Uber acquires US public bike hire operator

BIKE HIRE

Ride hailing app Uber has bought US bike share firm Jump. 

In a development towards a more multi-modal offer, Uber in San Francisco recently made Jump’s bright red shared electric bikes available on its app. The trial has developed into Uber buying the company – with reports of a $100m offer in industry press. The actual price has not been disclosed.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi claims the deal furthers Uber’s goal of offering “the fastest or most affordable way to get where you’re going, whether that’s in an Uber, on a bike, on the subway, or more”.

Based in New York, Jump started in 2010 as Social Bicycles, evolving over the past eight years from selling bikes to operating its own fleets. 

The original Social Bicycles is now branded as a “service by Jump Bikes that provides the hardware and software behind the most loved bike share systems in the world’. 

Social Bicycles operates 15,000 bikes in over 40 different markets – including in Brighton in the UK. It will also provide 200 electric bikes for the Derby electric bike share scheme to be operated by Hourbike.

The flagship of the newer, high profile Jump-branded service is a dockless electric bike service that has rolled out in San Francisco, where it has 250 bikes, and Washington DC.

Currently Uber has no plans to withdraw the standalone Jump app.