Key Events Timeline

Key Events Timeline



2nd Jul 2018

Lyft acquires Motivate

By acquiring Motivate, a bikeshare operator with fleets established in New York City, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Lyft enters the bikesharing business in a bid to rival Uber (Source).

Lyft's acquistion of Motivate was closely preceded by the company successfully raising $600 million in Series I funding, bumping its valuation to $15.1 billion at the time (comparatively humbling next to its closest competitor, Uber, whose valuation was estimated at $62 billion) (Source).

Stonks
14th Apr 2019

E-bike woes

Shortly upon deploying its hybrid pedal-assist ebike fleet, Lyft recalled all of its 2,500 e-bikes across Washington D.C., New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area, due to safety concerns due to braking issues (Source).

7th Jun 2019

Lyft sues San Francisco

Lyft filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) on the basis that the 10-year exclusivity contract between the company and the city precluded competitors, most notably Uber's JUMP bikes, from entering the bikesharing market. SFMTA argued that Lyft’s exclusivity agreement only covered bikeshare services with sidewalk-adjacent stations or docks, allowing competitors to offer dockless bikesharing options (Source).

10th Jun 2019

Rebranding to Bay Wheels

Lyft's public-private partnership of its bikesharing service throughout the San Francisco Bay Area is rebranded from Ford GoBikes to Bay Wheels (Source).

In the meantime, Lyft planned to reintroduce its e-bike fleets in San Francisco within the month, as JUMP dockless e-bike pilot rollout came to an end (Source).

31st Jul 2019

More E-bike woes

Lyft recalls once more its e-bike fleet from San Francisco's streets following reported incidents of e-bike's batteries catching fire, less than a month after the relaunch of its e-bike fleet (Source).

July hadn't been all grim for Bay Wheels, as SFMTA had granted an interim permit for Lyft to deploy its dockless e-bike fleet in spite of an ongoing legal dispute between both parties. The court in the meantime had approved a preliminary injunction in Lyft's favor, preventing SFMTA from issuing permits to competing operators (Source).

23rd Dec 2019

Resolutions

For the third time in 2019, Lyft redeployed its e-bike fleet (although a new hybrid version capable of both dock and dockless parking), stemming from an agreed upon court settlement with SFMTA to roll out 4,000 bikes by the end of April 2020 (Source). The settlement also cemented Lyft's contract clause of "right of first offer" with the city to expand its bikeshare coverage and its fleet, effectively putting a stop to the ambitions of Uber's JUMP Bike (Source).

18th May 2020

Game over for Uber

JUMP Bikes officially sunsets its service, days before the expiration of its bikeshare permit, and removes its entire fleet from the city's streets; leaving Bay Wheels are the sole bikeshare operator standing (Source).

6th Jun 2021

A New Generation of e-bikes

Bay Wheels unveils a new generation of e-bikes (Source).

New gen Bay Wheels e-bike
23rd Sep 2021

New rates for e-bike rides

Bay Wheels changes its overage fees for its ebike rides, as well as the per minute riding fee for e-bike rides (Source).

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