Skip to main content

Lyft pulls thousands of ebikes from three U.S. cities over safety issue

Lyft has taken around 3,000 of its pedal-assist two-wheelers off the streets in New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco following complaints of an issue with the front-wheel brake. The app-based services are operated by Citi Bike, Capital Bikeshare, and Ford GoBike, respectively. All three are overseen by leading U.S. bikesharing business Motivate, which Lyft acquired for a reported $250 million in July 2018.

“We recently received a small number of reports from riders who experienced stronger than expected braking force on the front wheel,” Citi Bike said in a message on its website over the weekend. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are proactively removing the pedal-assist bikes from service for the time being. We know this is disappointing to the many people who love the current experience — but reliability and safety come first.”

Capital Bikeshare and Ford GoBike posted similar messages on their websites on Sunday.

In an effort to lessen the disruption for riders, all three services will replace the faulty pedal-assist bikes with regular, non-electric ones.

Lyft is now in the final stages of building an all-new pedal-assist bike that it’s planning to launch soon in the locations where its bikesharing schemes operate.

Electric rideables such as bikes and scooters have become an increasingly common sight in cities around the world in the last couple of years, with many people making use of convenient app-based sharing services instead of forking out for their own machine.

But when it comes to the technology that powers the vehicles, there are clearly some issues that still need ironing out. Aside from Lyft’s current issue, scootersharing service Lime recently had to warn people to take greater care while riding down steep hills following reports of a firmware bug causing excessive and sudden braking with a small number of its scooters.

The safety issue prompted officials in Auckland, New Zealand to pull Lime’s scooters from the city’s streets for several weeks while the company sorted out the problem with a software update.

Lyft, meanwhile, will be keen to resolve the issue with its electric bikes as soon as it possibly can. The company has been competing with ridesharing rival Uber to broaden its services with the creation of integrated transportation solutions that allow riders to jump between cars, bikes, and scooters to get around town.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
I turned my van into an office with a battery-powered AC and heat pump
An EcoFlow Wave 2 air conditioner and heat pump inside a Mitsubishi Delica van.

Like a lot of remote workers, I know I’m lucky to be able to work from home. I have a home office with a comfy leather chair, a skylight, and an oversized doofus of a dog, Marty, who reclines adorably on the couch behind me for Zoom meetings. But I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit I go a little stir crazy from time to time, yearning to work from somewhere other than the same place I eat, sleep, and relax.

How about a van? I bought my 1990 Mitsubishi Delica for camping, but it always seemed like it could serve as a mobile office with a view, if not for one critical shortcoming: For nine months out of the year in Portland, it’s too cold, and for the other three, it’s too hot. Without adding thousands of dollars for a battery power system, my best bet was heavy socks and gloves. But EcoFlow gave me a glimmer of hope at CES 2023 when I spotted the EcoFlow Wave 2. With an onboard battery, it promised to heat or cool anywhere, no external power system needed.

Read more
I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code
An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Read more
Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not
Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why:

Read more