Jobs
During the national cycle shortage Uber scraps tens of thousands of jumping cycles
Many weeks after he has filled the money wasting bike share on Lime, Uber sends tens of thousands of his hybrid Jump bikes to the scrap yard. The news of the ridden motorcycles has provoked motorcyclists on social networks, one who denounces the action as "unconscious."
By declaring that many of Jump 's older motorcycles and scooters had been "recycled," Uber confirmed it after transfering "ten of thousands" of the newer models to Lime. However, the waste work happens when many people avoid public transport due to the coronavirus pandemic and are looking for alternative transport methods. The sales of bike (and in particular the sales of electric bike) are booming.
And the destruction of tens of thousands of viable motorcycles and scooters in a crisis strikes many as unbelievably wasteful through social media.
"I can't say if it is misinformed," a former employee of Jump said, 'or if it's calculated and cynic.' "But it's just the wrong way to influence everyone."
The Bike Share Museum website, the multimedia archive for retired sharing bikes, was the first to feature images of thousands of Jump bikes meant for scrap heap. Creator Kurt Kaminer told him that several former Jump workers approached him with details of the stripping campaign after writing a report about Lime potentially removing the bright red bikes. He said there were discarded between 20,000 and 30 000 motorcycles.
Kaminer, a Miami based company, told The Verge, "The jump bike was truly, truly very special. "I know it's heavy, and it's heavy ... but I don't know. It's only been talking to me.
There were numerous Jump bike iterations, but the version "5.5" is being discarded, Kaminer said. There are also the latest 5.8 versions which Lime was given to develop, but Lime lacked technical expertise to do so because, according to Kaminer, Uber fired the tech team at Jump. This was confirmed by the ex-Jump staff listening to The Edge. In order to support semi-autonomous scooter function and other intelligent mobility features, Uber has also introduced the Hop robotic unit.
Kaminer said he was "disappointed that Uber chose not to repurpose the bikes, but that, given the nature of the deal that Uber had with Lime, it was unavoidable. He said, "It's an industry.
The destruction of so many bicycles was also said "disgusting" in Kaminer 's article, in particular "in the middles of an unprecedented pandemic, in which bicycles were literally survivor. The US has "a serious bike crisis" due to a global supply chain chaos triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times notes. Significantly so, it may be a transport for the many who were put into financial distress during COVID 19.
EXCLUSIVE: New, close-up pictures of the Seattle JUMP 5.5 fleet show that every single bike has *already had their 36V Li-Ion battery removed,* so the manpower existed to do that prior to sending them to scrap. The extent of the waste is unfathomable. pic.twitter.com/zT3nRhYNAs
— Bike Share Museum (@bikesharemuseum) May 26, 2020
Uber purchased Jump for $200 million in 2018 to become a single-stop shop for urban mobility with the aim of using the bike-stock system. Jump had 12 000 bikes in 40 towns and six countries at the time of the acquisition. But Jump was also a loser of money, even more so than Uber's core business. Many top managers, including new mobility head Rachel Holt and Jump founder and former CEO Ryan Rzepecki, have left the new mobility division of the Company over these last months.
In addition to the unloading of Jump on Lime, Uber led a round of 170 million dollars in Lime, which reduced the valuation of the scooter startup by almost 80%.
As a result of the deal, Jump has laid off most of its 400-plus staff. Jump 's license to operate cycling in San Francisco expired on 26 May, although Lime recently reported that Jump's bicycles would be back in Denver.
It was not just Kaminer who was able to obtain evidence of the huge waste initiative. A video that he received from a friend working in North Carolina in a scrap yard was published by Cris Moffitt. The video was shown by thousands of jumping bikes and scooters spread across the yard. A large crane collects dozens of vehicles in several clips and deposits them in a dump truck.
"I felt it's a very unfortunate ending and perhaps I could get some Twitter exposure to press them to do better," Moffitt told The Verge.
The Jump bike "was the best sharing ebikes ever made" Sanjay Dastoor, the co-founder and CEO of Scooter startup Skip said, and described the videos scrapping as "hard to watch."
Lime said in a tweet, he had "ten thousands of e-bikes" in his contract with Uber, which included some new parts and equipment. "There have not been any Hop recycled in our fleet and at this crucial period, we are committed to scaling and running them," Lime Speaker Russell Murphy said.
"We expect to collaborate with Uber on finding productive means of recycling and reusing the existing ebikes in their inventory, until the sale has officially ended."
Lime withheld Uber 's report on the scrapping campaign. A spokesperson of the ride-hailing service said that he had considered recycling existing old-fashioned bikes. "We opted to recycle them wisely, though, despite other big obstacles, including maintainability, liability and safety issues and a shortage of consumer-grade charging facilities."
It was not just Kaminer who was able to obtain evidence of the huge waste initiative. A video that he received from a friend working in North Carolina in a scrap yard was published by Cris Moffitt. The video was shown by thousands of jumping bikes and scooters spread across the yard. A large crane collects dozens of vehicles in several clips and deposits them in a dump truck.
"I felt it's a very unfortunate ending and perhaps I could get some Twitter exposure to press them to do better," Moffitt told The Verge.
The Jump bike "was the best sharing ebikes ever made" Sanjay Dastoor, the co-founder and CEO of Scooter startup Skip said, and described the videos scrapping as "hard to watch."
Lime said in a tweet, he had "ten thousands of e-bikes" in his contract with Uber, which included some new parts and equipment. "There have not been any Hop recycled in our fleet and at this crucial period, we are committed to scaling and running them," Lime Speaker Russell Murphy said.
"We expect to collaborate with Uber on finding productive means of recycling and reusing the existing ebikes in their inventory, until the sale has officially ended."
Lime withheld Uber 's report on the scrapping campaign. A spokesperson of the ride-hailing service said that he had considered recycling existing old-fashioned bikes. "We opted to recycle them wisely, though, despite other big obstacles, including maintainability, liability and safety issues and a shortage of consumer-grade charging facilities."
