It's no secret that Uber is trying to achieve absolute dominance in the realm of urban transportation - from its game-changing ridesharing app to boat sharing to futuristic on-demand flight. Lyft, Uber's primary competitor, has similar ambitions. "Our vision is to improve people's lives with the world's best transportation," Lyft co-founder John Zimmer has said.
Uber is now breaking into the world of bike-sharing. In April, Uber acquired bike-sharing startup JUMP for a rumored $200 million. The full acquisition followed a partnership forged between Uber and JUMP in January, in which Uber customers could use the app to rent JUMP bikes. Founded in 2010, JUMP offers dock-free bike-sharing in cities like San Francisco and Washington DC.
Uber now might also be trying to push rival Lyft out of its deal to acquire Motivate, the giant bike sharing-company that has operations in several major metropolitan areas in the US, including the Ford GoBike program in the San Francisco Bay area and Citibike in the New York City area. Motivate's bikes were used in 3.18 million trips in the last month alone, generating $100 million in revenue. Motivate has recently launched experiments in dockless bike-sharing and e-bike rentals.
Reports last week indicated that Lyft was pursuing a deal to acquire Motivate for at or above $250 million - roughly what Motivate raised in its most recent valuation. Neither Lyft nor Motivate publicly commented on the acquisition.
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment on the reports that Uber has made a takeover offer of its own.
Bike-sharing is trendy in the US. In 2017, tourists and commuters took 35 million bike sharing trips in 2017, up over 25% from 2016. There are eight major companies offering over 100 bike-sharing programs nationwide. "We're seeing bike-share, in the densest, most populated cities, become part of the urban fabric," says Motivate CEO Jay Walder. "It's no longer a niche or alternative, but a fundamental part of that." Technological advances have made bike-sharing easy to use at the same time as commuters are trying to avoid traffic jams, cut down on fuel costs, and limit their environmental impact.