Lyft buys Citi Bike operator Motivate

Say hello, Lyft Bikes, and goodbye, Citi Bike as Lyft has acquired Citi Bike operator Motivate, the ride-hailing company announced Monday.

The service will be renamed Lyft Bikes.

By Nikki M. Mascali, Metro

Say hello, Lyft Bikes, and goodbye, Citi Bike as Lyft has acquired Citi Bike operator Motivate, the ride-hailing company announced Monday.

“Lyft and Motivate have both been committed for years to the same goal of reducing the need for personal car ownership by providing reliable and affordable ways to move around our cities,” John Zimmer, Lyft co-founder and president, said in a statement. “Bringing together Lyft and Motivate will accelerate our collaboration with cities and deliver even better experiences to our passengers and riders.”

[post_ads]As part of the acquisition, Lyft will take over Motivate’s technology and corporate functions, which include city contracts, the company said, while Motivate’s bike maintenance and service operations will stay a standalone business with the Motivate name and will continue supporting the bikeshare systems across the country.

Motivate is North America’s largest bikeshare operator, with New York’s beloved Citi Bike; Ford GoBike in the San Francisco Bay area; Divvy in Chicago; Blue Bikes in the Boston metro area; Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C.; Biketown in Portland, Oregon; CoGo in Columbus, Ohio, and Nice Ride in Minneapolis.

Lyft isn’t the first ride-hailing service to dip its toes into the world of two wheels as competitor Uber bought Jump back in April for approximately $200 million.

While financials of the Lyft-Motivate deal have not been disclosed, previous reports indicated the acquisition would be worth $250 million.