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."
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
