Lime launches free-floating car-share service in Seattle

Bike-share and electric scooter company Lime has launched a ‘free-floating’ car-share service in Seattle and intends to make 1,500 vehicles available in early 2019.
%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external <br />Bloomberg false https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-13/lime-wants-to-spread-1-500-shared-cars-around-seattle true false%> says the company has deployed 50 Lime-branded vehicles and intends to increase this number to 500 by the end of the year.

Users can unlock a LimePod vehicle, a customised two-door 1674 Fiat 500, via the company’s app for $1 and are charged 40 cents per minute while driving.

Toby Sun, Lime’s chief executive officer, says the company is also hoping to deploy the service in an unnamed city in California.

Lime is not the only company moving into the US ‘free-floating’ car-share space. In %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external October false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/groupe-psa-trials-car-sharing-service-in-washington-dc/ false false%>, French car manufacturer Groupe PSA confirmed its intention to deploy a fleet 600 vehicles in Washington, DC.  

This pilot coincided with Maven’s%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external announcement false http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/transmart/news/maven-expands-peer-to-peer-car-share-service/ false false%> to expand its peer-to-peer car-share service in Washington, DC – and other US cities - by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Communauto also received a %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external permit false http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/utc/news/communauto-receives-permit-for-car-share-project-in-toronto/ false false%> to deploy a car-share service of 200 vehicles.