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Lime wants its e-scooters to challenge Citi Bikes for supremacy on New York City streets.

For the last five years, Lime’s zippy little two-wheelers have been limited to specific areas of Eastern Queens and the Northeast Bronx, where Citi Bike doesn’t operate. Lime is one of three companies participating in a pilot program to test how the e-scooter-shares could work in New York City.

Now, Lime thinks it’s earned the right to expand. This week, the company released a report by NYU's Rudin Center for Transportation Policy that found the scooters have filled in a major transportation gap in neighborhoods that aren't near a subway station. It said the service is popular, with ridership in the Queens section e-scooter pilot — which also includes the companies Veo and Bird — nearly doubling to 648,000 total rides from 2024 to 2025.

The company says it tries to prevent scooters from blocking sidewalks by designating parking spaces where users are required to leave the scooters.

Lime executives say the report justifies a meeting with members of the Mamdani administration to talk expansion. Under the 2020 law legalizing the e-scooters, the city transportation department has the authority to allow Lime to roll out the scooters anywhere in the city outside of Manhattan.

Josh Meltzer, Lime’s head of public policy and government affairs, said the expansion is necessary to bring competition to Citi Bike, which has a micromobility monopoly in much of the city. He argued the report shows the e-scooters could be “a complement” to both mass transit and Citi Bikes.

The Lime system allows for users to pick up and drop off e-scooters for minute-by-minute rental through an app. The setup is similar to Citi Bikes, but the scooters don’t require docking infrastructure.

The cost of each service is comparable. A 30-minute ride on one of Citi Bike’s e-bikes costs $17.29 without a membership. The same trip on a Lime scooter costs $16. Both companies offer a subscription program for lower rates.

Jamaica resident Mukabbir Tamim said Lime has shortened his commute to work at JFK Airport. He commutes on an e-scooter every day for 15 minutes to get between his home in the neighborhood to the AirTrain station at Jamaica Terminal.

“Sometimes I’m late and it’s very useful,” Mukkabir, 24, said on his way to work this week. “The bus is taking so long and it’s better [to take a] Lime.”

The NYU report commissioned by Lime recommends the city allow e-scooter rentals to roll out in areas near subway stations and express bus stops. It also urges the DOT to add more bike lanes between transit hubs and residential streets to make the service safer to use.

NYC transportation news this week

Dream day for the MTA’s “biggest fans.” The transit agency let more than a dozen children with autism drive trains using sophisticated simulators at Grand Central Terminal last week. The event, which was part of the MTA’s annual celebration of Autism Awareness Month, also included a tour of a vintage bus.

A more park-like Park Avenue? The city’s transportation department this week released new designs for an overhaul of Park Avenue north of the MetLife building up to East 57th Street that would widen its pedestrian medians by removing a traffic lane in each direction.

LIRR’s pending strike. The MTA said it’s preparing a fleet of shuttle buses ahead of a potential Long Island Rail Road workers strike. The transit agency and unions are currently deadlocked over pay increases and changes to work rules.

G train shutdowns. Brooklyn lawmakers this week decried an MTA plan to close sections of the G train on 10 weekends through the end of the year in order to make upgrades to the line.

Flatbush Avenue bus upgrades. City officials broke ground this week on two-way bus lanes in the middle of the traffic-jammed stretch of Flatbush Avenue between Downtown Brooklyn and Grand Army Plaza.

Tarmac safety. The Port Authority said it plans to expand transponder technology on its rescue vehicles after one was missing from the fire truck involved in last month’s deadly crash at LaGuardia Airport.

Curious Commuter

Question from Julia in Brooklyn:

Why are people allowed to broadcast their religious beliefs with a mic and speakers in subway stations? Does the MTA formally allow this or just look the other way? I notice it most frequently on my morning commute through 14th Street-Union Square.

Answer

The MTA’s rules of conduct specifically ban “the use on subway platforms of amplification devices of any kind, electronic or otherwise.” MTA spokesperson Tim Minton noted in an email the NYPD "enforces laws and regulations in the subway system." The NYPD has ramped up quality of life enforcement in recent months, particularly homeless people who sleep on subway cars. Still, the MTA does allow people to preach in the subways, distribute leaflets and campaign for political issues, as long as it isn’t done with amplification.