Lime Micromobility has removed its shared electronic scooters and bikes from Overland Park streets, the second major e-scooter and bike vendor to pull out of the city in the last year-and-a-half following a similarly abrupt exit from Bird.
Lime was in the middle of a pilot program with Overland Park that had replaced the one ended early by Bird in November 2023.
In its first year last year, Lime recorded upwards of 8,000 rides in Overland Park, and according to city officials, there was no indication that the company was thinking of permanently pulling its vehicles off city streets.
Under the pilot agreement, Lime would have been allowed to deploy up to 400 of its e-scooters and e-bikes in city limits through the end of 2025 with an option for expansion.
Instead, the devices have been removed from the city, and it is unclear when — or even if — they’re coming back.
Lime spokesperson Jacob Tugendrajch told the Post in an emailed statement that the vendor had “made the decision to indefinitely pause” operations in Overland Park, “pending a more regional approach for our services.”
“We would love to return to serve the city in the near future as part of a larger effort to serve the entire Kansas City region,” Tugendrajch said.
Lime first came to Overland Park in 2024
Generally, as is the case in Overland Park, agreements to allow shared small vehicle vendors to deploy their e-scooters and e-bikes have been handled on a city-by-city basis with individual contracts between each city and the specific company.
Lime began a pilot program with Overland Park last spring, logging 8,352 rides in 2024, 6,730 of those on e-scooters.
That total represented the activity of more than 2,600 unique riders, according to data presented to the Overland Park City Council’s Public Works Committee late last year.
Lime’s annual administrative fee to the city combined with the city’s share of the rider fee brought to Overland Park about $2,500 in revenue from the deal.
Bird also abruptly left Overland Park midway through a pilot
- Bird first brought their e-scooters and e-bikes to Overland Park in 2022, but ended the program early, citing staffing woes.
- The company removed all of its scooters and bikes from Overland Park a few months before the pilot program’s scheduled end in 2023.
- After that, city staff said communication from the company was spotty, so Overland Park looked to other options.
- Bird had also removed its devices from the city of Olathe around the same time.
Lime seemed like an eager partner at first
After Bird left, representatives from Lime attended city council committee meetings in late 2023, signaling a desire from the company to fill the void left by their competitor’s sudden departure.
Late last year, Lime removed its e-scooters and e-bikes from Overland Park, seemingly to get the devices off the street during the winter.
City staff said at the time that they expected the devices to return for the spring to continue with the pilot as planned. The city was even discussing potentially adding more devices to the fleet already on Overland Park’s streets.
But last week, Public Works Director Lorraine Basalo said Lime decided to remove its e-scooters and e-bikes from the city indefinitely.
“Lime has notified staff that they will no longer be operating in Overland Park,” she told the Public Works Committee on March 26.
Now what?
- Basalo said that, in the meantime, Overland Park is still interested in partnering with a vendor to offer shared small vehicles like e-scooters and e-bikes in city limits next year.
- Committee members also voiced support for looking for additional vendors to meet the demand.
- That being said, it’s unclear what other options there may be at this juncture or if Lime will in fact return.
Looking back: Overland Park counts 8,000+ rides in first year of scooter and bike pilot
