San Francisco Bay Area’s Lyft bikes are dropping 2,000 new electric models around the region with lower prices and double the battery life of its old models.
The ride-share company, in partnership with Bay Wheels, is lowering the price of annual memberships from $169 to $150, while the price to rent a bike will drop from $0.20 to $0.15.
Lyft is also introducing 55 additional docking stations in San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. The new models will not have the cable lock feature and must be docked.
On some of its older models, Lyft plans to keep the cable lock feature, which allowed riders to park electric bikes outside of designated docking stations for an extra fee. Critics say the bikes can sometimes be left crowding the public right of way.
Lyft recently added docking stations in the Sunset neighborhood and Golden Gate Park. It’s unclear where the new docking stations will be located.
Before Friday’s announcement, the company had roughly 6,000 bikes deployed in the Bay Area. Bay Wheels, a company owned by Lyft that’s responsible for its bikeshare program, said there’s currently no plan to remove any of the older Lyft bikes from the city’s streets.
Jeffery Tumlin, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency director of transportation, said in a statement he supports Lyft’s expansion.
“E-bikes are perfect for San Francisco—they make our steep hills flat,” Tumlin said.
The expansion will begin this week in San Jose and San Francisco while the company awaits approval from Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville.