LimeBike: You can now hire Lime electric bikes in Sydney

E-bikes for hire have appeared without any fanfare around central Sydney.

Electric bikes on Chalmers Street, near Sydney's Central Station.

Fancy a ride on an electric bike? You can now hire them on the streets of Sydney, with US start-up LimeBike making 300 Lime e-bikes available in Sydney’s CBD so far.

We spotted four new Lime electric bikes at Chalmers Street, near the city’s Central Station, and they’ve been seen at lots of other locations. They use rear hub electric motors to propel riders.

The e-bikes for hire have appeared in Sydney without any fanfare although Sydney City Council is aware of them and on-side. “Bike share is an important sustainable transport option for Sydney that can help keep our city moving,” a City of Sydney spokesman says.

“Lime has committed to operating within the guidelines developed by inner Sydney councils last year. We expect responsible and safe deployment and parking of bikes, and rider education,” he said.

Lime Director of Government Affairs and Strategy in ANZ, Mitchell Price says Lime has worked closely with local authorities and stakeholders to ensure the bikes compliment Sydney’s transport network.

“Lime’s electric bikes have become hugely popular in cities, similar to Sydney, such as Seattle, whose community is looking for cleaner, cheaper and more accessible transportation,” he says, adding that electric bikes increase the accessibility of public transport so people rely less on personal cars.

“Sydney’s need for innovative transport solutions, which cater to the first and last mile, gives us confidence we will see high uptake of Lime electric bikes within the community,” he says.

Lime says it has distributed 300 bikes within the Sydney city-centre this week; it will gradually increase product availability in response to market demand.

The bikes have a lithium battery, which Lime says is replaced every two days by operational staff. The e-bikes allows users to ride at speeds up to 23.8km/h, even when faced with hilly terrain.

Lime says it has engaged a local team of 50 operations specialists and mechanics in Sydney to respond to customer inquiries. It says local employment is a key aspect of the Sydney launch.

It’s unlikely these bikes will be the same litter problem created by the cheap hire bikes earlier this year. E-bikes are more expensive and with batteries requiring regular charging, Lime needs to keep a close eye on their whereabouts.

The company generally offers electric and pedal bikes, and electric scooters, but in Australia, laws prevent electric scooters going on the roads in some states. Lime says it showcased its electric scooters as a travel solution to attendees of this week’s Melbourne Cup festivities in Sydney and Melbourne.

It also launched a three-month electric scooter pilot at Melbourne’s Monash University earlier this week. Additionally Lime says it is investing more than $US3 million globally to reinforce the importance of rider safety and responsibility.

Lime told The Australian that it is in talks with local authorities around Australia to roll out not only the e-bikes but electric scooters, but there’s no specific announcement of new cities at this time.

In Sydney, Lime-E (e-bikes) cost $1 to unlock and 30 cents per minute to ride. A 20 minute ride would cost you $7 and you can go a long way on an e-bike in that time.

You use the Lime app to locate bikes, unlock them and pay for their use, as you would for the earlier bike services.

While Lime is just entering Australia, the Silicon Valley company is well established overseas with a reported $US1bn valuation. In July it announced it had raised $US335 million to continue its development.

Currently Lime bikes and scooters are available in more than 100 markets. They include dozens of US cities, along with cities in Austria, France, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Mexico, Switzerland, and in around 30 US campuses.

In the US Lime has also announced a partnership with Uber which allows users to locate both Uber vehicles and Lime bikes in the Uber app. Lime says users have clocked up more than 17 million rides in 18 months.

Lime was founded by Toby Sun and Brad Bao and began operating last year.

Government meanwhile is looking to regulation to avoid a re-run of the earlier hire bikes debacle, where they were dumped everywhere around cities.

The council spokesman says the NSW government has promised legislation to help landholders manage share bikes, and consulted stakeholders on an enforceable code of practice. “We are looking forward to seeing the regulations and how they will practically apply in Sydney.”