Image by Lime used with permission.

We’ve been sharing news of Capital Bikeshare’s (CaBi) continued record-breaking ridership for months—but that only captures a fraction of the growth in demand for micromobility. The years-long presence of private micromobility providers in Washington, DC, is yielding a considerable surge in ridership on scooters and e-bikes across the nation’s capital, with Lime leading amongst its competitors.

Through June, an estimated 3,379,600 trips have been recorded in 2024 by the four active micromobility operators in the District: Lime, Spin, Lyft, and Veo. These companies operate in DC as permitted by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT)’s Shared Fleet Device Program. Cumulative ridership across the program from April through June (Q2) increased by nearly 18% compared to Q2 in 2023, totaling 2,246,100 rides and covering a shared distance of 3,007,952 miles.

By way of comparison, CaBi’s record-breaking annual ridership totals 2,584,530 trips through June 2024. Notably, CaBi’s ridership is entirely made up of bikes and e-bikes, while nearly 70% of private micromobility operators’ rides were on dockless scooters. While CaBi’s operation is regional and ride history is not included in the Shared Fleet Device Program data, the cumulative surge across all micromobility providers, public and private, suggests an overall bikeshare and scooter ridership of 5,964,129 trips thus far in 2024 (not counting the use of personal bikes and scooters!).

Data from Ride Report. Image by the author.

The longest-tenured scooter and e-bike operator in the District, Lime, leads its competitors. According to data Lime provided GGWash, riders logged an estimated 2,360,000 rides through June 2024 (nearly 70% of all rides reported to the Shared Fleet Device Program), marking a 34% year-over-year increase.

Like Capital Bikeshare, Lime reported its highest single-day ridership on June 8, the day of the Capital Pride Parade, with 32,384 rides – only to break that record on July 4 with 32,955 trips. The company also reports a record of 650,000 rides in June, alongside CaBi’s similarly record-breaking 580,000 rides that we reported earlier this month. Lime’s fleet of dockless vehicles comprises 4,600 scooters and 3,575 e-bikes in DC, making it the largest micromobility operator that is part of DDOT’s Shared Fleet Device Program.

Lime attributed some of its success to its operating partnership in the District. “As Washington, DC, becomes a national and even global leader on micromobility and sustainable transportation, we at Lime are working hard to make the investments needed to meet and help fuel the booming demand for two-wheeled transportation that’s sweeping this city.” The company recently rolled out a throttle e-bike in DC, for example, after seeing it led to increased bike utilization during a pilot initiative.

Image from Ride Report.

Cumulative traffic and ridership data for the District’s four micromobility operators can be found on Ride Report, a quarterly ridership dashboard that includes aggregate data and a heatmap of trips around the city. Lime, Spin, Veo, and Lyft have collectively cataloged 22,559,900 trips since 2019. Users of these four providers in DC have ridden an all-time total of 29,693,752 miles—a distance that could circumnavigate the planet 1,192 times.

Data from Ride Report, Lime, DDOT Shared Fleet Device Program, WTOP, and Washingtonian. Image by the author.

DDOT’s initial issuance of permits to scooter and e-bike operators in Washington, DC, began in 2018 with a maximum allowance of a 400-vehicle fleet per operator. Since then, DDOT has expanded the fleet maximums to allow for a cumulative total of 20,000 dockless vehicles across the District.

While CaBi’s ridership data is not counted as part of the Shared Fleet Device Program data, that system has sustained year-over-year monthly ridership increases for the past 30 months. Presently, the CaBi regional network contains over 6,200 bikes and 790 docking stations.

Per a DDOT press release announcing new micromobility operator permits in January 2023, “E-bikes and e-scooters are fundamental parts of DDOT’s MoveDC long-range plan and provide reliable multimodal transportation options for those traveling in the District while limiting the reliance on single-occupancy vehicle trips.”