New York City is finally allowing shared e-scooters on its streets this spring. In March, the city is kicking off the two-year pilot program that Lime hopes to be a part of.
"We certainly hope to be selected by the city government and earn the responsibility of serving the city," Adam Kovacevich, head of North America and Asia Pacific government relations at Lime, told Cheddar. "One of the things we believe really strongly is that experience counts in this space."
Lime, the world's largest e-scooter rental company, is operational in some of the biggest cities in the world like Seoul, Paris, and Los Angeles.
"We're in all these huge markets, and it's given us the experience to learn how to serve cities well, how to manage things like parking," Kovacevich said. "Certainly we hope that that will make a difference when it comes to New York's selection."
The hold-up was due, in part, to safety concerns, as multiple U.S. cities have reported numerous injuries resulting from accidents involving the vehicles.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo previously vetoed a bill in 2019 that would have legalized e-scooters, arguing the legislation's verbiage didn't go far enough to protect riders.
Kovacevich said Lime's newest mode of micromobility, a fourth-generation scooter set to be rolled out later this year, has safety as its top priority.
"This will be the safest, most advanced scooter we've ever offered — that anyone has ever offered," Kovacevich said.
Despite an unpredictable 2020, Lime turned a quarterly profit for the first time in the startup's four-year history. In May, it also scored an investment from Uber as part of a $170 million funding round.
"COVID has actually forced a lot of people, a lot of cities, to rethink their transportation options," Kovacevich said. "We've seen people gravitate to scooters, in particular, as a socially-distant, open-air, safe form of transportation."
Beyond e-scooters and e-bikes, Lime is looking into other modes of transportation to suit every need a city-dweller could have.
"It's something we're exploring," Kovacevich said. "We see the future, and I think one of the things we've seen is cities during the pandemic have devoted more street space to 'slow streets' — to bikes — and that's the future."
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
