Bike and Scooter Share Program

How To Ride

• Download the Lime app onto a smartphone with Android or iOS
• Using the app, follow the screen prompts to setup your session
• Pay for your session on the app with a debit or credit card (see the Equity/Affordability Questions tab below for more options and possible discounts)
• Ride!
• After you ride, park the vehicle in a designated parking zone to avoid further charges

Please look at the Safety Guidelines tab below for information on riding safely.

Who Can Ride

• Consistent with industry standards, 18 years old is the minimum age

What Can You Ride

• Standing e-Scooters from Lime
• Seated e-assist Bikes from Lime

When Can You Ride

Year round service will be provided. 

Program Service Area

Mobile GR established a program service area that’s approximately 12 square miles. This equals about 27% of the city’s land area and 74% of the Neighborhoods of Focus. Roughly 95,000 people live in the service area and it includes portions of all Corridor Improvements Authorities and the Downtown Development Authority boundaries.

The program service area was based on the service area analysis completed as part of the Bike Share Feasibility Study. People can ride outside of the program service area, but there aren’t virtual parking stations provided outside the service area.

Scooter and Bike Share Pilot Map(JPG, 331KB)

How does this reach residents in Neighborhoods of Focus?

The Neighborhoods of Focus(PDF, 2MB) consist of 17 Census Tracts with higher poverty, higher unemployment and lower rates of educational attainment than elsewhere in the City. They were originally determined in 2016 by research funded by the Kellogg Foundation. 

The program service area covers 74% of the Neighborhoods of Focus. For those residents living in Neighborhoods of Focus and throughout the city meeting certain income requirements, user fees are 50% of the standard fees.

To be eligible for discounted rates, provide proof of enrollment in city, state, or federally funded programs such as SNAP EBT, TANF, WIC, and HUD Housing Choice Section 8 Vouchers. 

User Fees

• Lime fees for both the stand-on e-scooters and e-assist bicycles are $1 to unlock plus 30 cents per minute.

• The City of Grand Rapids has worked with Lime to provide low-cost or free options for those who need them. All trips that are started within our Neighborhoods of Focus will receive a 30% discount on their trip fees.
  

  • The Lime Access program allows users with low incomes who apply to receive 50% off the standard rate 

    • Lime access is also available to college students with schools in the service area and they can learn more through their local institutions 

    • More information about Lime Access can be found at: https://www.li.me/why/community/lime-access

     

Access for Unbanked People

Lime assists people without bank accounts in obtaining reloadable debit/credit cards. Funds can then be added to the cards to rent scooters and bikes.

Access to Persons with Disabilities 

Vehicles appropriate for persons with various disabilities are not readily available with most shared scooter and bike services. Other systems have accommodated persons with disabilities by partnering with adaptive bicycling organizations. Some of the newer micromobility vehicles, like the seated scooter and e-assist trikes may allow more people to use a system, but they’re not specifically adaptive vehicles.

Language Options

English and Spanish language options are available on the Lime platform.

 Per the Michigan Secretary of State:

• Always ride WITH other traffic
• Obey the rules of the road as any other vehicle operator, including all traffic signs, lane markings and signals, and use hand signals to indicate turns, slowing or stopping
• Wear bicycle helmets and reflective clothing
• Stay as far to the right as practical when riding in traffic lanes
• Do not ride more than two abreast in a single lane, and only do so if it does not interfere with the normal flow of vehicular traffic
• Avoid entering the roadway without first stopping to look for vehicles
• Ride predictably and defensively, and do not ride while drunk or distracted
• Always yield to pedestrians
• Have a white front headlight and a red rear reflector if riding after dark or in low light conditions

Please visit li.me/respect-the-ride for more information on helmet access through Lime.

Please visit safety.li.me/covidsafety/ for more information on Lime's Covid response.

Purpose

Scooter and bike share (also called shared micromobility) services provide solo, low-cost transportation options on-demand. They are intended to connect with other transportation services like transit, parking, park-and-ride, and ride sharing. These services are especially important as we seek ways to support residents through the pandemic recovery. 

Shared micromobility services fill gaps in transportation options due to transit service changes, increased risks of carpooling and ride sharing, or the cost of personal automobile use. Service is available before and after current transit service hours to support trips to and from transit stops.

The pilot allowed us to evaluate:

1. How the availability of shared bicycles, e-scooters and other small vehicles impact travel across a range of demographic groups and geographic areas
2. How these vehicles and services can improve overall mobility, support “park once” strategies and complement transit service (The Rapid, DASH) and other travel modes
3. What types of bicycles, e-scooters and other shared micromobility vehicles increase non-automobile mobility
4. Approaches to managing scooter and bike parking between trips that provide convenience without impeding accessible pedestrian travel or diminishing the positive uses sidewalks and curbside zones
5. A “safe space” for testing and innovation around shared non-motorized and electric-assist micromobility options, such as bicycles (human-powered and electric-assist), e-scooters and other micromobility vehicles