Update: The Overland Park City Council Public Works Committee unanimously recommended for approval of an agreement with Lime, an e-scooter and e-bike vendor, Wednesday night. The pilot, if ultimately approved by the city council, will bring about 40 e-bikes, 30 sit-down e-scooters and about 150 stand-up e-scooters.
Original story continues below.
Overland Park is preparing to tap Lime Micromobility for a new pilot for electric scooters and bikes after another vendor, Bird, left the city abruptly last summer.
On Wednesday, the Overland Park City Council Public Works Committee will get a first look at the new pilot agreement during their regularly scheduled meeting.
Officially, the operating agreement will be with Neutron Holdings Inc., the California-based business arm of Lime.
E-scooters, e-bikes came to Overland Park in 2022
Previously, Bird provided e-scooters and e-bikes to the city under a pilot program that started in 2022.
However, by the end of August 2023, the company had removed all of its devices from Overland Park streets, citing a “lack of staffing.”
Under the previous agreement with Bird, the scooters and bikes were primarily parked in the northern area of the city. Riders could access the devices by paying through an app, with the city collecting 25 cents per ride.
Nearly 22,000 Bird bike and scooter rides were reported while the devices were available in Overland Park, Brian Shields, Overland Park’s traffic engineer, said last year. The bulk of those rides were on scooters.
The initial agreement was scheduled to expire at the end of last November.
Lime to bring 200+ scooters, bikes to Overland Park
- The new agreement with Lime, if approved, would expire at the end of 2025, according to city documents.
- In the initial rollout, Lime will deploy a combined 200 e-bikes and e-scooters, and more could come later if there’s demand, up to 400 total, the agreement says.
- Like in the city’s agreement with Bird, Overland Park will get 25 cents per ride, and the devices will mostly be deployed in the city’s northern area.
- Riders have to be at least 18 to use the devices.
- The agreement also calls for Lime to distribute 200 free helmets to residents over a 12-month period.
Overland Park has been discussing a new e-scooter pilot for months
- After Bird departed the city last year, multiple city council committees discussed the potential of starting a new pilot agreement with a different provider.
- Lime was one of the more interested parties, sending a representative to a Community Development Committee meeting in November.
Next steps:
- The city council will take up the agreement with Lime after the Public Works Committee.
- Since the proposed agreement isn’t exclusive, other vendors could reach similar agreements with Overland Park in the future to provide their e-scooters and e-bikes.
- Any additional agreements will require approval from the city council, as well.
Looking back: Bird pulls scooters and e-bikes from Overland Park
