Ride-hailing company Lyft is in the process of removing thousands of electric bicycles in its bike-share programs in New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C. due to a braking issue, the company announced this week.
In a blog post emailed to customers on Sunday, Lyft noted the company had received a "small number of reports" from riders who said they had experienced braking force on the front wheel to be stronger than expected.
According to Reuters, Lyft's bike-sharing division is currently working to replace around 3,000 pedal-assist bicycles in the same three cities with traditional bikes in order to prevent service interruptions. The company already has about 17,000 traditional bicycles in operation in those cities.
Lyft partners with different bike-share brands in each area, including Citi Bike in NYC, Capital Bikeshare in D.C. and Ford GoBike in the Bay Area. Each of those services will be impacted by Lyft's bike-share removal. A spokesperson for Citi Bike issued a statement saying the brand will be withholding electric bikes from service. The company is reportedly working on a new electric bicycle model that is expected to deploy soon.
-----------
Source: Reuters
