London, Paris, Parramatta: Lime to bring thousands of e-bikes to Sydney's west

Sydney Morning Herald

4 days ago

Share-bike company Lime is planning to drop thousands of e-bikes onto the streets of western Sydney in the coming months – but is yet to come to an agreement with local councils about how they will operate.
The California-based company, last valued at $780 million and backed by Uber and Google, has found major success in Sydney's east and CBD and is now betting on the appetite of western Sydney locals to sustain its growth.
Lime, which has emerged as the clear leader in Australia's once highly competitive and risky share bike market, is preparing to slowly roll out its service in Parramatta CBD and Sydney Olympic Park by the end of the year, representing its first significant expansion since its Sydney launch in 2018.
As part of the expansion, the company will release a new generation of e-bikes designed to address safety and accessibility issues present in the current fleet. The bikes will have smaller and thicker tires, a lower centre of gravity to prevent toppling, and an easier-to-use helmet lock that the company says will better enforce helmet use.
'Lime is going all-in on Sydney and western Sydney to ensure complete connectivity of the network, said Lime's head of Asia Pacific, William Peters, noting there had been a 'dramatic uptick' in usage of Lime bikes in Sydney over the past year.
'Global cities need three things for seamless transport: an airport, a metro system, and micromobility. Lime fills the last-mile gap.'
But the company's expansion plans were news to Parramatta's Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter, who said he had only heard through third parties that they were interested in launching in his council's area.
While he had heard 'whispers of them wanting to enter the market', there had been 'no direct discussion or correspondence as of yet', he said.