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- Lyft pulled 1,000 electric bikes from its Citi Bikes fleet in New York in March after some users were injured due to a brake malfunction.
- Those pedal assist models won’t be returning until at least September, the company told Streetsblog NYC on Monday.
- It’s not clear if similar e-bike models in other cities where Lyft operates will also return by September.
- Lyft was not immediately available for comment.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Lyft‘s pledge to expand its fleet of electric, pedal assist bikes in New York’s Citi Bike fleet appears to be on the skids.
Streetsblog NYC reported Monday that the 1,000 bikes pulled by the ride-hailing operator in March will remain out of service until at least September 21 as the company fixes a brake issue that sent some users flying over the handlebars, according to a Lyft spokesperson.
When it purchased Motivate, the bike share operator behind similar systems in Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and other major American cities last year, Lyft pledged to invest $100 million in New York’s existing system, doubling it to nearly 40,000 bikes total — a tenth of which will be electric.
Lyft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. It’s not clear if pedal assist models in other cities where Lyft operates bikes will return by September 21 date.
"We expect pedal-assist bikes will return to the Citi Bike system this fall," a Lyft spokesperson told Streetsblog. "We’re confident that putting rider safety first is always the right decision, and we’re working hard to design a world-class pedal-assist bike that we know our riders will love."
Uber, which operates electric bike rentals through its Jump Bikes subsidiary, also experienced a similar issue with its brakes in March. However, a spokesperson told Streetsblog at the time that it had fixed the problem with a "power modulator" added to the braking system.
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Source: Business Insider – grapier@businessinsider.com (Graham Rapier)