Uber’s Electric Dockless Bike Share System Launching in Melbourne
Melbourne is about to see 400 dockless, bright red Jump ebikes on the roads of the inner city.
The city has already seen several failed bikeshare schemes, so upon hearing news of the new scheme, perhaps unsurprisingly, the comments from members of Melbourne’s general public were mainly negative or at lest sceptical.
However share ebikes have been proving much more successful and popular in cities around the world compared to non-power assist bikes.
The bikes will be electronically ‘geo-fenced’ to keep then within a just three Councils, the Cities of Melbourne, Port Phillip and Yarra. If riders go outside these areas their Uber account will receive a penalty charge.
The bikes will be on the road by March for what is currently being described as a 12 month trial.
The Jump bikes will be serviced by the social enterprise Good Cycles.
According to their website, Jump has either ebikes, e-scooters or both in 10 major cities across Europe, 18 in North America plus one each in Mexico, Canada and New Zealand.
Uber has invested heavily in ebikes and e-scooters. According to unconfirmed sources, they paid close to US$200 million (A$294 million) to acquire Jump on 9th April 2018.