Cars, they’re great for driving through inclement weather where you’d be soaked if you walked, rode a bike, or an electric scooter. And it really reads like Lime straight up Columbus’d the car.
Lime, that loveable mobility company known for its electric scooters wreaking havoc on city streets across the United States just found a way to navigate city streets without suffering the effects of inclement weather (e.g. rain, wind, and the general cold,) the car. As per Tech Crunch on their report on the more than 50 cars they’ll be unleashing in Seattle earlier today (Nov. 14, 2018) Lime outfitted 2018 Fiat 500’s so they’re easily identifable on city streets and are rentable on their official lime app.
Check out a photo of what they’ve dubbed, The Limepod, below.
Lime calls these, and I wish I was joking, “a convenient, affordable, weather-resistant mobility solution for communities” pic.twitter.com/727FQmeTbl
— Christopher Mims 🎆 (@mims) November 14, 2018
Seattle is known for its year-round rainy season, and as such, cars are a perfect way to escape the weather when you need to get around. Seattle is also one of the few cities that seem to resonate with this new app-based technology although city officials have imposed limits, like any other city with electric scooters, where these scooters can ride.
Limepods are $1 to unlock and .40/mile to use. For example, a quick look on Google Maps reveals that the trip from Starbucks in Pikes Place to Whole Foods on Westlake Ave. takes 11 mins. In a Limepod, that’ll be a $5.40 trip to travel .8 miles. Then again, you escape the weather.
What’s hilarious about the whole thing is that the official statement from Lime makes it sound like they’ve discovered this new thing called the car for the first time. Here’s their quote.
“LimePods, Lime’s car-sharing product line, a convenient, affordable, weather-resistant mobility solution for communities,” a spokesperson for Lime said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. “The ease of use of finding, unlocking, and paying for cars will be consistent with how riders use Lime scooters and e-bikes today.”
Weather-resilient mobility? You’ve got to love that.
As this is a pilot program, I’ll be curious how well the public takes to these cars that seemingly anyone can unlock.
I’ll be sort of more curious to see how these cars will eventually be vandalized. Let’s face it, everyone’s not going to treat these cars with respect and some miscreants probably already have plans to come up with ways to steal and strip these cars, despite tracking software etc.
These aren’t scooters but cars that cost thousands, after all.
Source: Tech Crunch
As someone who has used the Limepods here in Seattle I welcome them. They are a bit cheaper than ReachNow and Car2Go and the fact that if those two are approved to merge they would have no competition in the free floating car sharing space in Seattle. Limes entry ensures that they have a competitor which will keep them hopefully from raising prices.