 markets in 15 nations.

Lyft at the moment operates bikeshare in 10 cities, in addition to a scooter share in San Diego. Lyft expects this deal to deliver that quantity as much as 50.

“Forging a greater strategy to serve each cities and riders with the most effective bike and scooter sharing methods has lengthy been a part of our imaginative and prescient,” stated David Foster, head of transit, bikes and scooters at Lyft, in a press release. “Our settlement to accumulate PBSC will assist us ship world-class merchandise and experiences to riders within the largest cities around the globe within the coming decade.”

Preserving branding constant shouldn’t be troublesome with this purchase — Lyft’s docks and bikes are similar-looking to PBSC’s, which Lyft attributes to utilizing custom-made variations of PBSC’s {hardware} designs that they pioneered.

This isn’t the primary time Lyft has acquired a bikeshare firm. In 2018, Lyft acquired Inspire and all of its current contracts, together with Citi Bike in New York Metropolis. Citi Bike now has greater than 24,000 bikes which have seen over 28 million rides in 2021.

Whereas many bikeshare applications are free-floating, PBSC, like Lyft, has had a station-based strategy, which Lyft says creates predictability and order within the public proper of approach for pedestrians.

Lyft wouldn’t share the phrases of the deal, which is anticipated to shut by the top of the second quarter.