Lyft nears a deal to buy OG bikeshare company behind GoBike and Citi Bike

Lyft is getting into the bikeshare mix, closing in on a deal to acquire Citi Bike backer Motivate, reportedly valued at $250m.

The mustachioed ride-sharing giant is reportedly close to acquiring bikeshare company Motivate, in a deal said to be worth at least $250m, according to The Information (paywall).

Lyft nears a deal to buy OG bikeshare company behind GoBike and Citi Bike

The news comes during boom times for new transit options

Mobility companies — including car manufacturers like GM and Ford and ride hail companies like Uber and Lyft — are all champing at the bit to hit the streets with new transportation options for their consumers. And bikes and scooter startups are riding the new 2-wheel transit wave.

Last month, Lyft reportedly expressed interest in acquiring a permit to operate scooters in San Francisco, Chinese company Meituan-Dianping picked up bike share Mobike for $2.7B and, earlier this year, Uber bought Jump Bikes for $250m. 

Lyft could pull ahead of Uber in the bikeshare race

Motivate has a much larger footprint than Jump, currently operating nearly 32k bikes across the US, according to CNET.

As a matter of fact, Motivate backs some of the most well-known US bike-share companies, operating behind the scenes for docked bike companies like Ford’s GoBike and Citi Bike.

If Lyft does acquire Motivate, their next challenge will be to find a way to compete with Jump’s “dock-less” bike program.

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