Lime is rolling out its Lime-S e-scooters in Little Rock’s River Market community as part of its exclusive 6-month pilot program with the city starting Tuesday, January 8.
The pilot program, which was championed by former Mayor Mark Stodola, will allow for the deployment of up to 500 scooters throughout the downtown area in the coming months, starting with initial deployment in River Market.
“Little Rock is wide open,” said Kris Alborz, the city launcher for Lime, that uses a phone app to locate and unlock the motorized scooters. “It's a dollar to unlock, 15 cents every minute after that and once you're done riding you find a nice location to park it, you lock it back up with the app and you go on your way.”
Vandalism has been a problem in other cities, with shared bikes and scooters left in piles and damaged. Lime and its competitors are working through the bumps in the road. Locally, Little Rock will have to sort out various laws and ordinances, like whether the scooter is more of a bike or a skateboard. One is required to be on the street (bike, golf cart), the other has to stay off the street (skateboard).
These are things former Stodola saw coming when he started hearing sales pitches last year.
“I think this is a great opportunity to minimize the congestion issues that we are seeing,” he said, more than a week after his term ended at City Hall. “People are going to have to be respectful of pedestrians, cyclists, people in vehicles and if we can get all get along together it should be a great addition to our city.”
To make sure scooters are parked responsibly throughout Little Rock, Lime employees and local “juicers” will be collecting them on a daily basis, charging them overnight and redistributing them the next day in approved areas so that they are on the sidewalks fully charged, maintained, and ready to be ridden every morning. This also helps ensure they are stood upright and parked responsibly so that they do not block pedestrian right-of-way or obstruct any sidewalks or roadways.
Like Uber and Lyft, who are also dabbling in the bike/scooter sharing arena, there is a side-hustle element to Lime. People can apply to become one of those “juicers” in the app or at the company’s website.
Lime currently operates in over 100+ markets in five continents and is the largest shared bike and scooter provider in the U.S. Over 26 million rides have already taken place on the Lime platform since first launching in June 2017. Leading competitor Bird operates on a smaller scale in Russellville.
Helmets are not required in Arkansas, but Alborz points out Lime, both in the app and in its policy highly encourages riders to use them.
All of Lime’s scooters are GPS and 3G-enabled, making it simple for riders to find, unlock and pick up a nearby scooter using their smartphone. When the ride is finished, riders simply end the ride with the Lime mobile app and responsibly park by the street curb or at a bike rack.
Lime-S riders must be 18 years or older and have a valid driver’s license. All safety and proper riding information can also be found in the app.