Scooters:
Lyft asks S.F. mayor to reconsider
Lyft has written to Mayor London Breed asking her to reconsider the city’s decision to grant only two permits for e-scooter rentals, The Chronicle has learned.
The ride-hailing company was among a dozen applicants for a one-year pilot program for app-based rentals of dockless electric scooters in San Francisco. The pilot, run by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, called for up to five companies to operate 1,250 scooters in the first six months, with the possibility of doubling the number of vehicles in the second six months.
The SFMTA picked two companies, Scoot and Skip, both San Francisco startups, which can start operations next week.
Three of the unsuccessful candidates — Lime, Spin and
Uber’s Jump— have filed formal appeals over their exclusion. All say they were unfairly blackballed over a clause looking at companies’ past behaviors, and complained that the SFMTA’s scoring seemed arbitrary and biased.
As previously reported by The Chronicle, some companies, including Lyft, that scored well on most aspects of the application were dinged over perceived past transgressions. In the case of both Lyft and Jump, those were related to their rollout of ride hailing. Lime and Spin were downgraded for their previous operations of scooters in San Francisco this spring.
“Based on information shared by City Hall and SFMTA, Lyft scored the highest on the initial review of the applications because of our concrete proposal to provide a transit-oriented and equitable scooter program to San Francisco,” Lyft wrote. “The fact that the final result differed substantially from the initial analysis is indicative of a larger frustration with the process.”
Its specific beefs, which echo those of the three companies filing appeals, were that scoring criteria weren’t released in advance and that the scoring mechanism led to “arbitrary and inconsistent scoring results.”
Rather than appealing, Lyft wrote to Breed, as well as to SFMTA Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin, in an effort to be collaborative, the letter said. It asked them to review the scooter application process and consider granting more permits so that Lyft can participate in the pilot.
The SFMTA defended its process as “thorough, fair and transparent” and said it is “confident we selected the strongest applicants to participate in the one-year scooter pilot.”
Breed’s office did not
“Lyft scored the highest on the initial review of the applications.” Lyft, in a letter to Mayor London Breed
respond to requests for comment.
Both Lyft and Uber increasingly are pursuing mobility beyond cars. Lyft in June bought Motivate, which operates the Ford GoBike rental program in the Bay Area and similar docked bike rentals in other cities. That deal has not yet closed. Uber in April bought Jump Bikes, which operates dockless electric bikes in San Francisco and elsewhere.