Lime Electric Scooters Now Riding Through Tel Aviv

Yet a third U.S.-based motorized scooter company is setting up shop in Israel. Lime began operating in Tel Aviv last week, deploying 500 electric scooters that users can pick up and leave on city streets, without having to lock them up. The scooters are accessed by smartphones, and paid for by credit cards kept on file.

Lime joins two other companies – Bird and Wind – operating similar business models. Each of those companies has also deployed 500 scooters in Tel Aviv, bringing the total available to city residents to 1,500. They will soon be joined by yet a fourth company, Leo, which is an Israeli start-up.

The cost for all the services is the same – NIS 5 per use, plus fifty agurot per minute. The Lime scooters will be equipped with GPS systems so they can be located. The scooters are available for use between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., and overnight they need to be charged. The charging will be done by individuals who collect them and charge them at home, a service for which they will be paid. Lime currently operates in some 100 cities around the world.

Yaniv Nodar, chairperson of Lime Israel, said that “Lime users will be part of an innovative community that is pushing the limits of urban transportation, and we are happy that Israel is joining the growing number of countries that already enjoy the services of Lime.”