Uber Bike: 250 self-service e-bikes in San Francisco

Acting like a test Uber Bike offers 250 self-service e-bikes in San Francisco.

Following Uber or Uber Eats, the Californian giant continues to expand its offering and has just announced the creation of Uber Bike, a new service dedicated to shared electric bikes.

Presented as a "first step", the device entered service in San Francisco is still in the experimental stage. Created in partnership with Jump, a shared bike startup, it offers 250 self-service electric bikes.

Once again, the mobile app is at the heart of the Uber device. This makes it possible to geolocate available bikes and reserve them in a few clicks using a “free float” system that allows users to pick up and drop bikes anywhere in a defined area without having to go through a fixed station.

In terms of pricing, Uber Bike e-bikes are offered for two dollars per 30 minutes of use. The city of San Francisco, associated with the project, set the observation period at nine months. It is enough to test the service and think about doubling the fleet if the results are convincing.

For Uber, this new offering adds to the historical activity of the VTC. "" This fits into the broader vision that many modes of transportation can find their place in the Uber app. There are many places and routes where renting a bike for several tens of minutes is cheaper and more efficient than booking a ride. " An Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. If the San Francisco experiment works, there is no doubt that Uber will try to replicate it in other American cities. Why not in Europe ...