Lime shared scooters
Lime shared scooters in San Diego. Courtesy of the company

The global shared-vehicle company Lime announced Monday it is re-entering the San Diego market with 500 scooters and will scale up to 2,000 within weeks.

The company temporarily pulled out of San Diego in January 2020, citing a need to focus on more profitable markets.

“We’re thrilled to return to San Diego this fall and we plan to be here for the long haul. We have the unique mix of global and local experience to design the best possible program for the city with industry leading hardware,” said Karla Owunwanne, director of government relations at the San Francisco-based company.

The company said it will comply with all of San Diego’s rules regarding safe riding and proper parking, and will host a series of training sessions with community partners like the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition.

‘We understand the keys to success in San Diego are safe riding, proper parking, and affordable transportation for all, and we can’t wait to launch and operate a program built on those foundations,” said Owunwanne.

Lime said its scooters work with the Uber app, and a $5.99 monthly subscription that eliminates lock fees is available.

San Diego is one of the first cities to get the company’s new Gen4 electric scooter, which is said to be the safest and most sustainable electric scooter.

Chris Jennewein is Editor & Publisher of Times of San Diego.