Norfolk launching e-bike rental program using Lime

Norfolk — Norfolk’s bike-share program will return this summer, this time backed by the same group that manages the city’s electric scooter rentals.

Starting in June, Lime will begin rolling out hundreds of rentable electronic bicycles onto the streets of Norfolk, using the same smartphone app for the bikes as it does for scooter rentals.

The city signed a new five-year contract for bike rentals with the company, which has provided electric scooter rentals since 2019.

Lime will be filling the gap left by Zagster, which Norfolk brought in to run its Pace Bikes program in 2018.

The company pulled out just before the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, telling the city its wasn’t making enough money to sustain the program in the city of Norfolk.

The city’s contract with Lime allows for up to 500 bikes on the streets at once, though the San Francisco-based company will start with fewer and ramp up to keep pace with demand.

Currently, Lime has 1,250 scooters deployed in Norfolk and has tracked more than 1 million scooter rides around the city over the last two years. Scooter rentals were suspended briefly due to the pandemic, but resumed last June.

Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com